Tinnitus from Age 12 — This Summer I Went from One Tinnitus Tone to Five Tones

[linearb]

How long does it usually take for the benzo tinnitus to go away?

It's usually a function of how long someone was on benzos combined with how rapidly they withdrew, and whether any vestibular damage occurred.

From people I've spoken to, the range has been weeks to a few years.

 

[Brian P]

It's usually a function of how long someone was on benzos combined with how rapidly they withdrew, and whether any vestibular damage occurred.

From people I've spoken to, the range has been weeks to a few years.

I see. I was on it 6 weeks and tapered 9 weeks. So the benzo can cause ear damage?

 

[Brian P]

It's usually a function of how long someone was on benzos combined with how rapidly they withdrew, and whether any vestibular damage occurred.

From people I've spoken to, the range has been weeks to a few years.

I've been reading tenaciously about tinnitus on BenzoBuddies and it seems this is likely permanent. I'm so depressed. This has cost me everything!

 

[linearb]

I see. I was on it 6 weeks and tapered 9 weeks. So the benzo can cause ear damage?

Over that time frame, no, I really would not expect any long term effects. Most people could step off after 6 weeks and maybe just feel a little jittery for a week. I'm very sensitive to benzos but still think a taper that exceeds the length of use is, at least, sufficiently slow. Past a point it's just prolonging exposure to the drug.

Sorry to hear how rough this is; things do generally improve to some extent but it takes time.

 

[Brian P]

Over that time frame, no, I really would not expect any long term effects. Most people could step off after 6 weeks and maybe just feel a little jittery for a week. I'm very sensitive to benzos but still think a taper that exceeds the length of use is, at least, sufficiently slow. Past a point it's just prolonging exposure to the drug.

Sorry to hear how rough this is; things do generally improve to some extent but it takes time.

Really this was my only withdrawal symptom. A little muscle twitching but that's it. But it was bad because my tinnitus was already unmanageable. The tinnitus spiked like crazy at .125mg. My psychiatrist crossed me over to Valium 4mg and tapered from that. The Valium taper was smooth but damage was done.

 

[linearb]

Well, sounds like you lost the benzo lottery then @Brian P, sorry to hear that. If a slow Valium crossover was done it sounds like your doctor knew what they were doing.

 

[Brian P]

Well, sounds like you lost the benzo lottery then @Brian P, sorry to hear that. If a slow Valium crossover was done it sounds like your doctor knew what they were doing.

Yea I was crossed over late in the game though.

 

[Brian P]

@linearb, is kindling a real phenomenon? Before I went on for 6 weeks I was on Klonopin for 4 weeks and cold turkeyed because no one told me how to stop it, but I was fine.

When I went back on it a few weeks later and then tapered I got bad withdrawal with tinnitus increasing and getting more tones.

 

[MartinPihl]

Hello friends.

I write here in hope of some support, and maybe hear about your experiences.

This is a rollercoaster. Sometimes I feel very habituated. Like, when I fall a sleep, I can hear my 5 (where one of them is very loud) tones and (almost) seek comfort in them, if that makes sense, and then I fall asleep listening to them.

But then sometimes - like last night - I wake up in the middle of the night, full of anxiety and fear of the loud concert from hell that is going on inside my head, thinking "I'll NEVER fall asleep with this, and I can certainly not live like this for the rest of my life".

It feels like a ship rocking back and forth. Sometimes, some days, I think "well... this isn't great, but I can live with it." Other days (like today), it is stressing me out and is stealing all focus from all work and conversations.

Do you guys also have this experience?