Hi Everyone,
I've been reading this forum on and off for the last year or so, and decided it's finally time to post and introduce myself.
I'm 31, from Hertfordshire, UK - I developed tinnitus in April 2019, which means I'll almost be 'celebrating' my one year anniversary. I believe my tinnitus was either caused by major personal stress or from a short course of Doxycycline. I guess I'll never know for sure, I've gone over it a million times in my head and have my theories, but I've decided to focus on moving forward.
At the onset, things were incredibly bad to the point where I couldn't sleep for days on end finally passing out from exhaustion every 3rd day or so — I was in a state of constant distress and panic, after seeing various GPs and ENTS who told me my ears are healthy (minus some mild high frequency hearing loss), I actually ended up referring myself to a psychiatrist because I was so concerned about my mental state — I'm usually social, outgoing and always on the go but tinnitus proceeded to turn me into an overstimulated, anxious-introvert.
June 2019 I ended being prescribed Lorazepam (Ativan) for sleep. I've always hated taking pills of any kind unless absolutely despertate, and I was so desperate to sleep, I wasn't functioning well at all. Anyway, to my surprise I quickly found out that this drug drastically reduced the loudness of the multi-tonal, high-pitched ringing, I was experiencing. It was like I'd swallowed a magic pill, my tinnitus was still there but well and truly placed far into the background, so I kept taking it at 2 mg per day, ....... for almost a year! Instead of taking 2 mg at night I started taking one in the morning and one before bed, life was better — until roaring tinnitus came back to haunt me.
Tinnitus / Lorazepam (Ativan) has absolutely turned my life upside down, whilst it drastically helped with the tinnitus for a decent length of time — the anxiety, agitation, increased tinnitus and various other symptoms it has created inbetween doses has been wild. I've since educated myself of the dangers of long-term benzodiazepine use and have now been tapering off the drug for a while - I aim to be off it completely within the next 2 months, I've decided I can't live my life chained to this drug, as it's now causing more harm than good. It really isn't a viable long term treatment in the slightest! I appreciate opinions will differ on this topic.
What's disturbing me is that since tapering my tinnitus has gotten A LOT worse and louder, I have no idea if this is now my new normal or if things will settle once Lorazepam is completely out of my system? Does anyone have experience with this? I've read all of the horror stories, but if there's any success stories, I'd love to hear them. I also now suffer from hypercusis and pressure headaches constantly. I work in a fast-paced environment and now spend most of my spare time surviving and trying to catch up on rest, but I find I'm never fully rested as right now I just can't tune the tinnitus out. I try to stay positive, but it's tough at times, I really miss my old busy life and feel like a part of me died. That's deep.
So I've joined the forum to meet other warriors and survivors, people with tinnitus. I have some great friends but no one truly 'gets it' unless they experience it, and I understand that. It'd be great to chat or hear from anyone else who can relate to my story.
My recovery from Lorazepam and adaptation to tinnitus officially starts now — it won't be easy, but I've never been more determined to find healtheir ways of coping and to make life fun again.
Cheers,
Drew
I've been reading this forum on and off for the last year or so, and decided it's finally time to post and introduce myself.
I'm 31, from Hertfordshire, UK - I developed tinnitus in April 2019, which means I'll almost be 'celebrating' my one year anniversary. I believe my tinnitus was either caused by major personal stress or from a short course of Doxycycline. I guess I'll never know for sure, I've gone over it a million times in my head and have my theories, but I've decided to focus on moving forward.
At the onset, things were incredibly bad to the point where I couldn't sleep for days on end finally passing out from exhaustion every 3rd day or so — I was in a state of constant distress and panic, after seeing various GPs and ENTS who told me my ears are healthy (minus some mild high frequency hearing loss), I actually ended up referring myself to a psychiatrist because I was so concerned about my mental state — I'm usually social, outgoing and always on the go but tinnitus proceeded to turn me into an overstimulated, anxious-introvert.
June 2019 I ended being prescribed Lorazepam (Ativan) for sleep. I've always hated taking pills of any kind unless absolutely despertate, and I was so desperate to sleep, I wasn't functioning well at all. Anyway, to my surprise I quickly found out that this drug drastically reduced the loudness of the multi-tonal, high-pitched ringing, I was experiencing. It was like I'd swallowed a magic pill, my tinnitus was still there but well and truly placed far into the background, so I kept taking it at 2 mg per day, ....... for almost a year! Instead of taking 2 mg at night I started taking one in the morning and one before bed, life was better — until roaring tinnitus came back to haunt me.
Tinnitus / Lorazepam (Ativan) has absolutely turned my life upside down, whilst it drastically helped with the tinnitus for a decent length of time — the anxiety, agitation, increased tinnitus and various other symptoms it has created inbetween doses has been wild. I've since educated myself of the dangers of long-term benzodiazepine use and have now been tapering off the drug for a while - I aim to be off it completely within the next 2 months, I've decided I can't live my life chained to this drug, as it's now causing more harm than good. It really isn't a viable long term treatment in the slightest! I appreciate opinions will differ on this topic.
What's disturbing me is that since tapering my tinnitus has gotten A LOT worse and louder, I have no idea if this is now my new normal or if things will settle once Lorazepam is completely out of my system? Does anyone have experience with this? I've read all of the horror stories, but if there's any success stories, I'd love to hear them. I also now suffer from hypercusis and pressure headaches constantly. I work in a fast-paced environment and now spend most of my spare time surviving and trying to catch up on rest, but I find I'm never fully rested as right now I just can't tune the tinnitus out. I try to stay positive, but it's tough at times, I really miss my old busy life and feel like a part of me died. That's deep.
So I've joined the forum to meet other warriors and survivors, people with tinnitus. I have some great friends but no one truly 'gets it' unless they experience it, and I understand that. It'd be great to chat or hear from anyone else who can relate to my story.
My recovery from Lorazepam and adaptation to tinnitus officially starts now — it won't be easy, but I've never been more determined to find healtheir ways of coping and to make life fun again.
Cheers,
Drew
Member
