Anyone Had Intermittent Spikes in Tinnitus While Withdrawing from Benzodiazepines? (Xanax, Klonopin)

[JasonP]

I have been slowly withdrawing from benzodiazepines. I'm not sure if I am doing it right but sometimes I will go a day without taking them. I was originally on .5 mg but now average around .25 mg or less.

The Klonopin used to lower my tinnitus but stopped doing that years ago and I think it actually increased it after a couple years of use. Since taking a drug called Lamictal, I have experienced a lot less depression overall than when I tried to withdraw on my own.

Because of tinnitus I used to have breakdowns and could not seem to come off it. When I started taking Lamictal, I actually got a drop in loudness when I got to a therapeutic dose. I began lowering my Klonopin and things seemed great for a couple of weeks. Then the tinnitus would increase and I increased my Lamictal and it dropped again. Same thing happened etc.

Well, once I got to the max therapeutic dose it stopped lowering it after a couple of weeks. (Note: Upon waking up it was loud but after waiting an hour after Lamictal it would drop). Then it went up to its old volume.

For about 10 days in June it was very bothersome again which lasted about ten days. I drunk alcohol the last of those nights and the next day when I took my Lamictal it lowered the tinnitus again. Things were great for 8 weeks. I was a normal functioning human being with goals and ambition and no depression.

This past Sunday the tinnitus started going up again. I tried the alcohol thing Sunday night and it didn't work. Klonopin does not lower it. I am wondering if it going back to the old baseline is due to Klonopin having an unlinear withdraw or if it just my hormones. The previous 8 weeks was great.

Since being on Lamictal this past week I have yet to "crash". What is bizarre is that it seems like when Lamictal does work to lower tinnitus, it has been lowering exactly one hour after taking it in the morning. It also might lower it if I take it right before going to sleep but I haven't done that in a long time.

There must be some kind of weird thing happening when I go to sleep. Any ideas what is going on?

Note: When I say "intermittent" I mean 5 to 10 days of increased tinnitus.

 

[JasonP]

Okay, knowing what I know now, I may or may not be able to explain this. For one, I have something called dysautonomia and my norepinephrine or "fight or flight" hormones are higher than healthy people throughout the day. I can have significant changes in me based on my body position and when I go to bed at night without taking a medication or a supplement, it takes me a while to fall asleep because of all the previously "fight or flight" type hormones going on that day. Eating late is a problem too so I haven't done that in a long time. One of my ideas why the "alcohol" idea didn't work the second time was because I was drinking an alcoholic beverage with sugar and I was eating food with it late at night. The first time, I just had regular liquor. Sugar and food might be the reason why it didn't work.

As far as the Lamictal working for my tinnitus, for some reason I failed to mention in this article what I was doing for those 8 weeks. I was taking Melatonin and Klonopin right when I got sleepy, then wake up and take Lamictal. What happened was near the end of the 8 weeks I stopped taking Melatonin and just took Klonopin when I got sleepy. The Lamictal still lowered it. However, the last night I felt I wasn't getting to sleep early enough so before I got sleepy, I took the Klonopin and went to bed. What I think was going on was that when I got that sleepy feeling, my heart rate was lowering, the "fight or flight" system was kicking down and the Klonopin could be more potent. By taking the Klonopin early, I didn't give the "fight or flight" system a chance to calm down. It's quite possible if I took the Klonopin and Melatonin together, I could have lowered the tinnitus the next day with Lamictal.

Unfortunately, now that I figured this out, I'm too scared right now to get back on Klonopin due to "kindling". The last time I took Klonopin with Melatonin it worked and I only needed a crumb the size of a salt crystal to get sleepy and go to bed and deactivate "fight or flight". I'm guessing sleeping with higher levels of these "fight or flight" hormones or neurotransmitters makes me wake up with loud tinnitus. As far as the "static tinnitus that Klonopin does, I'm not sure exactly why it does that but it seems like Lamictal and Riluzole, both drugs that work on Glutamate, reduce it.

I would really like to try Riluzole out again if I can get it.