All Medications Set Off My Tinnitus

[MrNiceGuy]

Hello All,

New to the site. I've had tinnitus for years now, but the last 4 weeks have been different. Every medication I take (Aspirin, Supplements... etc.) is spiking the noise beyond belief. All medications I was able to take in the past are now super toxic to me.

I've seen all the doctors and everyone says I'm fine and turn the music up.

Just hoping someone else has experienced the same thing or something close to give some insight.

The noise is just too much!

 

[Daniel Lion]

Hello All,

New to the site. I've had tinnitus for years now, but the last 4 weeks have been different. Every medication I take (Aspirin, Supplements... etc.) is spiking the noise beyond belief. All medications I was able to take in the past are now super toxic to me.

I've seen all the doctors and everyone says I'm fine and turn the music up.

Just hoping someone else has experienced the same thing or something close to give some insight.

The noise is just too much!

Sorry you're feeling crap... I know the feeling.

Have you been to an ENT, just out of curiosity?

Stop all meds and supplements. Listen to your body. Eat a very good diet and try and be mindful if certain foods trigger certain reactions... you may have to keep a log... I don't for the record.

Please don't turn the music up.

I am not a doctor... I am actually an artist... so feel free to disregard everything I say.

The supplement, Aspirin thing sounds like your immune system is acting up and rejecting things to somehow preserve itself.

Do you have a good diet?

Your tinnitus could come from bad gut health, for most people here it's noise trauma or damage, and a fair amount have TMJ or TMD issues relating to the nerves running up your neck and jaw.

Sounds like you need to figure out where the tinnitus is coming?
Have you been to an audiologist, and had a hearing test?

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Thanks for the response.

I have been to an ENT, everything is normal according to them.

It didn't stem from noise trauma or damage.

I believe it was medication induced, but I have started with a new diet and stopped taking all medications (don't have a choice).

I feel lots of pressure in my face and head most of the time. Not sure if this is causing something. I've been to a neurologist that thinks its trigeminal neuralgia, but I'm not to sure.

I need to see an audiologist thats my last resort, just feel that they are just going to try to sell me a hearing aid.

Again thanks for the insight!

 

[Contrast]

Do you have hyperacusis, pain from noise, anything like that?

Do you have a history of loud music, loud factory work, anything like that?

Audiologist are useless in this scenario, lol.

 

[GregCA]

I need to see an audiologist thats my last resort, just feel that they are just going to try to sell me a hearing aid.

They may if you find out you have hearing loss that could be improved with a hearing aid, but that could actually be a good thing for you.

It seems like a reasonable next step.

Good luck!

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Don't have any pain from noise. Didn't work in a loud environment.

Have had T for several years, but the medication lately has been toxic (all medications even a tums).

 

[MBH]

I don't think it is the medication. I had trouble with two medications, but then one worked OK for my anxiety that my tinnitus brought on. And for the face pain I'd check with a dentist to make sure you don't have teeth problems. I think your spikes might just work their way out. Some spikes are just random and not mean anything. I don't have them as much. I have head tinnitus caused by stress.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Every medication I take (Aspirin, Supplements... etc.) is spiking the noise beyond belief.

Aspirin Is ototoxic.

Check out
http://hlaa-sbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ototoxic_Brochure.pdf

Tylenol is not as dangerous as Aspirin...

 

[Ivan2475]

Aspirin Is ototoxic.

Check out
http://hlaa-sbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ototoxic_Brochure.pdf

Tylenol is not as dangerous as Aspirin...

Dear Bill

Heard a lot of people say you have good knowledge.

I was wondering if you know anyone has got better from ototoxicity or stress induced tinnitus?
I don't know which started mine, could be either.

It's been 4 months and it has gone down a bit.

I can't stop thinking about it or the mistakes I made that made me get this and don't know what to do.

I started smoking again due to stress, also wondering if this is delaying my recovery?

It will just give me some hope.

Thank you

Ivan

 

[erik]

Aspirin Is ototoxic.

Check out
http://hlaa-sbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ototoxic_Brochure.pdf

Tylenol is not as dangerous as Aspirin...

That is correct but these types of drugs generally are not permanent for tinnitus and go away with normal dosage. The ones you really have to watch out for are the ones which cause permanent hearing loss like Chemo drugs, Quinine drugs and and certain antibiotics. Hearing loss is permanent and tinnitus from hearing loss is likely permanent (for now).

 

[Bill Bauer]

I was wondering if you know anyone has got better from ototoxicity or stress induced tinnitus?

Yes, I remember posts reporting fading. Regarding ototoxicity, it all depends on what drug one took.

It's been 4 months and it has gone down a bit.

THAT is the clue that's important. If it has been fading, there is no reason for it to not continue to fade. (Conversely, if one doesn't experience any fading during the first six months, the chance that their T won't be fading is high.) It might take another year or two, but unless you take ototoxic drugs or give yourself an acoustic trauma, you ought to get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms stage."

I can't stop thinking about it

Most of us here have been there. I would say that months 2, 3, and 4 are the most difficult months. Hopefully 2-3 months from now you will feel better than you do now.

the mistakes I made that made me get this

If you repeat a joke often enough, eventually it will stop being funny. Likewise, eventually you will stop getting a strong emotional reaction after you think about those mistakes. For me, it took 9 months to stop being upset about the incident that gave T to me.

I started smoking again due to stress, also wondering if this is delaying my recovery?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5855477/

Data of 20 studies were pooled. Current smoking (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.35), former smoking (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.26) and ever smoking (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.30) were significantly associated with tinnitus.
...
There is sufficient evidence that smoking is associated with tinnitus.

Since the study found a correlation between former smoking and tinnitus, one shouldn't dismiss the finding of the study as just the result of people beginning to smoke once they get T.

