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Hi Ela. Please research the Ashton Manual - it needs to be a gradual switchover. There's a lot of information in the manual and honestly, it's just a starting point. I had to go way slower than she recommends and I did a liquid microtaper, taking a little less every single day. However, many...

I'm so sorry to hear this and can empathize greatly - this was definitely one of my worst symptoms in tapering. Are you also weaning of a benzodiazepine? Mine got better immediately after my crossover from Klonopin to Valium and has stayed much better - it was after this point that I was able...

Hi. Yes, it did, after my crossover to Valium. See my latest post above. I finished my taper over 4 months ago and it's still way better. I still have some tinnitus but that's also better and mostly shows up at night.

Hi Catherine. I'm not active on here but I got your message through the thread. I'm SO sorry for what you are enduring. Cutting from 1mg to .5mg of Xanax in a couple of weeks is going to bring on severe withdrawal symptoms for many. If you haven't already, I would look into the Ashton...

Hi @AccidentalAddict . I'm so sorry! It would have been nice if the doctors would have warned us that getting off these damn things is often harder than street drugs, huh?! I'm doing better for now. I crossed over to Valium over several weeks and am doing a very slow liquid microtaper (using...

@grate_biff PLEASE do not end your life. I beg of you. I am 100% confident that a lot of this is from benzo withdrawal. I am in several support groups and the tinnitus and hyperacusis is extremely common for those of us in tolerance, tapering, etc. As someone who relentlessly experienced...

I like the Lane. I'm Catholic and we believe in purgatory. I am likely serving my purgatory time right now. It's so intense and horrendous.

Oh, I'm going plenty slow but I'm suffering pretty severely so I'm not going to drag it out for years like that. I'm going at 10% per month and had to slow it to 9% per month. If things improve with a crossover to Valium, I may take it slower, we will see. When you are in hell, the only way...

Hi there. Struggling and suffering immensely......BUT, I have switched one of my clonazepam doses 2.5 days ago for diazepam and the hyperacusis has settled. I am having other severe symptoms, BUT, it became clear to me several days ago that my hyperacusis was worse because of interdose...

I went back to the ENT - eardrum is fine. I think when the audiologist fit me for my musician earplugs, she poked my eardrum as I felt it when she pushed down in there. In addition, I had been doing some facial massage/TMJ massage. Since then, I can feel the stab in my left ear when I get a...

@grate_biff Hang in there. You are getting close - much closer than me. I am doing a microtaper and it's very brutal. Only 25% down from 2 months ago. I can't go any faster. Anyhow, look into low gain hearing aids once you are done, with custom molded ear plugs. The plugs can keep noises...

Thanks - and you find them quite comfortable? More so than the ones that go into the ear? It's going to stink if I've paid $230 for musician earplugs and can't even wear them.....

@Earing I am thinking of ordering the Docs Proplugs because I think the foam kind have been irritating my ear canal too much. Do you get vented or unvented?

So this is a new one for me. It feels like my eardrum is bruised, maybe from wearing earplugs too much, etc, on my left ear. My left ear, for years has always had some issues, feeling full, etc and even some occlusion. But never any hearing issues until the last several months, of course...

@Marc22 I apologize. I thought you were recommending consistent use of benzo, not intermittent. Infrequent usage is not generally a problem but there's a fine line that has to be walked with them.....that's why they can be dangerous. I'm sorry about your depression. I completely...

@Earing Your situation is very different than mine as I have 7 kids and am going to have to do something to get this worked out.....and I am in benzo w/d which induced mine so who knows how much is from that versus noise exposure, whatever. Do you also have tinnitus? How long did it take after...

Good ENTs can get this out using a curved spoon device. That's how my ENT has cleaned mine out in the past. You don't have to get it flushed - find an expert.

@Earing Do you think the musician earplugs could be worn all the time? I had mine fitted but haven't gotten them yet but of course, they told me not to use them all the time or I would become more hypersensitive but normal talking voices are even often too loud right now. I had a couple of...

@grate_biff I'm sorry you have been dealing with this so long. this is a hell I didn't know existed. There's no way I could taper down at the speed that you are but I have been at daily usage for many months and it was the hold on it that threw me into tolerance. I have actually slowed down...

@grate_biff You have developed hyperacusis as a result of your tapering benzos or tolerance w/d? I am experiencing the same thing and going through hell on all levels, including severe H and some T. I'm constantly in "fight or flight" mode now. How long have you been tapering? Are noises...

@spinnaker You were getting yours for tinnitus then or do you also have hearing loss? Sorry, just trying to understand yours situation. There do seem to be some that have hyperacusis with their hearing loss. Can't remember what that is called.

