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My Tinnitus- Very Afraid


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I haven’t shared this before. In January, 2020, I had surgery and woke up with tinnitus after the surgery. The first few months I wasn’t happy I had it, but was coping okay with it. In March we were in Palm Springs and had to come back to Canada early because of Covid. We strictly isolated for 2 weeks and at the end of the 2 weeks, I thought, I don’t feel very well. My tinnitus became louder and I developed terrible insomnia because of it. My doctors prescribed various “Z” drugs that didn’t work well and soon I had a severe depression. Then I was prescribed Remeron (which helped with sleep, but not depression) and Ativan came into the picture. Severe depression remained and I went away to treatment where they started clonazepam and Lexapro. Lexapro seemed to be helping, but then I developed a burning pain in my legs from that. Anyways, the rest of the story is too long to tell, but involved 3 other treatment centres, other antidepressants, Ketamine, and even some ECT- all ineffective. The one constant was the clonazepam. It took my husband and I to figure out the clonazepam was a big problem for me. (Actually last psychiatrist said, “Oh, clonazepam can cause or worsen depression and it can be hell to get off of) Anyways, I’ve been tapering just over a year and am 54.3% off. Over the last month my tinnitus has become louder and I believe is waking me at night. Absolutely terrified the tinnitus is going to get worse and worse- it’s what started this whole ordeal. I have at least another year to finish my taper and am so afraid after all this suffering, my tinnitus will be screaming loud and I don’t know how I will be able to cope with that. Any encouragement or positivity? I am so afraid. If you have any negative or discouraging comments/experiences, I respectfully ask that you not share them. I think I have shared with you how bad my mental state is. I am at my wit’s end. Thank you everyone for any help you can provide. Praying for us all. Also, my husband and I were thinking of a DMT to perhaps ease my withdrawal symptoms. Might that be better for my tinnitus too?
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Have you reached out to naf1983?  He was prescribed all of this stuff for tinnitus.  He might have some helpful tips.  I actually just listened to his podcast where he and Emma discuss their tinnitus conditions.  Emma found some holistic approaches to dealing with tinnitus that have helped her.  I wonder if you stabilize it will resolve.  Maybe try and hold at this dose for a while and see if it resolves.  As you know, Klonopin messes up our CNS and causes tinnitus.  Maybe it’s just a symptom of the taper. 
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I developed tinnitus after my second dose of Lexapro I've always put that as the blame for it as it was a rapid onset of the second day of Lexapro. I stopped that instantly however 90 plus days later I still have the tinnitus. I believe Lexapro and benzodiazepines are oxytoxic, so I've learned to live with it until I'm off all these medications and given a good 6 months to a year and it hasn't corrected then I will start to say it might not go away.
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I ended up on rivotril due to seeking CBT for tinnitus stemming from cortisone withdrawal (although we did not realize I was in withdrawal). Tinnitus is unfortunately a symptom of ototoxicity and neurotoxicity like all our other symptoms so yes also for me these benzos have just made everything worse. I think everything you're doing to help yourself for the other symptoms also helps your tinnitus. Tinnitus can lower or go away at any time. I recommend TrebleHealth on Youtube. Tinnitus retraining therapy also seems a great option (I wish I had followed that instead of the therapy trap I fell for that ended me here).
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