I've had tinnitus for about a year as a result of fluid in ear and subsequent nerve damage and partial deafness in that ear. I have been on Neurontin for a couple of weeks. It is an anti-convulsant but has a lot of off label uses. A friend with severe rhumatoid arthritis told me about it. It lessened her pain and brought her out of a severe depression in 24 hours. I noticed that my tinnitus was much more bearable after a day or so on 300 mg of Neurontin. I asked the doctor to let me increase the dose but got tired and depressed so I quit for a few days. Am now back on 300 mg a day and feeling good. the ringing in my ear is no longer distracting and I am functioning better at work and at home. My mood is brighter too. Tinnitus and hearing loss tend to make one feel withdrawn and down. There is a lidocaine patch under development that may offer hope for tinitus. Lidocaine works IV and eliminates tinnitus in most subjects but has to be injected every 30 minutes so isn't a practical cure. If it works as a patch behind the ear that would be great.

scottymam, kathi and donna loomis..... I believe the very worst place to get this stuff is on your head, near your eyes. That has to be the most painful of all, and to chance losing your sight. I hope you scottymam and kathi and donna.. your family members,are doing well now. hayjud... the doc said today that stress can trigger it. It is a virus that lies dormant in your body. also a weakened or compromised immune system can cause it to erupt. I have a disease called toxoplasomosis that was congenital, my mother had it apparently when she was expecting me, of course way back then they had no idea. It caused the blindness in one eye. but I was very fortunate and blessed even back then for that because it could have caused very severe mental retardation or other problems for me when i was born. Which means I probably wouldn't have made it. But I did. So my compromised immune system has to have been a part of this now. Alisande... I too am a fan of Dr Weil. I think I will look up his thoughts on it. Thank you for mentioning him. The doctor said today that I am still a candidate for the vaccine, but I cannot take it for a year. He said this virus can come back. I think my husband is going to get it after this skin cancer surgery issue is taken care of. He already has diabetes, heart disease, etc, so I don't want to seem him get this. I went to my family doc early today. Took my DH so he could get the full gist of what this really is. I think he thought I have been overreacting about the pain. His mouth dropped open when the doctor told me that I should have wished for the heart attack that the doctors at the ER thought I was having. That would have been easier on me. He told us that Shingles is debilitating, and very very painful. and that I would have a long course of treatment. He actually tripled the dosage of the nerve pain meds the ER gave me, gave me another one for nausea ( I woke up at 3 am with nausea and chills), gave me another prescription for pain. I am not one to take a lot of meds, just my cholesterol pill.... but I did not turn these down. I have been a little DOPEY (well okay, a LOT) all day trying to get these meds into my system. So I may not be making a great deal of sense right now. For the ones of you that have stayed with me and read this far, thank you all again for the concern and the helpful information. This is a wonderful group of caring people and I am so glad I found you all. Every take care, June

natesg, the advice you've been given is right on. If you keep walking and start doing the chair exercises, you will gradually notice your condition improving. For those with no underlying health issues, it's never too late to start exercising and getting in shape. If you walked 100 steps yesterday, make it your goal to walk 110 steps today. Your quality of life will be vastly improved so don't allow yourself to get discouraged and give up. Maybe it would help keep you motivated if you had a walking partner to cheer you on. Would your husband walk with you? Or, do you have a dog that you could take for walks? I've never been much of an athlete, but over the years, I've done some form of exercise, often halfheartedly, with gaps of no exercise in between. Fortunately, I've always liked to walk. A few years ago, I noticed that I was losing range of motion in my arms and shoulders and started doing gentle yoga for more flexibility. It has helped me so much. I'm more flexible and bendy, my muscle tone has improved and I've regained strength as well. It has really helped me get function back in my knee after breaking it almost two years ago. Recently, I started doing some light weight training to further tone and strengthen my arms. I'm going to look into the pilates reformer; I'm a firm believer in use it or lose it when it comes to staying fit as we age. Best of luck to all of us who are trying to stay fit or get in shape as we get older!

"When you turn 65 and are employed, the usual route to health care is that you go on Medicare as yournprimary coverage with the company paying your premium, and the company’s insirance becomes tour secondary coverage for the twenty percent Medicare does not cover." I retired in my mid-50s and my coverage has been continuous through my former firm as a retirement benefit. Some aspects of it changed when I turned 65 and the coverage was integrated with Medicare but the only perceivable differences for me was the instruction to see providers that accept Medicare and to get health insurance when travelling outside the US. I pay the Medicare premium, as a deduction from my Social Security payments. I don't need to reiterate what I was told by my insurance company and by Stanford. If you have a disagreement with them, give them a call. You can repeat your thoughts over and over but it changes nothing - what you're describing may be common for some, and may be accurate as to what you have, but it's not what I have or have experienced.