Because you happen to have a condition with no cure does not mean you should thread an even worse/harsher path, the "stage brother" you describe was me in my first 23 days of tinnitus where it was severe and unbearably loud (60 dB of high pitched 14 kHz noise in your ear, no ability to focus whatsoever or read over a single sentence) (I still get severe spikes for some reason but my mindset has changed since then), all I could think about was either killing myself or how bad the noise was.
Even then, without much of an ability to think straight, I knew better than to overuse Benzo (though I did use Prazepam for the first time in my life then, to my surprise it didn't have much of an effect on my tinnitus), that said I was very much aware of the dangers before tinnitus happened, in fact it increased my depression.
I didn't understand why back then, but in a hindsight now that I gained back the ability to form proper complex thoughts, I figured that mixing high amount of Prednisolone (corticosteroids) with Benzodiazepines isn't such a good idea (corticosteroids act on adrenals).
(Fun fact, Corticosteroids have had a much larger effect in making my tinnitus more manageable, but that's not something you can take on the long term either unless you like having panic attacks, brittle bones, decreased muscle mass and a dysfunctional adrenal gland), hence why I tapered it off after day 30, knowing it may likely make things worse (which it did, for a time), I haven't taken any since then as it shows no long term benefits after 30 days following a noise trauma (and even then most benefits would occur in the first 72 hours, but I wasn't taking any chances)
Using drugs is all about tradeoffs, some are more worth it than others, a solution to unbearable pain however is not to add in extra pain or extra ailments on top, that's more or less what Benzodiazepines give you, temporary "short" (as in, it can last for a few years if you are lucky), relief until withdrawal symptoms inevitably kick in and, as unbelievable as it sounds, make your tinnitus seem insignificant.
Sadly there is no treatment (other than palliative, (and possibly Neuromod's Lenire?)) nor cure for tinnitus, that's a fact, one I am not arguing with, that said, the way you respond to your tinnitus directly affects (to a degree) its perception and thus your quality of life, therefore CBT has a place in managing tinnitus and having a positive mindset, something I achieved even back when I still had chronic severe tinnitus (even though it's the hardest thing I've done in my life), is possible and goes a long way to set your path to "recovery" (as in, as good a recovery one might expect with where science is currently at), and leads the path to habituation.
Is this better than or equivalent to a cure? Of course not
Can everyone achieve this? I wouldn't dare presume so.
That said, giving this a try doesn't cost a dime and at a point where you have nothing to lose, why not? It takes taking it one step at a time, until you resume a life that's as close as possible as the one you've had before tinnitus, and eventually, while it won't ever be the same, you may eventually get better and get some if not most of your life back.
Negativity cannot and does not help you, all it does is letting tinnitus win; that's what I believe at least. How long will I be able to stick to this dogma? I can't tell, I have my own doubts everyday, especially when I get a severe spike, but I struggle and go on, for how long, I don't know yet.
One thing I do know is that trading a condition for a drug that may likely not work and will eventually make things worse, isn't worth it, because there is no treatment or cure doesn't mean you should shove any possible medicine down your throat just to see if it has a positive outcome, people need to be informed of drugs and their effects before going through with something that may be destructive.
You never know how good your life was and how much you'd take it for granted until you have elements of it stripped away from you.
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I am 55 lol and have not done this for a while....I also bought a skipping rope, now all I need is the rocky theme song playing.... tinnitus is horrendous in itself to deal with let alone the benzo beast
