Medications -- anticonvulsant agents such as carbamazepine (Tegretol) and diphenylhydantoin (Dilantin) may diminish tinnitus by suppressing hyperreactivity within the auditory system.[1]Antianxiety agents such as diazepam (Valium) help the patient manage stress related to the health problem.

And antoher possible option for us is cyclobenzaprine . This is the brand new study that is done this year in may http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22541838 . So i guess there are people who had been working on this problem to helps us out ... and it is great...

You might find that oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) does the same thing for you but is even safer:

"Oxcarbazepine is a structural derivative of carbamazepine, with a ketone in place of the carbon-carbon double bond on the dibenzazepine ring. This difference helps reduce the impact on the liver of metabolizing the drug, and also prevents the serious forms of anemia or agranulocytosis occasionally associated with carbamazepine. Aside from this reduction in side effects, it is thought to have the same mechanism as carbamazepine - sodium channel inhibition (presumed to be the main mechanism of action) - and is generally used to treat the same conditions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxcarbazepine

Also, some people have commented that Trileptal lowers the pitch of their T (making it less shrill).

I just stumbled across this about Keppra, another antisiezure drug:

http://tinnitussupport92262.yuku.com/topic/10632/t/Oxcarbazepine-Treatment-Progress.html?page=2

Enis--Good article! I have read a number of studies and articles about how Nortryptaline (another tricyclic) helps lower T volume by quite a bit in a large number of people in the trial(s), but cyclobenzaprine is a tricyclic I had not heard of. The results look pretty good!

You should put this in a new thread so more people here on DS will see it. : )

Mc Murdo I know you have been using tileptal , but I want to ask you for how long?? Does it lose efficiency over time?? ... And have you found more poeple using trileptal ??? cyclobenzaprine is maybe the future ... In this study they found over 50% of people had over 50% of reduction of theri T ... So I ll be free to say that there are at least 10-20% who find some kind of relief ...

Mc Murdo tell me your opinion on this .... Ehat do you think about using 2 drugs for tinnitus for example trileptal + valium or xanax .... Mybe we caould achive greather results.

Enis, my doctor won't prescribe xanax long term.
Sue

Sue if you have results with xanax , no matter what kind of results ( reduction of tinnitus or reduction of depression and anxiety) you should find the way to get xanax and use it long term... Xanax is great medication , and i would advise you to take drug holiday every 2-3 months to reduce shances of tolerance and addiction. I would for sure use xanax in conjuction with prami or trileptal , but i would use xanax only when i have bad days and maybe in very low doses 0.25 mg every day in the morning.

I'd be careful about taking xanax over the long term. It is highly addictive and you can develop tolerance. Taking a break from it for 2-3 months without withdrawing from the drug properly could put you into withdrawal symptoms. Just saying..be careful.

Cyclobenzaprine is marketed as Flexeril, a muscle relaxer.

Please let us know how Tegretol works for you :)

Very interesting. Let us know how it goes for you. Most docs will pass this up and choose Trileptal instead but I always suspected Tegretol might work better.

Enis--I have been on Trileptal since October. No side effects from it and I do believe it gives me more low days and a slightly lower pitch to my T (my T is usually very shrill--10,500 hz).

I used both Prami and Trileptal together--my MD has no problems using a combo of drugs as long as they are safe and as long as you have no reaction to them. I did have a skin reaction to Prami which is RARE, but I had it, so had to stop. :(

I am on a very low dose of Trileptal--only 300mg/day--many people with epilepsy take 1600mg and up.

BobsDream takes a combo of drugs for T (both Prami and Trileptal). My psych (Who gives me my T drugs) has no problem prescribing Xanax IF you aren't a person that is inclined toward addictive behavior. (He says the addiction rate is higher than most drugs, but is not very addictive to people who don't tend to have addictive personalities. He cited some studies about this and some percentages, but I've never been inclined to try it, opting for the other drugs first).

I also use this stuff called hylichrysum oil that--weird as it sounds--I do think helps keep my T lower. I tried it just to be nice to a lady at church, but I was surprised to find it does seem to help!! (I ingest some each night before bed and rub some on the back of my neck because it works transdermally as well.) The good stuff is expensive (I tried a $4 sample first at anandaapothecary.com before I dished out the big bucks) but I tried the "cheap" stuff and it actually made my T worse!!

Anyway, I feel Trileptal even at 300mg and the oil and taking L-Tryptophan before bed all help to give me many low days (0-3 volume). I still get 1-2 bad days a week (4-9), mostly when I don't sleep well.

BobsDream--you could be right about the Tegretol working better.