It probably takes many cigarettes to harm one's ears, so I wouldn't worry about doing a lot of damage. But this is likely not promoting your recovery and healing.

 

[Ivan2475]

Yes, I remember posts reporting fading. Regarding ototoxicity, it all depends on what drug one took.

THAT is the clue that's important. If it has been fading, there is no reason for it to not continue to fade. (Conversely, if one doesn't experience any fading during the first six months, the chance that their T won't be fading is high.) It might take another year or two, but unless you take ototoxic drugs or give yourself an acoustic trauma, you ought to get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms stage."

Most of us here have been there. I would say that months 2, 3, and 4 are the most difficult months. Hopefully 2-3 months from now you will feel better than you do now.
If you repeat a joke often enough, eventually it will stop being funny. Likewise, eventually you will stop getting a strong emotional reaction after you think about those mistakes. For me, it took 9 months to stop being upset about the incident that gave T to me.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5855477/

Since the study found a correlation between former smoking and tinnitus, one shouldn't dismiss the finding of the study as just the result of people beginning to smoke once they get T.

It probably takes many cigarettes to harm one's ears, so I wouldn't worry about doing a lot of damage. But this is likely not promoting your recovery and healing.

Dear Bill

Thank you so much for your help.

It was citaloplam that I was on for 3 or 4 weeks.

The doctor says it was stress, not the medication as it would have started straight away.

Hopefully it will fade, maybe go in time? my emotional problems must be the things that are stopping it.

Ivan

 

[Bill Bauer]

It was citaloplam that I was on for 3 or 4 weeks.

I don't see it (or Celexa) on that list of ototoxic drugs...

 

[Ivan2475]

I don't see it (or Celexa) on that list of ototoxic drugs...

It has tinnitus listed as a side effect and apparently lots of people have got it from this, but still give it to people saying only 1 or 2% are effected, but different if it's you.

 

[Bill Bauer]

You might want to check out the posts on this forum that mention it. Specifically, once you identify a person who got T as a result of taking it, you could try to contact them (or to read their later posts) to find out what has happened to their T.

 

[Bill Bauer]

@Ivan2475
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/search/3043423/?q=celexa&t=post&o=relevance&c[node]=2

 

[Ivan2475]

@Ivan2475
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/search/3043423/?q=celexa&t=post&o=relevance&c[node]=2

Thank you bill for your help, anything else you know of will be a great help.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Thank you bill for your help, anything else you know of will be a great help.

I agree with

I didn't read all the above comments, but did peruse a fair amount of it, and ran across many good points on both sides of the argument. What strikes me is there seems to be an underlying assumption (of course I may be wrong on this) that all brains and neurological systems are created equal. The way I see it, that's simply not the case, so everybody's way of dealing with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis is going to have to be highly individualized.

I read a book many years ago called "Adrenal Syndrome". A lot of the book touched on the residual resiliency of people's adrenal glands as they respond to life's stresses. Very low resiliency often resulted in months/years of chronic debilitating exhaustion following a stressful event(s) in their lives. Very high resiliency indicated essentially the opposite. The author broke this down into some rough numbers:

25% of people have low resiliency, meaning normal life stressors will often send them into some degree of a tailspin.
25% of people have high resiliency, meaning that no matter how severe a stressor comes into their lives, they will be able to cope without becoming debilitated to any degree.
50% of people fall somewhere inbetween.

I believe there are some kind of corresponding numbers for a person's brain and neurological resiliency as well, which can greatly affect the ability to cope with tinnitus. (I believe adrenal resiliency also plays a major role in our ability to cope). -- Based on these assumptions, it's pretty easy for me to conclude that what may be overprotection for one person will be underprotection for another, and vice versa.

I think the main point to understand for someone new to tinnitus is that their path forward is going to be a lot of "testing the waters". Generally, IMHO, it's going to take a few weeks or months to get important insights that will help us achieve a healthy balance. In all likelihood, most people are going to learn from experience when their over-protecting or under-protecting.

I've come to believe however, that in those early months, if one is going to err in either direction, it should be toward overprotection. It just seems to me the consequences of underprotection (which could result in permanent injury) in those early times are much more dire than the consequences of overprotection--which as I understand, generally results in temporary setbacks.

Doing a number of things to better support the brain and neurological system and the body's stress response (adrenal glands) is quite high on my list of recommendations I would make to anybody with tinnitus. Doing so might even prevent phonophobia or OCD, etc., as we go through our learning curves -- Just my 2 cents worth.

and

Relative newbies to tinnitus are likely to find all the information/opinions above quite confusing. So here are a few common-sense rules to follow:

1. The best protection of all is avoidance. Even the best earplugs can't guarantee complete hearing protection so those relatively new to tinnitus are best advised to avoid prolonged loud noise exposure - especially amplified sound at for example live concerts and sports events. This may involve lifestyle changes.

2. When in doubt, use hearing protection. In the many tasks we all do through the week, some will inevitably involve exposure to noise - which may be at higher levels than we at first realise - so using hearing protection for many of these is only sensible.

3. Build quiet into your day. It's not a good idea to be wearing hearing protection all the time - so you need to give your ears a break by ensuring that there will be quieter times during your day when hearing protection isn't necessary.This may involve changing your routine. Use soft masking noise and light music (not using headphones) to avoid "silence" where tinnitus is most noticeable.

4. Don't stress about stress. Tinnitus newbies are forever being told that the thing which makes tinnitus worse is stress. But while it's true that how you are feeling at a particular moment can make tinnitus temporarily louder, it won't have a lasting effect. But prolonged loud noise exposure can make tinnitus permanently louder. So don't stress about stress - but do be concerned about noise.

I also believe in learning from others' mistakes. Check out the posts I quoted in the first post on
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/