Hello everyone, I wanted to share my story with you, maybe some veterans from the forum have some good advice for me 
I believe my story is pretty unique. I was a teenager with perfect life until i got severe acne. After 2 years I decided it was time to start doing something with it. I went to dermatologist and he prescribed Isotretinoin on the first visit - (Roaccutane I believe is the brand name), he told me that the drug is perfectly safe and not to read the horror stories on the web - well to be honest it was exactly what I wanted to hear.
After 3 months of treatment I developed severe anxiety and depression (the sadness from acne was nothing compared to it), I stopped the treatment and went to psychiatrist. As my core problem was insomnia he put me on Mirtazapine. The drug helped me sleep but put me in a zombie mode, and because after 3 months it hadn't helped me, my doctor decided to add Venlafaxine to my therapy - that was my second worst decision in my life (after touching Isotretinoin).
After only 2 days I started to hear loud ringing all inside my head all the time. Doctor said it will be temporary and to continue the drug but I was so scared I stopped the drug. The ringing went down but never stopped, it changed a bit and stayed only in my right ear, it was not so loud, I heard it only in silence. So I had terrible depression and tinnitus. It was those 6 months that I believe ruined my life.
But life went on, I slowly tapered Mirtazapine from 30 mg to the quarter of 15 mg pill (3.75 mg).
I had audiologist do tests on me and I have no hearing loss at all. I habituated at some point, and as my depression alleviated a bit it changed into dysthymia.
So fast forward 6 years (there were better and worse times, but nothing was the same as before I took these awful meds). After plane flight and some diving I got middle ear infection, tinnitus spiked, I was more and more depressed, to the point where I went to the psychiatrist again (the professor of local Medical University, he stated I was depressed and prescribed Prozac stating that it can't affect tinnitus. I was so desperate that I believed and it again spiked my tinnitus. I took only 7 doses and went off of it, because my new tinnitus was 24/7. My tinnitus lowered a bit but it never went to my baseline level which I had habituated to earlier.
It sucks so much, I'm 25 and think I have lost my life. I'm almost sure it is a brain problem as I can see anxiety can ramp up the tinnitus to the sky, but it is some hellish loop, anxiety -> tinnitus -> even more anxiety -> louder tinnitus.
I don't know what to do, I'm depressed but can't touch drugs because more tinnitus would make me suicidal I think.
I can't get proper help, all doctors who hear of my tinnitus propose some vascular drugs, and almost everyone neglects that the tinnitus came from ADs, even if there is info in the Venlafaxine leaflet that tinnitus is a frequent side effect.
Do you have any advice? I tried Alprazolam, it made me calm, but the tinnitus was the same, I slept well, but the next day I believe it was louder.
Anyone has any idea? If it's a brain problem as I believe it is, maybe there could be some magic switch. Any suggestions what to try?
It's such a horror story, I think it would be easier to accept my tinnitus if it was after hundreds of concerts, but I got hit with it when I so desperately needed help.
I believe my story is pretty unique. I was a teenager with perfect life until i got severe acne. After 2 years I decided it was time to start doing something with it. I went to dermatologist and he prescribed Isotretinoin on the first visit - (Roaccutane I believe is the brand name), he told me that the drug is perfectly safe and not to read the horror stories on the web - well to be honest it was exactly what I wanted to hear.
After 3 months of treatment I developed severe anxiety and depression (the sadness from acne was nothing compared to it), I stopped the treatment and went to psychiatrist. As my core problem was insomnia he put me on Mirtazapine. The drug helped me sleep but put me in a zombie mode, and because after 3 months it hadn't helped me, my doctor decided to add Venlafaxine to my therapy - that was my second worst decision in my life (after touching Isotretinoin).
After only 2 days I started to hear loud ringing all inside my head all the time. Doctor said it will be temporary and to continue the drug but I was so scared I stopped the drug. The ringing went down but never stopped, it changed a bit and stayed only in my right ear, it was not so loud, I heard it only in silence. So I had terrible depression and tinnitus. It was those 6 months that I believe ruined my life.
But life went on, I slowly tapered Mirtazapine from 30 mg to the quarter of 15 mg pill (3.75 mg).
I had audiologist do tests on me and I have no hearing loss at all. I habituated at some point, and as my depression alleviated a bit it changed into dysthymia.
So fast forward 6 years (there were better and worse times, but nothing was the same as before I took these awful meds). After plane flight and some diving I got middle ear infection, tinnitus spiked, I was more and more depressed, to the point where I went to the psychiatrist again (the professor of local Medical University, he stated I was depressed and prescribed Prozac stating that it can't affect tinnitus. I was so desperate that I believed and it again spiked my tinnitus. I took only 7 doses and went off of it, because my new tinnitus was 24/7. My tinnitus lowered a bit but it never went to my baseline level which I had habituated to earlier.
It sucks so much, I'm 25 and think I have lost my life. I'm almost sure it is a brain problem as I can see anxiety can ramp up the tinnitus to the sky, but it is some hellish loop, anxiety -> tinnitus -> even more anxiety -> louder tinnitus.
I don't know what to do, I'm depressed but can't touch drugs because more tinnitus would make me suicidal I think.
I can't get proper help, all doctors who hear of my tinnitus propose some vascular drugs, and almost everyone neglects that the tinnitus came from ADs, even if there is info in the Venlafaxine leaflet that tinnitus is a frequent side effect.
Do you have any advice? I tried Alprazolam, it made me calm, but the tinnitus was the same, I slept well, but the next day I believe it was louder.
Anyone has any idea? If it's a brain problem as I believe it is, maybe there could be some magic switch. Any suggestions what to try?
It's such a horror story, I think it would be easier to accept my tinnitus if it was after hundreds of concerts, but I got hit with it when I so desperately needed help.
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