My Mum Seems to Believe Antidepressants Are the Cure

[Karl28]

I've been struggling with my tinnitus alot the past 4 or 5 months.

My mum strongly reckons I need to be on antidepressants although I disagree.
I'm not clinically depressed just annoyed and stressed alot of the time.

My tinnitus has gotten louder, changed pitch etc.. and its been hard to deal with.

My mum reckons that if I take anti depressants it will be some bs cure thing where it will lift my mood and I wont be bothered anymore by the tinnitus.

But thats bs as im bothered my the tinnitus because its gotten so much worse and its now louder and painful and simply changing my mood via anti depressants I strongly feel wont help at all.

They wont make me feel like "oh hey my tinnitus is really bad at the moment, I can hear it 24/7 all the time now when I never used to but its all fantastic I dont care at all!"

Its frustrating as we keep having the same argument and going in circles now.

 

[Stina]

Tinnitus does not cause your body any harm or indicate a serious health condition (in most cases). Its a problem for most people because it causes stress, anixiety, depression - eg. your mind.

Tinnitus cant be treated nowadays but stress can and this is where antidepressants come in. They help your body deal with the stress. If you find the right drug it can make you more resilient to stress and more positive. They are not a "miracle drug" but a combination of medication and therapy can help cope with the negative effects of tinnitus.

 

[Sgguy46]

i have been taking anti depressants for months. no effect on T whatsoever.

 

[walkthroughwalls]

Maybe the antidepressants (or something similar) could help with your feelings of stress and annoyance, they're not always strictly prescribed for depression only. You could always see a psychiatrist if you want to be sure.

But I'm guessing that the main problem is that your mom ignores your feelings and arguments, and just continues to push her ideas onto you, right? I don't really have a perfect solution if that's the case... I'd just try to keep the discussions short, refer to what you've already talked about, and ask her to respect your choices.

 

[snow86]

ADs and extreme T = vicious circle...T causes depression, ADs can make the T very much worse in extreme cases like mine and (@Telis )...
I have been given like 8 different ones in the last 2 years. Some of that poison like effexor/venlafaxine gave me additional sounds and made everything louder and more intense (same for telis). None of these really helped to push my mood.
Wish I havent seen a single doctor/psychiatrist about this and just kept to myself. From 1 new sound to about 10 in constant full blast volume in 2 years. Great journey.

When you have like really extreme multiple T in music volume, the depression is not really a problem for me. When I used to have "better days" like one in 7 and the T was a bit lower, I felt like a whole different human being. I could breathe, my brain had plans and thought about good stuff and the future.I wanted to do stuff. Without the feeling of torture.
Those days are long gone. I only take some of the drugs because I can barely fall asleep...By now my T is so bad, I can barely endure the day. With or without ADs.
Lately I tried another AD for sleep..over the next 10 days I got additional high pitched sounds.

Well I guess im one of the extreme exceptions (like few people on this bord like @Geo @Telis ) who just keep worsenin. Most people probably wont experience such heavy effects when taking ADs. But you never know. Many stories about ADs causing T in the first place.

I agree with @linearb ....ADs and drugs in general are pretty complicated when it comes to T

 

[cjb2811]

Antidepressants may help for some but they FUCKED MY LIFE. I've posted my story elsewhere on here (I don't feel like finding the links at the moment but click my profile if you want to read) but here is the summary:

VERY mild tinnitus since 2002 - did not have any negative effect whatsoever on my life
Took Wellbutrin in 2008 - Tinnitus spiked to a moderate level and did not recede whatsoever upon discontinuing the medication.
Took Lamictal in 2013 - Tinnitus spiked to a SEVERE level and also did not recede. HOWEVER, one year later, the tinnitus did recede and went back to the pre-Wellbutrin level.
I fell into another depression in 2015 and took Tegretol. After only two fucking days of taking it my tinnitus was back to the SEVERE post-Lamictal levels. Where does that leave me? Suffering every day. And what do the doctors do? Throw more fucking drugs at me. Here's the current regimen:
Elavil - 25mg
Latuda - 20mg
Xanax - 2mg
Remeron - 15mg
Lyrica - 50mg
I am hoping that one of these drugs will cause some sort of improvement in my mood and/or my tinnitus but have not seen any promise yet.

The time that my tinnitus improved I was in a unique form of therapy - no changes in drugs - simply lifestyle improvements. However the tinnitus did not get worse when I became depressed. I was depressed for several months and it wasn't until taking Tegretol so it is not simply a function of my mood. I am hoping to work with this therapist again, but have not been able to get in with him yet. Fingers crossed on this one. But.....what drug am I using now to cope with this horrible fucking affliction? Alcohol. Let me knock back a few (or ten) and call it a night. Fuck this shit.

 

[Telis]

ADs did nothing for me except turn me into a zombie idiot and worsen my tinnitus.

im not even sure that these drugs are proven to be effective combating depression. I think if you went for a brisk walk everyday you would probably have better results than taking drugs.