I cannot help you with medications as I have no recent experience and none for tinnitus, I will leave that to the others here with more experience. That said, medications can be a great tool to get a critical situation under control but they have a few potential problems, especially with chronic use. Some of them are addictive, I know I went through Benzo withdrawal in the 90's for panic attacks. They are also toxic substances that your body has to deal with so they come at a cost for some of us such as aggravating tinnitus for some. There is a place for drugs that can help you get some sleep and calm you down but in the long run it is better to find things that can bring relief that get you back in better balance. These things don't work for everyone and some severe cases need whatever will bring relief but thankfully, most people do not fit into that category. I am sorry for all severe sufferers.
I had severe panic attacks in the 80's and 90's and they scared the shit out of me so bad that I thought that drugs were the only thing that could handle this type of problem. They worked for a while but then at least for me, the Benzos turned on me and getting off of them was very unpleasant. I learned later that mastering techniques to calm myself down and eliminating triggering situations, foods, medicines, etc were the only lasting relief. I probably would have had a better experience if I had used them initially to contain the situation and then started the other work. Nobody talked about this stuff back then so the only guidance I got was drugs. I have no experience with antidepressants or sleep aids.
We are all different, we all have different sounds and volume and we all react differently to what we hear. So that means that some experimentation is required to find what may work for you. I have tried plenty of things where I am sitting or lying there and eventually said this is stupid, nothing is happening. Cranial Sacral Therapy, certain body work and massage in general are examples. But, in my 30 years of exploring this stuff I have found many things that work for me and help me have a better life from stress, chronic pain, grief and tinnitus. The list is too exhaustive for one post but in general:
You have to break the fight or flight response cycle and calm down. There are many things that can do this: deep breathing, yoga, exercise, positive imagery, counseling, hypnosis, support groups, ... You have to find what works for you.
You have to get proper sleep. I know, that is a tall order when these sounds are screaming in your head but this is really important. Light exercise early in the day, stretching, eat light at night, no sugar or caffeine after 4pm, watch medicine that rev you up, a cool comfortable bedroom, noise generators if that works for you, ...
For some, this eventually goes away thankfully so time is your friend but for others these sounds will never go away so we have to learn to deal with it the best we can. It is hard initially because these sounds that don't belong there and that we have no control over just go on 24/7. For some like myself, we can eventually almost completely ignore them. I started with really loud tinnitus, multiple tones, reactive to everything, initially it shocked me at how loud it was. It is natural to keep focusing on it, wonder what if this does not go away, what if it gets worse? Now it does not bother me anymore except a few nights a month it keeps me up an extra couple of hours after the shower. There are many techniques that help you make peace with the sounds and start making them less important. Back to Silence, mindfulness, CBT, etc. These things don't work for everyone but many have reported success here including me. It needs to be explored so that you don't risk leaving this on the table. There is no cure today, hopefully some day that will come but for now these are the things that we have.
Good luck, use this resource for learning and support but be careful in the more serious threads, severe sufferers talk about some very heavy things there and initially this may not be a good place to start, even though for some it helps.
George
Member
