It Doesn't Matter How Bad Your Tinnitus Is, You Can Heal from It... I Have

[Tavia]

Hello everyone, my name is Tavia and let's just say I never thought I would post on this thread let alone be alive to post anything after I got T in January of 2017 My tinnitus was caused by lexapro and boy was it SEVERE!!!! it was like two horns getting blown in my ear on top of three different tones in my left ear. My tinnitus was so bad I had to drop out of college and I couldn't function...It was debilitating. I couldn't sleep at all, I would put my head to a pillow and it would be so loud I would start to get a headache. I ended up gaining 35 pounds due to lack of sleep and binge eating due to the tinnitus which really sucked being that I had worked so hard to get to the weight I was at and stay there (i was a fat kid all my life till my sophomore year in high school) anywho It pretty much consumed my whole life for 8 months until it was time for me to go back to school....

IM FORGETTING SOMETHING THAT REALLY HELPED ME "nortriptyline" and "clonazepam" these helped me get some sleep as well as cut my anxiety helping reduce my tinnitus but not dramatically, that didn't happen until school started...

(sorry for the long introduction to my T I'm just trying to express how intrusive my T was so that I can bring piece of mind to those who think there's is so sever it couldn't possibly go away, because it can ..)....and this is where the healing began...I roomed with my best friend whom I hadn't talk to in 8 months and got into a relationship, both of which distracted me from my tinnitus, not to mention I was back in school so I had work to do(tinnitus was no longer my only priority) and I just began living my like as normal and SLOWLY but surely it got better...
and when I say slowly I mean my tinnitus didn't really let up until 9 months of having it.

So here it is 14 months into my journey with tinnitus and I can say it's so quiet I can only hear it in a quiet room when I look for it as well as after I play loud music which I don't advise...but the sound is so minute it does not bother me, I know one day it will completely go away and if it stayed like this I would be fine with that as well.

I wish I had a cure or something that I could tell you guys got rid of my T but really all it took was TIME!!! Time is medicine....although here are some tips I have for you all

. Stay away from stress (most important)

. Try the medications I listed because unlike most medications there T safe

. Live your life, please don't let tinnitus hold you back from doing the things you love, you will heal from this and it won't be like this forever.

. Tell yourself you will heal from this, you won't be like this forever, read success stories and only success stories, NEVER think it won't get better, and get someone to believe with you just in case you ever have any doubt (my parents were my saving grace).

I would love to go more in detail about everything because I'm sure I'm missing a lot...feel free to message me and ask me any questions I would love to help anyone going through this since I know how horrible you must be feeling.

 

[spiiros]

Tavia bravo 4you. How you are sure that you got tinnitus due to lexapro (how long did you take it)? Also i suppose you have first taken lexapro because of the stress, when you stop it did you get stress again?

 

[dpdx]

Great story.

 

[Rajin]

Great story , do you have hearing loss ?

 

[OnceUponaTime]

Yes! Hope! Thank you!

 

[Tavia]

Great story , do you have hearing loss ?

thank you! and no sir, i do not.

 

[Tavia]

Tavia bravo 4you. How you are sure that you got tinnitus due to lexapro (how long did you take it)? Also i suppose you have first taken lexapro because of the stress, when you stop it did you get stress again?

i was on lexapro for a month due to my health anxiety, as soon as i stopped taking it maybe a couple of days after i started having withdrawal symptoms such as body aches, joint pain, brain zaps, DIZZINESS, AND TINNITUS ( i capitalized them because they were the worst symptoms i received) all the symptoms let up except for the tinnitus. and yes i was very stressed, but only because of my tinnitus and its intrusiveness, i couldn't imagine living the rest of my life that way.

 

[Tavia]

question how do i reply to people who have sent me messages to my inbox, i dont seem to be able to,

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Oh man, I was on Lexapro for 7 weeks and had the same issues. Slowly disappeared, but EF those pills. So many people are stuck with T now. I've seen forums here where people use antidepressants to try and cope with having T and I just want to slap them. It's what caused mine!!!

