Hello fellow sufferers of Tinnitus.

I know you're out there because the statistics I keep reading say there are 12 million of us in the USA alone. It isn't an age related problem. Children as well as the elderly suffer from it. I had never heard of it until a debilitating attack occured two months ago. I was a combat infantryman in Vietnam and as Company Commander, I ordered air strikes and artillery within a football field length from my company to defend against ground assaults by the North Vietnamese. These were 2,000 pound bombs and 8 inch artillery shells. The bombs landed close enough to us to throw us in the air several feet and singe off our eyebrows. The splitting concussion caused us to go deaf for several minutes and we heard ringing in our ears for days thereafter. The ringing went away and only returned during long international flights, but it always went away in a few days. Two months ago, instead of going away it intensified, causing me to pace the floor and resulting in insomnia. I haven't been able to sleep 1 night without some form of sleep medicine. The insomnia and the incessant ringing 24 hours 7 days a week, I am told is caused by phantom signals being sent by the 8th cranial nerve because the inner ear damage done by the loud noises in my earlier life have damaged the hair like nerves inside my cochlea. Absent the customary input from these hair like nerves, the cranial nerve makes up its own signals which the brain receives as an alarm causing high levels of anxiety. Prior to the Tinnitus, I have been taking 80 mg. per day of Nadalol for the past 15 years, a Beta Blocker to treat my inherited Essential Tremor of my hands. Also, I have been taking Indomethacin 50 mg. at bedtime to treat frequent attacks of Gout for the past 4 years. For the past two months I have been taking Lorazepam which has lowered the intensity of the ringing to a manageable level, but I experience extreme sadness and depression since taking this drug. It also causes me to feel drowsy and it has had a deleterious effect on sexual dysfunction. If I miss taking just one dosage I begin to experience severe withdrawal symptoms, which include unbearable depression as well as physical discomfort in my lower bowel region. Given the cocktail of medicine I am now taking, my question is should I take Wellbutrin LX to counter-act the depression I feel from the Lorazepam? What negative interactions could I expect? Should I see a neurologist as well as an EENT specialist? Which would have a greater grasp of the drug combinations I should customize for my three afflictions?

Thanks for your advice/input.

this should probably be on the hearing disorders board

the combining of powerful meds is always experimental and results can never be fully predicted, some docs know more about combining meds than others

theres lots of info about tinnitus and treating it on the net, I have tinnitus which hasnt responded to anything although fortunately it isnt very loud and doesnt keep me awake

While it is possible that he may find some answers on the "Hearing Disorders" board, since he also suffers from anxiety his post also belongs on this board.

Pulsatile tinnitus is heart beat, pulse or swoosh noise in the ear. I don't believe ringing is considered pulsatile. If you take the proper meds for tinnitus it can help a great deal. I have pulsatile tinnitus and my noise is gone 80 to 90% of the day. I take effexor (anti-depression capsules) & clonazepam (anti-anxiety tablet) (min. dose for both). Clonazepam if taken before bedtime is a great help for sleeping and you wake up feeling rested.

Hello to all Pulsatile tinnitus suffers. I have had pt for one year. It began when I had my ear flushed and has never stopped since. At first I had anxiety attacks, and vertigo problems and was out of work for three months. It started in my right ear and now is in both ears. I had every test you can think of and was even treated in N.Y. Columbia.I have seen five ear doctors and they all say the same thing. No cure. Sorry!I have found that Clonazepam is the best drug to lower the noise. Sleeping was almost impossable at first but now I can fall asleep without sleeping pills. This was a huge mile stone for me. Some people tell me that in time the noise level usually lowers by itself. But it takes years to get to that point. Now that I am hearing it in the laft ear too iy is as loud as when I fist got it. It is the most tormenting condition I have ever had to deal with in my life. Some days are better than others ,seems like before rain, its louder. I do not have any hopes of it going away completly, but amm looking forward to it, 'burning out". so to speak.

I'm glad to hear that you use clonazepam and that it helps you sleep, because it helps me too. I take 1/2 tablet in the am and the other 1/2 before bedtime. A pharmacist told me that clonazepam helps p.t. and so does effexor (anti-depression capsule). Do you get depressed or are you just resigned to live with it in agony? My life is much quieter since I started taking effexor, clonazepam and 3 - 4 cups of coffee a day (which also helps p.t. for me). I wish the p.t. would be completely gone but since it may never be, I'm content to be heart beat noise free 80 - 90% of the time with the meds & coffee.