I assume your hyperacusis was just pretty mild then? I think they can set the hearing aides to be "low gain", if you have a good audiologist - that's my understanding.

Marc, I was not on benzos regularly for years. I was on them 1-3 months at a higher dose, then tapered down to nothing with no problem. Then I was taking about 1X per week for years in between those few instances. Then I found myself taking 2X per week (for a few months) and that's when I...

You are mostly getting for tinnitus or your hyperacusis as well? Did the audiologist think that they could help with the hyperacusis? I assume you will be doing a trial?

Marc, Not downplaying alcoholism because clearly that's not easy and is torturous to many a soul. But benzos are WAY worse than alcohol as far as addictive, what they do to your nervous system, etc. They impact your nervous system from head to toe and quitting benzos is WAY worse than almost...

I'm so sorry - that is so sad and wrong, though I wonder if some point, it was not inevitable for your T to become constant at some point from loud noise anyways? The ENT said my ears looked fine. The audiologist there was not comfortable doing a hearing test and I'm glad she did not. Thanks...

@Marc22 I completely empathize!!! If you do not think that my urge to go pop those pills to get relief isn't strong, then you are mistaken. Very much so!! Especially now at the height of how bad the hyperacusis is. I can absolutely understand why you would want to. But I have also learned...

I'm reading that they can help about 1/2 of people. It's not a cure; I believe it just can help to de-intensify things.....if you have a good audiologist that knows what they are doing.

@lcj Thank you. That's incredible. Do you have to have a good smartphone for these to work? Can you tell me in what way they have helped you? How bad was your hyperacusis before? Mine spikes to horrendous levels and then sometimes, it seems almost normal.....but I'm told that this is normal...

It's too bad - there's not a center anywhere near me. Phonak ones are the ones that this audiologist mentioned in her post on FB that I saw. Is that how much you spent? $1500? And I am possibly going to spend triple that with insurance paying? The concern I would have is getting someone to...

Thanks @lcj - if I needed just regular hearing aids, I would but apparently, these hearing aids come with the audiologist's ability to adjust them to my needs frequently over a 3 year period remotely...and this is an audiologist who specially works with people with auditory processing disorder...

@BarbaraZ I am dealing with severe/extreme hyperacusis plus some tinnitus due to benzodiazepine withdrawal - so hopefully, my condition is temporary. I have been given the opportunity to try some very expensive hearing aids that you described, of which the audiologist apparently can tone down...

@spinnaker Just wondering if you got your hearing aids. I've been in contact with another company that can customize hearing aids and they have indicated that the audiologist can also program the aids to filter out some of the sound and reduce some of the more annoying or even background...

Marc, yes, I have considered it but it's a terrible long term solution and here's why.....you can quickly become tolerant to the dose of the medication. So if I increased it to 1 mg or even 2 mg, it may work for a while but eventually, the body is going to become tolerant to it and then it's...

Thanks - already been on benzobuddies. I'm like one of the most severe on there. I am way worse off than you b/c there's no way I could jump off from .125 mg. I could have 6 months ago, I do believe. But since i held my taper and got into severe tolerance - with acute symptoms, there's no...

@JasonP I was reading through some info and found that you used Trileptal (Oxcarbazepine) to get off Klonopin. I'm having a hell of a time, as you might see if you read through some of my info. It doesn't look like you had hyperacusis but only tinnitus - I have both, but the H is so severe...

@Daniel Lion Thank you for your support. I am going plenty slow, as slow as the Ashton Method or maybe even slower, but I'm not stabilizing and I was getting worse holding my dose because I held at a lower dose too long....I am in the worst case scenario category that is possible, honestly, but...

@Lane Oh, and as far as the alpha-stim, did you not already kind of feel like you had electricity coursing through your veins during withdrawal? That's sometimes one of my symptoms. It's VERY bizarre. Most people do not get this symptom.

@Lane Thank you for reaching out to me. I'm sorry for your setback but it's good to hear that you are improving. Scary thatYes, I am in what feels like hell.....every single day. If I had started out a taper in a better place and done it right and not held, then I would not be in this crisis...

Thank you Marc. I'm very ill, very ill. My kids went to their aunt and I'm heartbroken over it but my nerves need the rest. The H is still there but up and down. I went to Mass this morning at a church with no music and took hearing protection. It had a fairly bad echo and I could...

@Daniel Lion Thank you - I am already doing a slow microtaper right now with K. @Star64 You have blessed me greatly with your personal messages. Thanks for answering my questions and giving me some hope. Glad you are getting through and almost done with your horrendous taper. Bless you!

