Benzodiazepine Withdrawal-Induced Tinnitus

[sirokinl]

I was on a 3x5mg doses of Oxazepam when I first developed T and have severe stress and axienty attacks. When I slowly stopped it seems to make my headache, neckpain and T even worse. It slowly faded away during the next 6 months.

 

[Cal18]

@fhs At this point, I'm not really any rush to taper off as even a very slow taper like 1% would surely result in higher T in my case if I had that sort of reaction to a 2 week 5mg dose of valium. I'm coming up on 4 months with extreme T which has not settled down yet, I certainly don't want to throw a benzo withdrawal in the mix to shake things up even more. My nervous system is still trying to recover from my initial reaction to an antidepressant. This has not been fun.

 

[Cal18]

@sirokinl are you saying that the benzo caused you to have T even before you started tapering? Was your dosing sporadic meaning you would skip doses every now and then or was your schedule exactly the same every day?

 

[JasonP]

Hi, actually yes. Although my tinnitus never dissapeared, it calmed down a bit. Now, after almost 4 years I consider myself habituated and T is not a such big problem for me anymore.

I am strictly avoiding loud places today and had to change few things in my life because of T, but I am not taking any medications related to tinnitus anymore, except daily dosage of magnesium.

Hey there, I was curious how much your static benzo induced T dropped since it began and when did you first start noticing the drop? Also, how long did it take you to withdrawal? I am wondering if part of it could be caused by the body lowering GABA production due to the constant klonopin usage. Although I do think other factors could be involved in the T such as a glutamate storm. You mentioned with stress it gets worse, which makes me wonder if stress lowers GABA. There's probably more to it than that though.

 

[Raphael7713]

Does Tinnitus that is caused by medicine dissapear? It feels unlogic that medicin will result in chronic T?

 

[JasonP]

I was on a 3x5mg doses of Oxazepam when I first developed T and have severe stress and axienty attacks. When I slowly stopped it seems to make my headache, neckpain and T even worse. It slowly faded away during the next 6 months.

So you are saying the T went away completely after 6 months? By the way, how long were you on the drug and how long did it take to ween off it? Was the T you developed a hissing type T? That's what happened to me. If the T didn't go completely away, how much did it go down in volume?

 

[FranH]

Hello,

I'm desperately hoping someone can help. My mum suffers from extreme tinnitus due to being taken off Benzos far too quickly by a doctor. She has had this for 6 years now and it's ruining her life. Every waking moment it is like an orchestra of all different noises is going off in her head. She barely gets a couple of hours sleep per night and she requires everything turned up to the maximum volume just to drown out the noise as much as possible. She has been to see a specialist who tried a white noise machine with her but not even that helped. She is understandably extremely distressed and i can hear her screaming and shouting with torture every night. I try and be there for her as much as possible but it is having a real impact on my mental health and i am no longer much help.
Can anyone give me any guidance at all? I am desperate. I can hear her now, screaming in a state of torture. My dad also tries to help as much as possible but he too doesn't know what to do.
I'm sorry if this query has already been answered. It is 5 in the morning here and I'm sleep deprived.
Also I sincerely apologise if this post frightens anyone who has just started experiencing tinnitus. My mum has the worst kind of tinnitus, according to the specialist, and everyone experiences it differently. Again, I hope this makes sense. I'm very very tired.

 

[David077]

Hello,

I'm desperately hoping someone can help. My mum suffers from extreme tinnitus due to being taken off Benzos far too quickly by a doctor. She has had this for 6 years now and it's ruining her life. Every waking moment it is like an orchestra of all different noises is going off in her head. She barely gets a couple of hours sleep per night and she requires everything turned up to the maximum volume just to drown out the noise as much as possible. She has been to see a specialist who tried a white noise machine with her but not even that helped. She is understandably extremely distressed and i can hear her screaming and shouting with torture every night. I try and be there for her as much as possible but it is having a real impact on my mental health and i am no longer much help.
Can anyone give me any guidance at all? I am desperate. I can hear her now, screaming in a state of torture. My dad also tries to help as much as possible but he too doesn't know what to do.
I'm sorry if this query has already been answered. It is 5 in the morning here and I'm sleep deprived.
Also I sincerely apologise if this post frightens anyone who has just started experiencing tinnitus. My mum has the worst kind of tinnitus, according to the specialist, and everyone experiences it differently. Again, I hope this makes sense. I'm very very tired.

Did your mother try to go back to the banzo to reduce the tinnitus?

 

[birdy]

My doc said people with tinnitus have too much Serotonin in there brain chemistry. This is why people who take high doses of SSRI's get tinnitus.
Long story short I am on 12mg per day off an Serotonin antagonist called cyproheptadine. This is classically a drug used for people with Serotonin poisoning (Serotonin Syndrome).

Most people that have a chemical imbalance from taking then quitting benzo's have too much Serotonin running through their heads, and then Doc's give people in benzo withwithdrawal an SSRI, not smart!
I still have a bit of tinnitus after 6 years on high dose Xanax but it is very manageable after I was put on cyproheptadine. Takes about 3 full weeks to feel full effects.
Another plus is that cyproheptadine is also prescribed to stop scary or vivid dreams so sleep is very nice and peaceful, no more racing thoughts, no more excessive sweating, no more headaches and best of all a dramatic decrease in my tinnitus.
Most people stay on this drug for life with no problem's too.
Cyproheptadine is a very good drug for the post benzo blues!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyproheptadine

 

[Lost life]

I am taking hydroxyzine. Are these drugs similar? I just finished ativan taper when my pt and t started.

