As many of you may or may not know, I have had tinnitus (some pulsatile, various other tones) in both my ears since April 2014. I just woke up with it, nothing I did in those past days could have triggered it.
I went to any doctor that would listen. I tried a gigantic list of medications both relevant and irrelevant to tinnitus, both chemical and natural remedies, without thinking how my future would be after all those meds. Trobalt, Flupirtine, Benzos, I did everything and then some. It looked as if it was going to stay.
Finally, after much thought and consideration I decided I would go for stem cells in Thailand, like 2-3 other people in this forum had done. I did my research, I reached deep into my pockets and made the journey in August 2018. I would say that after my trip, I had zero warnings that something was happening. But after 7-8 months, I started getting some long periods of very low tinnitus. After a year, I can safely say that 85% of my tinnitus has gone. Like they told me in Thailand, I watched out for the quality of my blood cells doing mild exercise, drinking lots of water, getting enough sun and clean air.
So now what. Tinnitus caused the loss of my job, back when it was hardly manageable, I got divorced due to it and now I'm left with little to do but my tinnitus... I can hardly hear or be bothered by it.
It was a win, a success or a total failure. Tinnitus robbed me out of some things in my life which were extremely crucial to my well being. What's the point of not having tinnitus if you can't celebrate the occasion with the woman you love.
Tinnitus has been a double edged knife for me. I'm glad that most of it is gone but on the other hand I wish I handled things differently.
Learn from my story. Having tinnitus is a nightmare but not having tinnitus and nothing to do is also not a good thing. And it has left me with a bit of a dependency on benzos which I'm finding rather easy to drop and maybe a bit of AD dependency, a habit which might be a bit more difficult to stop. But going one step at a time will get me pill free and that is my current goal. I'm still having trouble sleeping after all those drugs.
For all of you out there still suffering, after 5 years of continuous, varying tinnitus with multiple tones, all I can say is have patience. It took me five years to get to this point, maybe the stem cells did something or they didn't do a thing (I have a broken foot which seems totally fine, maybe that's what they fixed). Also look out for a drug called Olanzapine, it is an anti-psychotic. I believe most people with tinnitus are a bit psychotic about their condition (thinking about it 95% of your time may be categorized as a psychosis) and discuss it with your doctor.
Well, that's about it, I wouldn't call mine a success story, just a post-traumatic happy ending where some decisions were correct and other decisions were totally stupid. When you have tinnitus, at least keep a hold of your life, don't let it interfere with it, just say to yourself that's it is a horrible condition and everything else - well, get a psychiatrist and vent there.
I wish all of you reading to someday become tinnitus free, there's no contract being signed as to when it'll go away (it took me five whole years), be patient and don't let it interfere with the rest of your life. Soldier on with a happy smile even if you don't feel like it and the day will come. I was on vacation at Bucharest the previous week and I went to all those crazy bars in the old city playing 100 dB music with my earplugs half in. I don't think it matters anymore and hopefully, one day it won't matter for you as well.
I went to any doctor that would listen. I tried a gigantic list of medications both relevant and irrelevant to tinnitus, both chemical and natural remedies, without thinking how my future would be after all those meds. Trobalt, Flupirtine, Benzos, I did everything and then some. It looked as if it was going to stay.
Finally, after much thought and consideration I decided I would go for stem cells in Thailand, like 2-3 other people in this forum had done. I did my research, I reached deep into my pockets and made the journey in August 2018. I would say that after my trip, I had zero warnings that something was happening. But after 7-8 months, I started getting some long periods of very low tinnitus. After a year, I can safely say that 85% of my tinnitus has gone. Like they told me in Thailand, I watched out for the quality of my blood cells doing mild exercise, drinking lots of water, getting enough sun and clean air.
So now what. Tinnitus caused the loss of my job, back when it was hardly manageable, I got divorced due to it and now I'm left with little to do but my tinnitus... I can hardly hear or be bothered by it.
It was a win, a success or a total failure. Tinnitus robbed me out of some things in my life which were extremely crucial to my well being. What's the point of not having tinnitus if you can't celebrate the occasion with the woman you love.
Tinnitus has been a double edged knife for me. I'm glad that most of it is gone but on the other hand I wish I handled things differently.
Learn from my story. Having tinnitus is a nightmare but not having tinnitus and nothing to do is also not a good thing. And it has left me with a bit of a dependency on benzos which I'm finding rather easy to drop and maybe a bit of AD dependency, a habit which might be a bit more difficult to stop. But going one step at a time will get me pill free and that is my current goal. I'm still having trouble sleeping after all those drugs.
For all of you out there still suffering, after 5 years of continuous, varying tinnitus with multiple tones, all I can say is have patience. It took me five years to get to this point, maybe the stem cells did something or they didn't do a thing (I have a broken foot which seems totally fine, maybe that's what they fixed). Also look out for a drug called Olanzapine, it is an anti-psychotic. I believe most people with tinnitus are a bit psychotic about their condition (thinking about it 95% of your time may be categorized as a psychosis) and discuss it with your doctor.
Well, that's about it, I wouldn't call mine a success story, just a post-traumatic happy ending where some decisions were correct and other decisions were totally stupid. When you have tinnitus, at least keep a hold of your life, don't let it interfere with it, just say to yourself that's it is a horrible condition and everything else - well, get a psychiatrist and vent there.
I wish all of you reading to someday become tinnitus free, there's no contract being signed as to when it'll go away (it took me five whole years), be patient and don't let it interfere with the rest of your life. Soldier on with a happy smile even if you don't feel like it and the day will come. I was on vacation at Bucharest the previous week and I went to all those crazy bars in the old city playing 100 dB music with my earplugs half in. I don't think it matters anymore and hopefully, one day it won't matter for you as well.
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