Thank you for reaching out. I just replied to your PM. If you could give me more info, that would be great. I'm so afraid of Valium b/c of the side effects I got. I'm so afraid of more severe WD from the K. I'm exhausted......my muscles/nerves are jumping and moving constantly......

Meaning I had been on 1-2 mg for several months, weaned down to .5 mg in a 4 month period and then held at .5 mg for about 6 months. This threw me into severe tolerance. Now, I'm in acute tolerance withdrawal while still on the medication, trying to figure out how to slowly, "tolerably" wean...

So I've tried thinking of a few things on what could have really made my hyperacusis worse because I really haven't exposed myself to a LOT of loud noises. Yeah, my house is "loud" but not like a blast of noise or anything. Of course the benzos play a role but I have been crying a TON -...

Thank you all for your support. I am feeling like I'm in hell. This is one of the worst symptoms I could have imagined. I am not planning to drag the taper out for another 2 years, I'm hoping not but I don't know how fast to go because this is just agony. If I had continued my tapering...

Contrast, I wouldn't say overexposure. I went to my son's yoyo contest several months ago and the music was loud there so it's possible that may have set some of it off. Then of course, just random small exposures, like an unexpected firework at the neighbors on the 4th or my daughter's...

Hi. Yes, I did. I'm in despair - it's horrendous today. Every noise has been extremely loud and it hits my nervous system like a ton of bricks or a knife. My ears are burning/sizzling. I just called audiologist specialist and I am not sure there's anything they can do for me but they told...

I'm having this also, along with the severe hyperacusis/normal tinnitus. But b/c of benzo w/d, there are a lot of nerve issues involved. The severe hyper-acusis, however, is a granddaddy symptom for me.

It was $3400 for the pair. I don't really understand it completely, especially if all sounds seem loud to me now, which was not the case until just recently. But I think the idea is that you transmit a low level sound in your ear to balance out the louder and annoying sounds that are difficult...

I am also interested as I just came back from the audiologist and she said that some people get the TRT hearing aids for use for the hyperacusis and tinnitus. And that she has had one patient who continues to use the hearing aids to transmit the sounds, not as therapy per se, but just...

I'm just following up on this post as I'm interested in information from the others regarding hearing protection and TRT therapy. My situation is quite different but I have hyperacusis with pain now (and it's likely in part at least to the benzo w/d that I'm suffering). But with 7 kids, my...

Thank you, Marco. I don't know about never going to Mass again but I will definitely be more careful in the future, if that even requires wearing earplugs plus earmuffs. I did and will continue to sit in the back where it does not impact me. I had no idea that it could get like this bad. I...

Using clonazepam on occasion is not a problem but I would caution against regular use. I was never intended to be on it this long. It was from anxiety and depression and I reduced the dose and held at this lower dose too long. The medication itself doesn't cause it usually - it's the...

Thank you. This is hell. The tinnitus is bad enough and I'm sorry - but this hyperacusis, severe sound sensitivity and burning ear pain is horrendous.

Sorry for all the new posts. I am new to this and very scared/distraught because the hyperacusis is so bad and painful right now and has come on VERY strong over the past several days (it was there before for a few months but not as bad) - normal voices and normal household noises are really...

Thank you. I'm pretty desperate right now. This is VERY severe. My ears are burning and they feel like they have a stabbing pain. This is noise from inside my house - just normal conversations are hurting, let alone other things, like dishes, the refrigerator ice dispenser, silverware...

Thank you. Sorry, I should have specified. I am only using them right now as ear protection - I have not yet played any music but I thought maybe doing some pink noise at the lowest level could help me but I don't know - I don't know what is best to be able to live/tolerate and be in my home...

I have a cheaper pair of generic noise cancelling headphones, which are ok (still squeeze my ears and hurt them) but after the past several days of intense (Level 4) hyperacusis, I'm wondering if it would be worth it to purchase the Bose set? If the Bose set is that much better, even just...

I am in the midst of a severe benzodiazepine withdrawal storm (hell on earth) with many symptoms, some nerve symptoms. I noticed my ears becoming sensitive to noises a couple of months ago, while I was on a much lower dose of clonazepam than previously (long story, bad story). Tinnitus came on...

Please don't take klonopin for this. Klonopin has destroyed my life, my health and CAUSED me hyperacusis, tinnitus. You can quickly build up a tolerance for it and then it can be hell to get off of. It is not meant for long term use. I'm weaning off it now and my story is very complex and...