 

[Dij111]

When I was at the psychiatrist - being suicidal because of tinnitus, I was offered Lexapro to calm me down, thank god I did not take that, might've made my situation worse.

Enjoy your life Tavia, hopefully it will 100% fade for you and it won't even be heard in a quiet room anymore.

 

[Tavia]

Oh man, I was on Lexapro for 7 weeks and had the same issues. Slowly disappeared, but EF those pills. So many people are stuck with T now. I've seen forums here where people use antidepressants to try and cope with having T and I just want to slap them. It's what caused mine!!!

EXACTLY!!!! It made me hate my doctor because I should have never gotten on the pill in the first place I had health anxiety due to my ACUTE GASTRITIS and she gave me an ssri which olny made it worse and gave me tinnitus.... Although I would recommend noritriptyline It definitely helped lower my t enough to somewhat cope with it, but that may also be due to the fact that it helped me sleep, where as before I was getting 30 to zero min of sleep a night

 

[TheDanishGirl]

Oh man, I was on Lexapro for 7 weeks and had the same issues. Slowly disappeared, but EF those pills. So many people are stuck with T now. I've seen forums here where people use antidepressants to try and cope with having T and I just want to slap them. It's what caused mine!!!

Just because you had worsening from AD's does not mean that others will have it. I am sorry that it had that effect on you, but the risk of getting permenant T from AD's (that are not SSRI) is still very very VERY SLIGHT. I take AD's to have a tolerable life......had I not been put on them....I am 99,9% sure I would have been dead today i.e I would have killed myself long ago.

 

[Agrajag364]

@Tavia what AD caused your T?

@TheDanishGirl glad ADs helped. Did you do trial and error to find one to help and which one helps you? Does it help with dealing with T, actual T or pre T depression? It's a complex issue

 

[Miah]

Hi tavia!! I also encountered tinnitus due to lexapro and at only 17 which i feel made it harder! I was on it for a few months and had stopped taking it and had no idea it could be a side effect- would never recommend the medication to anyone! But thanks so much for your success story! I have had steady improvement since mine as well and will hopefully be posting a success story here soon! Thanks for sharing it motivated me to stay positive and keep waiting for more improvement.

 

[TheDanishGirl]

@Tavia what AD caused your T?

@TheDanishGirl glad ADs helped. Did you do trial and error to find one to help and which one helps you? Does it help with dealing with T, actual T or pre T depression? It's a complex issue

I had been on Cipralex for about 10 years when T started but when T started and I needed something stronger I was put on Venlafaxine. It gave me some side effects that I could not live with in the long term though and the dose I was on did not help my depression/anxiety, so I tapered of it. Mirtazapine and Brintellix was then prescribed to me. Initially Mirtazapine was only prescribed for sleep and it was a low dose, but it was raised to 30 mg to help with my depression also, and it did wonders, soon after I was raised in dose I started feeling better. It helps with dealing with T, but it does nothing on the actual volume or sound of it. I had bouts of depression before T started , so I needed an AD regardless of T or no T.

Right now I am tapering of Benzo which presents it's own problems, but so far it is going okay.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Just because you had worsening from AD's does not mean that others will have it. I am sorry that it had that effect on you, but the risk of getting permenant T from AD's (that are not SSRI) is still very very VERY SLIGHT. I take AD's to have a tolerable life......had I not been put on them....I am 99,9% sure I would have been dead today i.e I would have killed myself long ago.

