Getting Sober with Tinnitus?

[Smed]

My drinking started increasing after tinnitus took its hold on me a few years ago, an easy way to escape at the end of the day when it's loudest. When the pandemic hit the country things got worse.

I'm alone most of the time now, and the drinking became heavier and almost daily. I'm trying to kick it, but the tinnitus is making it harder. I have tried many tricks of escaping my tinnitus, headphones and Netflix at night until I can knock myself out and sleep.

ENT prescribed Gabapentin. It helps me sleep (the alcohol on top of that REALLY knocks me out).

Anybody else going through this, or have any tips maybe I haven't thought of for a healthy escape from my tinnitus?

I can't go to the gym, just not comfortable with the thought of that during this.

 

[Mashed]

Hey Smed--

Sounds a lot like my experience with this beast. I needed to drink to handle the noise at the end of the day/nights. I became so desperate I went cold turkey on the alcohol to just *try* to see if cutting it out completely would help. The first couple of weeks after cutting it out it seemed to ramp up quite a bit, but eventually started to improve/become less noticeable. Years later, alcohol seems to definitely be a trigger for the noise for me. It was a nightmare slogging through the first bit of abstinence from booze, but it paid off for me over time. I also supplemented with Resveratrol and ALC/ALA.

Best of luck to you.