I'm a 21 year old male. I've suffered from anxiety for the last ~3 years. It's become better and worse in a lot of aspects. I'm feeling the constant restlessness that I'd like to stop. I've been to several psychiatrists and have been told to go on SSRIs. Now here is the kicker, I also have a mild tinnitus. I've been to ENTs and they have all said my hearing is perfect, I have mild TMJ, and a lot of sinus issues. I'm not sure if the tinnitus is due to the sinus issues or the TMJ or what but it's perfectly fine. The ringing is VERY low and I can only hear it if I plug my ears or sit in complete silence and even then it's tolerable and not always present. I get spikes of it here and there when I wake up but I listen to music for about an hour and it's back to its normal quiet volume. I want to start medication for the anxiety but I do NOT want to risk the increase in tinnitus that I've seen a lot of people report with starting SSRIs. I've also seen that in some people it has become a permanent thing, this scares me more than anything. Being that it scares me even if the meds don't legitimately cause the tinnitus to spike the anxiety likely will. Are there any medications that people can recommend (preferably based on personal experience) that will help with anxiety but not worsen the tinnitus?
I've done a bit of research and things like Remeron and Effexor have come up. With Remeron I see very few cases of the tinnitus increase. With the Effexor I see less than other SSRIs but mainly during discontinuation of the effexor. I've looked at so many different threads and research studies and I've basically just been getting conflicting answers from them all. Of course I'm sure that comes down to how different medications affect different people but I feel like the risk of the meds worsening tinnitus is too high.
Side note, if there really aren't any and I will be stuck taking meds and possibly increasing the tinnitus, how hard is it to cope with the increased tinnitus? Is the tradeoff between the decreased anxiety and increased tinnitus worth taking the meds?
EDIT: I am VERY much so open to natural remedies, not only drugs as my post my suggest. Sorry about the confusion there. It's just that only drugs have been recommended to me for the most part so I guess I have that in my head.
Thanks, Joe.
I've done a bit of research and things like Remeron and Effexor have come up. With Remeron I see very few cases of the tinnitus increase. With the Effexor I see less than other SSRIs but mainly during discontinuation of the effexor. I've looked at so many different threads and research studies and I've basically just been getting conflicting answers from them all. Of course I'm sure that comes down to how different medications affect different people but I feel like the risk of the meds worsening tinnitus is too high.
Side note, if there really aren't any and I will be stuck taking meds and possibly increasing the tinnitus, how hard is it to cope with the increased tinnitus? Is the tradeoff between the decreased anxiety and increased tinnitus worth taking the meds?
EDIT: I am VERY much so open to natural remedies, not only drugs as my post my suggest. Sorry about the confusion there. It's just that only drugs have been recommended to me for the most part so I guess I have that in my head.
Thanks, Joe.