I agree 100%! It's a cost/benefit analysis that your doctor should make. If you need AD's, then by all means you need them and there is no shame in that. I was talking about people who don't really need the AD's, but think AD's will get rid of their anxiety and diminish their T. I would only take AD's if you really need them, as it COULD make T worse or cause it. It's a listed side effect of the medication. And I am talking specifically about SSRI. If you aren't taking SSRI, then I have no experience with that.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Hi tavia!! I also encountered tinnitus due to lexapro and at only 17 which i feel made it harder! I was on it for a few months and had stopped taking it and had no idea it could be a side effect- would never recommend the medication to anyone! But thanks so much for your success story! I have had steady improvement since mine as well and will hopefully be posting a success story here soon! Thanks for sharing it motivated me to stay positive and keep waiting for more improvement.

Was your T from the medicine or an ear infection? Your bio says ear infection, that's why I ask.

 

[TheDanishGirl]

I agree 100%! It's a cost/benefit analysis that your doctor should make. If you need AD's, then by all means you need them and there is no shame in that. I was talking about people who don't really need the AD's, but think AD's will get rid of their anxiety and diminish their T. I would only take AD's if you really need them, as it COULD make T worse or cause it. It's a listed side effect of the medication. And I am talking specifically about SSRI. If you aren't taking SSRI, then I have no experience with that.

Those I take are not SSRI, and I would also advice people with T to not take SSRI AD's as there is a greater risk of worsening with that group of AD's.

 

[Miah]

@MeBeSurfer I initially got tinnitus in my right ear during an ear infection and it was so quiet it barely bugged me, so I ignored it for about a year. I was also on lexapro at the time so I have attributed it to both honestly. I blame the lexapro for weakening my ears while I was sick, and I continued lexapro after his happened since I didn't know it was a side effect. I think it is possibly the reason for my worsening condition and it now being in both ears.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

@MeBeSurfer I initially got tinnitus in my right ear during an ear infection and it was so quiet it barely bugged me, so I ignored it for about a year. I was also on lexapro at the time so I have attributed it to both honestly. I blame the lexapro for weakening my ears while I was sick, and I continued lexapro after his happened since I didn't know it was a side effect. I think it is possibly the reason for my worsening condition and it now being in both ears.

Is your T improving or worsening? You said earlier its steadily improving? I'm just trying to follow your story, since it seems similar to mine. Def not trying to call your posts out or anything like that. Thanks for explaining.

 

[Miah]

Is your T improving or worsening? You said earlier its steadily improving? I'm just trying to follow your story, since it seems similar to mine. Def not trying to call your posts out or anything like that. Thanks for explaining.

I didn't think you were! I'm sure that seemed confusing. My tinnitus is tricky, it varies quite a lot. Some days i think it's literally almost gone, others it's quite loud, recently been having more good days than bad. Hoping this is a step in the right direction and I will soon be like Tavia.

 

[Tavia]

Was your T from the medicine or an ear infection? Your bio says ear infection, that's why I ask.

Lexapro, and really it says ear infection?! I can't believe I would put that but, ah well I will change it

 

[Tavia]

@Tavia what AD caused your T?

@TheDanishGirl glad ADs helped. Did you do trial and error to find one to help and which one helps you? Does it help with dealing with T, actual T or pre T depression? It's a complex issue

Lexapro

 

[Tavia]

Hi tavia!! I also encountered tinnitus due to lexapro and at only 17 which i feel made it harder! I was on it for a few months and had stopped taking it and had no idea it could be a side effect- would never recommend the medication to anyone! But thanks so much for your success story! I have had steady improvement since mine as well and will hopefully be posting a success story here soon! Thanks for sharing it motivated me to stay positive and keep waiting for more improvement.

Yea I got mine when I was only 20 so I feel you, and I believe you will, stay positive

 

[Adam McGovern]

Very nice to hear lol. I just now started to read some of the stories Here, & have been trying to stay positive, because I have no family where I am just a single father @ 52 of 2 young girls.

"T" has been with me for close to 2 decades for me now. Truthfully I am not very positive but I am trying. Sometimes. I just wanna get into a fight and see if if getting tagged a few times that this would help.
Anywho cheers and Gods Speed.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

Lexapro, and really it says ear infection?! I can't believe I would put that but, ah well I will change it

Not you, someone else