Hi guys. Just an update on my first post here on Tinnitus Talk.
Next month it's 5 years since I made this thread. Crazy. Time flies so fast. 
In August 2013 I got a hearing damage from diving down in a pool 5 meter down. I don't know why it happened. I guess it was just bad luck. Shit happens.
The next 3 months after onset of Tinnitus I had the
worst time of my life. It took a good year for me to get used to my T. After 1.5 year my T started to settle. Today I don't think about T anymore. It's still there in different degrees but I don't care.
The first year of my T I used a cocktail of different pills to try to cope. My biggest challenge was sleep. I probably tried 5 different types of pills for sleep, before I settled on Imovane (Zopiclone). I also tried something called Stilnoct (Ambien - Zolpidem).
Unfortunately I went absolutely nuts when I took Ambien. I called my bank. I played poker. I was shopping online. I wrote weird shit online and I even took the car for a ride. I didn't remember doing any of that tho. My relationship with Ambien ended with me eating the entire package of pills during the night. Making me wake up the next day with a hangover of another dimension. Never touched those pills again after that episode.
I used Imovane on and off the next 3 years. In 2017 and 2018 I've been almost sleeping pill free. In 2018 I haven't touched sleeping pills.
My doctor also put me on some antidepressant in the beginning of my T. I think this helped me to cope a little bit as it made me numb. I could not be happy on those pills, but I didn't freak out from anxiety or depression either. Unfortunately I don't remember what the name of those pills were.
So. 5 years down the road. How did it go?
I'm not cured as I still have tinnitus. But I don't care about it anymore. So in a way I'm cured.
In 2017 I went travel for 8 months to Southeast Asia. I went to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. Doing something like that was unthinkable back in 2013 when I was in the middle of my tinnitus nightmare.
I enjoyed life down there. I was social again. I experienced new stuff. I had a great time. However I did use my brain and protected my ears in noisy streets or nightlife venues. My T would spike once in a while if I had been exposed to noise over extended periods of time, but T always settled again after some time.
Now I'm working full time and I just bought my first apartment. Life is back as it used to be,
with T. Right now I'm working my ass off to save up some money. Maybe another long trip to some exotic place? Who knows..
Still have problems sleeping but I found my own way to cope with it.
I do have some issues sleeping at times. Days I have trouble sleeping I microdose with Cannabis. Personally I think that is a much more healthy option than taking those hard drug sleeping pills like Imovane or Ambien. Getting a good night sleep is the most important factor for me to make T shut up.
For those who live in areas with medical marijuana that could be something to consider, or for those who are brave enough in areas it's still illegal.
I've done this microdosing thing since the beginning of 2018. No side effects, no hangover and no addiction. Just a good night sleep.
The way I do it is that I will smoke just a little bit. Just enough to feel a minor buzz. This buzz will go away in 20 minutes. When it goes away I will become really sleepy.
When I used Imovane for longer periods I would always develop a dependence to them. The periods I had a break from Imovane I always got a really bad headache. My body would itch really bad for some days too. That has not been an issue with microdosing on Cannabis.
That's it for this time. As you can see it turned out fine for me so if you're having a bad time right now don't loose hope.
Time will make things better.
occasionally.
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