Here is my story and worth reading:
I had insomnia and anxiety most of my life but it wasn't severe. I left the military with some very mild, intermittent, left ear tinnitus that never bothered me. It was the fall of 2012 and I had been having some stressful issues at work. My anxiety and insomnia had ratcheted up and my old standby, Ambien, quit working. I will never forget that October morning when I was driving to work and a switch flipped on in my left ear. That sudden, no trigger event, just a very high frequency buzzing that turned on.
I freaked out. Now I couldn't sleep at all and thus started a 2 ½ year struggle on psychiatric medications…Wellbutrin (which I blame for it's permanence), Cymbalta, Lexapro, Celexa, Pristiq and now Remeron. But, the worse of it was the course of benzodiazepines a psychiatrist started me on in April 2014, starting at 1.5 mg…a whopping dose. Unbeknownst to me, I reached tolerance quickly and since last fall have been desperately trying to taper off of Valium which I crossed over to in late November, just now having reached the 4 mg mark. I cannot describe the horrific experience that benzodiazepines have done to my life and it is a long way from over. It will cost me my career and livelihood as I can no longer work given the side effects of even a slow and gradual taper from this terrible medicine. I can barely walk and am unable to do any physical activity.
Now the tinnitus is coming back. Fortunately I can type this today as it is thankfully intermittent. I have had every medical test done for this and there is no known cause. I saw an audiologist recently but as luck would have it, I was asymptomatic that day. Based on my description she thought that Neuromonics would be the best solution but I couldn't get the will to fork over the $4,700 needed.
The horrors of benzo withdrawal are going to be fierce. I need to learn how to deal with this demon, how to learn to sleep with it and what to do quickly. Any "emergency" pointers are appreciated.
I had insomnia and anxiety most of my life but it wasn't severe. I left the military with some very mild, intermittent, left ear tinnitus that never bothered me. It was the fall of 2012 and I had been having some stressful issues at work. My anxiety and insomnia had ratcheted up and my old standby, Ambien, quit working. I will never forget that October morning when I was driving to work and a switch flipped on in my left ear. That sudden, no trigger event, just a very high frequency buzzing that turned on.
I freaked out. Now I couldn't sleep at all and thus started a 2 ½ year struggle on psychiatric medications…Wellbutrin (which I blame for it's permanence), Cymbalta, Lexapro, Celexa, Pristiq and now Remeron. But, the worse of it was the course of benzodiazepines a psychiatrist started me on in April 2014, starting at 1.5 mg…a whopping dose. Unbeknownst to me, I reached tolerance quickly and since last fall have been desperately trying to taper off of Valium which I crossed over to in late November, just now having reached the 4 mg mark. I cannot describe the horrific experience that benzodiazepines have done to my life and it is a long way from over. It will cost me my career and livelihood as I can no longer work given the side effects of even a slow and gradual taper from this terrible medicine. I can barely walk and am unable to do any physical activity.
Now the tinnitus is coming back. Fortunately I can type this today as it is thankfully intermittent. I have had every medical test done for this and there is no known cause. I saw an audiologist recently but as luck would have it, I was asymptomatic that day. Based on my description she thought that Neuromonics would be the best solution but I couldn't get the will to fork over the $4,700 needed.
The horrors of benzo withdrawal are going to be fierce. I need to learn how to deal with this demon, how to learn to sleep with it and what to do quickly. Any "emergency" pointers are appreciated.
Member