 

[Jiri]

My doc said people with tinnitus have too much Serotonin in there brain chemistry. This is why people who take high doses of SSRI's get tinnitus.
Long story short I am on 12mg per day off an Serotonin antagonist called cyproheptadine. This is classically a drug used for people with Serotonin poisoning (Serotonin Syndrome).

Most people that have a chemical imbalance from taking then quitting benzo's have too much Serotonin running through their heads, and then Doc's give people in benzo withwithdrawal an SSRI, not smart!
I still have a bit of tinnitus after 6 years on high dose Xanax but it is very manageable after I was put on cyproheptadine. Takes about 3 full weeks to feel full effects.
Another plus is that cyproheptadine is also prescribed to stop scary or vivid dreams so sleep is very nice and peaceful, no more racing thoughts, no more excessive sweating, no more headaches and best of all a dramatic decrease in my tinnitus.
Most people stay on this drug for life with no problem's too.
Cyproheptadine is a very good drug for the post benzo blues!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyproheptadine

Yet in adverse effects on that wikipedia site for this drug there's tinnitus... among many other adverse reactions.

 

[David077]

Hi @birdy, can you please update about your experience with cyproheptadine? Thanks.

 

[Frédéric]

Tinnitus associated with benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome: A case report and literature review

In light of the ongoing opioid crisis, many have encouraged the medical community as well as local and national US government agencies to reconsider the prevalent use of benzodiazepines. As prescribers continue to weigh the risks and benefits of ongoing benzodiazepine use, care must be taken when the decision is made to taper and discontinue these medications in patients who have been maintained on them chronically. We present a case of an adult patient maintained on a benzodiazepine for several years who developed tinnitus during a gradual dose taper. This patient developed tinnitus within 7 weeks of gradual reduction of the patient's clonazepam dose to 50% of the original dose in an outpatient clinic. The persistence of these symptoms prevented further dose reductions. Upon review of the available literature, several other cases were identified describing development of tinnitus upon discontinuation or tapering of a benzodiazepine. In weighing the risks and benefits of chronic benzodiazepine therapy, tinnitus must be considered as a rare but debilitating and long-term risk of benzodiazepine withdrawal. Providers must be prepared to individualize benzodiazepine tapers and be vigilant about emergence of withdrawal symptoms to prevent undue stress in patients.

Full article: https://mhc.cpnp.org/doi/10.9740/mhc.2020.05.100

 

[Fletcher1980]

In my case, the tinnitus brought on by alprazolam withdrawals did go away but it took a long time.

After taking alprazolam daily for 5 years I began a long process of tapering off the drug. While I was still taking a lower dosage I, quite suddenly, got very loud tinnitus. It was so loud that it was hard for me to sleep at night. I could no longer sleep on my side because, putting my ear against the pillow made it so much more apparent.

I was terrified that it would never go away.

I can't tell you exactly how long it lasted because it's decrease was very gradual. I would say 18 months is probably pretty accurate.

I'm a musician who had minor tinnitus before the alprazolam withdrawals (nothing close the the withdrawal volume) and I continue to have that same low level today so it makes it more confusing putting a number on it.

Of all the terrible things that went along with alprazolam withdrawal, the tinnitus was one of the worst. I remember reading forums like this one and seeing people mention that it might not ever go away. That idea literally brought me to tears. I signed up for this forum just to let anyone reading who might be in the same situation that I was in back then that, in my case, it did end. But it took some time.

On a side note: I went an saw a few doctors when the ringing was at it's worst but there was nothing they could do. One doctor prescribed me some ear drops but they didn't do anything. Only time away from the Xanax helped.

 

[Chinmoku]

In my case, the tinnitus brought on by alprazolam withdrawals did go away but it took a long time.

After taking alprazolam daily for 5 years I began a long process of tapering off the drug. While I was still taking a lower dosage I, quite suddenly, got very loud tinnitus. It was so loud that it was hard for me to sleep at night. I could no longer sleep on my side because, putting my ear against the pillow made it so much more apparent.

I was terrified that it would never go away.

I can't tell you exactly how long it lasted because it's decrease was very gradual. I would say 18 months is probably pretty accurate.

I'm a musician who had minor tinnitus before the alprazolam withdrawals (nothing close the the withdrawal volume) and I continue to have that same low level today so it makes it more confusing putting a number on it.

Of all the terrible things that went along with alprazolam withdrawal, the tinnitus was one of the worst. I remember reading forums like this one and seeing people mention that it might not ever go away. That idea literally brought me to tears. I signed up for this forum just to let anyone reading who might be in the same situation that I was in back then that, in my case, it did end. But it took some time.

On a side note: I went an saw a few doctors when the ringing was at it's worst but there was nothing they could do. One doctor prescribed me some ear drops but they didn't do anything. Only time away from the Xanax helped.

Thank you, I needed to read this. May I ask you how quickly you tapered?

 

[Fletcher1980]

Thank you, I needed to read this. May I ask you how quickly you tapered?

I tapered for a really long time. I would half my dosage and then stick with that amount for a month or more before halving it again and going another month. I probably halved my dosage 5 or 6 times before I came off completely so it took like 8 months. I had been on the Xanax for five straight years so it was pretty rough. In hindsight, I don't know if the tinnitus would have ended sooner if I tapered fast. Probably. When I was in the middle of it I didn't realize that the tinnitus was because of the WITHDRAWALS. I was reading other forums that blamed it on a number of things that ended up not being the culprit.