Overwhelmed! Little Sleep. Not Coping.

[AuntSally]

I'm nearly five months in with mostly unbearably loud wooshing tinnitus in my right ear. Noises in the left ear too now but it's mainly the right. Been to docs, ENT, had MRI scan already. All clear. No answers.

It's the anxiety and insomnia on top that gets me more and wrecks my ability to cope or muster even a shred of positivity.

2 hours` sleep last night (again). Nothing docs can give me to sleep better/feel better is a long term solution. I've recently tried an antidepressant but it didn't agree with me.

Please tell me this gets better. I'm overwhelmed and loosing hope.

 

[Samantha R]

@AuntSally I am so very sorry to hear you are struggling. I certainly know how you feel.
I am 3 months in with a hissing / buzzing head noise, which varies in intensity, sometimes disappearing but always returning.
Sleeping is something you must try to get. I used a benzo short term, and have found mirtazapine/remeron to be great for sleep. Things turned around for me the night I started taking that drug! It's also an anti depressant, so hopefully helping with my mood too.
I have 4 month old twins who still wake overnight and I am able to tend to them and fall back asleep easily thanks to this drug.
Melatonin might be useful as well?
Are you able to mask your tinnitus? I use a sound pillow plugged into my sound machine and play a soothing chime melody with white noise and crickets in the background.
If my tinnitus is lower or gone when I go to bed, I don't use any sound at all.

The anxiety is a difficult beast. I find walking helps me, playing with my children, and if my tinnitus is getting to me, take a long shower or get some masking happening.

Things are definitely feeling better for me, but my tinnitus is so up and down, I still find my mood is definitely linked to the volume of my tinnitus.

A lot of long term T folk are on here - and they will tell you that it does get better, so hang in there!

 

[Michael Leigh]

HI @AuntSally
You are still in the early stages of tinnitus, but as time passes you will improve. Have a word with your GP about your anxiety and insomnia and something can be prescribed to help you. Below is a link which will take you to an introduction to tinnitus, treatments and coping techniques.
Hope you start to feel better soon
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/an-introduction-to-tinnitus.12100/

 

[Lorac]

Hi @AuntSally ,
Sorry you are struggling so much. I have been dealing with T for three years now and I can tell you that things are much better for me now than they were at 5 months. The tinnitus is still here with me but the anxiety is not. For most people, the anxiety becomes less of an issue as more time passes. You are not alone.

 

[AuntSally]

@Samantha R I take my hat off to you managing this with two little ones to get up to on top of everything. I don't have that and I struggle. It must be hard.
@Michael Leigh Thanks. I am just about to give up on docs though. Trying a massage on Tuesday. And off loading emotionally on various people and help lines at the mo.
@Lorac Thank you for the positivity. I am scouring the "success stories" and positivity threads. I go there each day to try and calm and uplift myself. Good that some people have come back and posted their stories once they felt better. I think we all need that.

Meantime I'm going to try some magnesium and/or valerian root at bedtime, along with a couple of those success stories. Or... maybe I'll get back to reading. I used to be a voracious reader. I began Merlin, the second of the Pendragon Cycle before all this happened before all this frazzled my brains.

 

[Michael Leigh]

Thanks. I am just about to give up on docs though

@AuntSally I hope you reconsider and have a word with your GP about the anxiety and stress you're feeling. It is perfectly understandable in these circumstances. A mild antidepressant might be advised, and if so, consider taking it as it can act as a safety net preventing you from becoming too low. This will give you time to adjust to the tinnitus and the medication doesn't have to be taken long term.
Michael

 

[AuntSally]

Yeah I have tried mirtazapine. I wish it were that simple. It gave me a reasonable night's (although broken) sleep for a few days then it got less and less and ended up with so little gain on my normal unmedicated three or four hours. Five if I'm lucky. And I think it might have added a new fizzling kind of static noise that wasn't there before. At any rate I got scared and ended up adding a whole other dimension of fear. I'm so full of fear.

 

[AuntSally]

I just want to know that things will improve in time. Or at least feel a bit confident that it might. Ive lost a lot of weight as well and it looks like im shedding a lot of hair. More fear.

