What SSRI Should I Take?

[Makrohn]

So, I have come to terms that in order to function in everyday life, I most likely have to try some meds.
It´s hard after 17 years of anxiety, but I seem to have tried everything but medication.
I have GAD, Panic attacks and health anxiety. At the same time I am troubled with vertigo that scares me and makes my anxiety even worse.

What kind of SSRI does not affect tinnitus and vertigo? I´ve read recently that SSRI could worsen tinnitus so I am really scared of the side effects. I know there is no guarantee but I just want to know what you guys are on.

 

[Bartek]

Hi

I` ve taken trazodone for 4 months 150 mg and tapered 1 month no effect on tinnitus. For me mostly helped with sleep and a little with anxiety

 

[glynis]

Amitryptaline or Nortryptaline or Mertaxipine.

For vertigo, Buccastem, Betahistine, Proclorperazine, Cinnarazine 15mg.
Love glynis

 

[butterfly75]

I didn't experience any increase in tinnitus while taking Zoloft. I took Lexapro once and experienced severe episodes of dizziness and stopped it, so it might might exacerbate vertigo. Everyone experiences different side effects of course so don't let that discourage you.

 

[Makrohn]

Any one else with experiences they want to share?
I really need the SSRi effect, but I have no chance if it gives me more T

 

[Pleasure_Paulie]

Just to clarify, SSRIs are one type of antidepresssnt and by far the most common now due to their better side effect profiles.

Mirtazapine is believed to be the most safe here for tinnitus. It will make you eat a lot, so be careful. If you're suffering anexity, you could try buspar as well because it can be taken long term.

You might need to work with your doctor because some of these have a better anti anexity effect than others. If you suffer from anexity attacks infrequency, I would ask for Xanax and take ad hoc when required, only.

 

[Björn]

I was in your situation, being depressed after a balloon pop made my tinnitus worse for the first time in 15 years. After a year of suffering from tinnitus related depression, I started on a low dose of escitalopram, despite my fear of it worsening my tinnitus. The sad truth is that the desperation made me do it, and many friends pushed me into medicine because "it helped me trough a bad time". And of course: I REALLY needed it. After five days on ssri my tinnitus just went crazy, something that never happened before, so I stopped taking the meds, and after a week in bed with nightmare tinnitus, my ears went down from a total mayhem of new sounds to just a slightly worse ringing, but still quite bad. This louder ringing never went down completely.

To make a long story short: If it all had stopped right there I think I would be more habituated by now, because the tinnitus was not super extreme, it was "only" bad, but after this incident with escitalopram my ears became so fragile, that my tinnitus have been worsened by everyday sounds since then, it's like my ears reached a tipping point. This shit is for sure a new kind of hell, so in my case it seems that my bad reaction to the medicine pushed my ears into a downhill spiral of progressive damage. This is real. Today there is new research that confirmes a link between ssri and tinnitus, and I wish this kind of science was out in the public a year ago when I took the pills. The connection back then was based on posts like my own in forums, but my friends told me to not take things people wrote online to serious, and when you are to depressed you finally give in, at one point or another. The important fact is: Yes, the risk for an ad to aggrevate tinnitus is very very real. I would only take that risk again in a life or death situation.

 

[Makrohn]

@Björn

Thanks for sharing!
It´s a hell of a dilemma for sure. My doctor wants to prescribe me with Zoloft, and I have read almost everything about it in relation with tinnitus. It looks promising, but at the same time the fall is tremendous if it goes wrong.
I really cant take any higher T, but at the same time, the depression is tough.

How are you coping with depression now? What do you do to get through the days?

 

[Björn]

@Makrohn

It's really hard, my tinnitus is horrible and it feeds the depression, and the depression make me focus more on the tinnitus, a very hard combo to beat. Spikes are part of my everyday life now, and thats something new, before I took the medicine my mornings were calm, now its like torture waking up, everyday starts on then bottom, a whole new game. I had the same thoughts as you have, thought I can't take if it gets worse, and now its a LOT worse, and all I can say is that the kind of cathastrofic thinking I had back then is my reality now, its just horrible, but sometimes I feel better, being with friends and family, distracting myself, but most of the time its very very hard, and it keeps on getting worse, every medium to high sound triggers it, but you have to keep fighting, change bad patterns, despite depression makes costructive thinking so Much harder. For example, I blame myself for everything that happened. And this kind of thinking was one of the factors wich made it hard to beat the depression in the first place. The medicine changed everything, I can't work, wich I did one year ago, I can't socialize in the same way, but I try to do calm things with calm people. I go to therapy for my depression, and just got white noise hearing aids. I have also moved to a smaller town, to live closer to nature, and hang out with people that like to do more quiet activities. This is actually a good thing, because I like that kind of life more than drinking beer in the big city. As you can hear this journey have been a lifechanging experience, but I am still here.

 

[MeBeSurfer]

SSRI's gave me T. Please do not take unless you absolutely have to. They do something to your brain that is only a 50/50 shot of returning to normal one day.

 

[Makrohn]

SSRI's gave me T. Please do not take unless you absolutely have to. They do something to your brain that is only a 50/50 shot of returning to normal one day.

What kind of SSRi did you take? I have still not taken them, but each day is still a struggle for me so I am constantly considering them.