People with Dysacusis, Distortions or Loudness Hyperacusis — Describe Your Symptoms!

[Wouter De Blaere]

This has been my exact experience with Clonazepam and distortions/reactive tinnitus as well. I believe your theory is true, and something that reinforces this is the fact that my reactive tinnitus can randomly switch ears over days or weeks. Some elements of the distortions behave the same way. As you said, this points more to a brain issue rather than cochlear damage.

Have you tapered off Clonazepam completely? Sadly, it has stopped working for me, and I'll soon have to decide whether to taper off.

I tried to taper down but went too fast, and all the distortions came back. Unfortunately, my central nervous system couldn't handle it, so I increased the dosage again.

How long did you take Clonazepam before it stopped working? According to Dr. De Ridder, it should work for dysacusis for a lifetime…

 

[Cmspgran]

I tried to taper down but went too fast, and all the distortions came back. Unfortunately, my central nervous system couldn't handle it, so I increased the dosage again.

How long did you take Clonazepam before it stopped working? According to Dr. De Ridder, it should work for dysacusis for a lifetime…

It took about a year before it stopped working. However, I was only taking it a couple of times a week for a long time. It was only after a few months of taking 0.5 mg every day that it stopped working.

Regarding Dr. De Ridder, I respect him—he's well-informed, articulate, and knowledgeable. However, he does have a habit of contradicting himself at times. With this in mind, I take much of what he says with a grain of salt. His advice and opinions on Clonazepam are all over the place.

 

[GammonCity]

I am a bit of an outlier here since I only have loudness hyperacusis and no tinnitus. It has technically been a lifelong condition, but it only became debilitating in the last five years. Over that time, it has steadily worsened, and nothing has helped.

There is no physical problem with my ears, so they cannot fix anything structurally. Sound therapy is intolerable. Physical therapy just makes me feel sick. Medications universally make me suicidal. CBT feels like nonsense. Sitting around in relative quiet does not help, but at least it does not seem to make things worse.

Beyond everything being too loud, my main symptoms are mental fatigue and exhaustion, both of which worsen with noise exposure. On bad days, it is very difficult to get out of bed or do anything. Lack of sleep makes the hyperacusis worse. My sleep is completely disrupted—shifting circadian rhythm combined with hypersomnia and unusually long sleep times—but I have not had a sleep study yet to figure out why.

The possible causes are being born premature, the steroids they gave me in the NICU because of that, or an unspecified brain issue.