 

[Michael Leigh]

@AuntSally I understand the fear that you are feeling. Many people in the early stages of tinnitus experience this. Are you able to get a referral to a Hearing therapist for counselling? Tinnitus counselling can help a lot, more information about this is in the Link I that I gave to you. An antidepressant needs to be taken for a while to build up in the body and take effect. Perhaps a change to a different medication will suit you better. St John's Wort, is a Herbal anti-depressant and has no side effects but does take a while ( 8weeks) to build up in the body.
Michael

 

[AuntSally]

Yes I was thinking about st johns wort. I've used it before. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe best to give it a couple weeks to get the antidepressant out my system first. This has to be the toughest challenge of my whole life and sometimes I wonder if I'm going to make it. Im 58.

 

[Michael Leigh]

@AuntSally Life is problematic and very few of us goes through it without facing problems. It is true that some have more than their fair share but that's just the things are. With time, patience and a positive attitude, even in our downtimes a lot can be achieved.

In the link that I gave you: Introduction to tinnitus, there is an article titled: Positivity And Tinnitus. If you have a printer, I advise you to print it and keep it close by and refer to it often. Just reading it on the computer screen one will easily forget the message. Keep reading it when you feel the need and it will help you to see things in a more positive light.

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall"
Michael

 

[glynis]

Hi @AuntSally,
Make sure you push for any help you need as we all need a good night sleep to feel better in our self and cope better .
Sleeping tablets can help short term or space them out but long term a low dose AD can be beneficial for sleep and a low increase if needed.
Make sure your eating and keep your doctor informed on how you are doing and we can support you too.
Lots of love glynis

 

[Candy]

@AuntSally been 5 months too...the whole new sound thing is what makes it hard, having a moving target is what gets to me...hoping that over time it will stabilise...anyway will keep on fighting, sending hugs. x

 

[AuntSally]

Thanks @Michael Leigh i re read the positivity bit. Don't have a printer though. On that note I'd also like to thank @billie48 again. From his wonderful story I took away with me the concept of the three As. Acknowledge, accept, adapt. I'm trying. I think I've acknowledged but there I am stuck. I haven't yet managed to accept. As @Candy says, when T is a moving target you never know what it's going to do next. If it were stable I think I would have been on the road to acceptance and adaptation by now. My fluctuating T Still frightens me.
For now I only slept two hours last night. I tried to nap twice this afternoon and twice drifted in but woke immediately with a start. I could cry. I'm feeling spaced and confused. I'll try and stay awake till about 10 but I never know what's going to happen with sleep either. I got a naturcare relaxation sound generator and sleep to the sound of sea waves or rain now. Like you said michael the theory is it distracts your brain while asleep. I'll go with that too.

 

[volsung37]

The remarkable thing is that after a while you may get used to not sleeping much. Once that happens you lose the fear of not sleeping and you will paradoxically sleep more. I take 30mg phenergan once a week now, previously I took that 3 times a week. It will get better.

 

[Jason C]

I used to have 8-10 hours of unbroken perfect sleep pretty much very night.

Now I have 3-4 and it's always broken.

It's not even the sleeping that I miss, it's the relaxing, one cannot simply relax with T.

 

[MikeP505]

The anxiety is a difficult beast. I find walking helps me, playing with my children, and if my tinnitus is getting to me, take a long shower or get some masking happening.

Well done Sam. Big hugs to yea.

 

[Kazue]

I used to be the same way. A worry wart. I worry about worry too much. Then about having an anxiety attack in public. I know I'm worrying too much when my breath starts quickening and my throat starts to become tight. Just take it slow. Fix one problem at a time. Have a 30 min-1 hour wind down session before you go to bed. Use this opportunity to get all your extra energy out. Maybe go for a short jog or play some music while you read a book. Take a shower and put some lavender oil on your neck, behind the ear, and shoulder early. Just do anything to calm yourself down. Don't fret about doctors being useless. They are very great when it comes to problems they CAN SEE. Tinnitus is all in your perspective so the best they can do is suggest some coping tips and medicine to help you sleep and continue your daily life. I would suggest get some therapy or having someone to lean on to address your anxiety issues. Talking it out with someone will make you feel so much better. That's actually how I habituated. Releasing all my thoughts and anger to my mom, in this case, felt like closure. I no longer fret about my T but I still need to work on my anxiety problems. But at least I'm taking baby steps, right? And for your hair loss problems, that is related to your stress. My aunt who has anxiety issues had a big chunk of her hair fall out. It was like a big bald patch on the front of her head. It's just hair, don't be scared. It will grow back like hers did in a few months. Maybe you can take some additional vitamins to speed up that process.