wiretwister, I"m sorry you've been dealing with the tinnitus for so long. I have had very brief periods in the past with ringing in my ears, but luckily that would come and go. I hadn't heard of the link between that and depression, but it seems like it would make sense. Perhaps you should mention this to your psychiatrist. And have you ever consulted an ENT doctor? You deserve to get rid of the tinnitus, if you can.

One experience I did have, for much of a year, were musical hallucinations. I know it sounds like a slightly different animal, but I think there are some similarities in terms of psychological effect. I have even read that it can be a rare form of tinnitus. I don't know if mine were and/or if there was a relationship between them and my bipolar disorder. I will say that when I was started on Tegretol XR (carbamazepine ER) and reached therapeutic levels, my musical hallucinations went away, and they've never come back. I'm not sure that would be he case for typical tinnitus more related to hearing problems or other causes. It is still up in the air, to this day, but a theory was that my musical hallucinations may have been seizure activity. One psychiatrist/neurologist that I consulted said that bipolar disorder itself (at least some forms) could have a relationship with seizure activity. During most of the period of my musical hallucinations, I wasn't really in a clear bipolar episode, but I was disturbed. It had actually been a very confusing period for me. I don't know if you're interested in my account of these past musical hallucinations, but if so, find it A Story of Musical Hallucinations (When music mostly died for me) – Bird Flight

Here are some interesting articles I found, to ponder. I know that tinnitus is not necessarily related to seizure activity. Also, seizure activity does not have to include motor seizures (convulsions) or loss of consciousness. For example, if I have had seizure activity, it was likely sensory and psychic types of simple focal seizures.

Quiet that Ringing in the Brain - UConn Today

In the article at Psychopathology of Tinnitus: Page 4 of 5 | Psychiatric Times it says "Mood stabilizers and/or anticonvulsants have been investigated in the treatment of tinnitus. Carbamazepine, valproic acid, and gabapentin have shown some benefit.13 Mood stabilizers are mainly used when tinnitus is comorbid with bipolar disorder, seizure disorder, or migraine."

Out of curiosity, have you had issues with migraines in the past? Have you mostly taken Lithium as a moodstabilizer? If yes, that could be helpful information for doctors to know.