Hi everyone. Thanks in advance for reading my long post.
Six months ago I was diagnosed with mild low frequency idiopathic SSHL in one ear and ever since I have been in a struggle to regain my hearing.
I had great success initially with Prednisone and multiple Dexamethasone intratympanic injections. But I also had several setbacks and repeated the process. A month ago I started one last round of intratympanic injections and my third (!), three-week 70 mg Prednisone taper (70 mg - 3 days, 60 mg - 3 days, etc.) in five months. I had no side effects on the first two courses but this last one was really rough in several ways. And unlike the first two courses, on the last one I was getting some ringing and buzzing in my ears each day shortly after taking it but it would fade away by nighttime and I did not have any ringing or buzzing at all after tapering off.
This brings the story to last Saturday morning, two days after my last injection and three days after finishing the last course of Prednisone. I woke up Saturday and noticed my low frequencies levels had bounced back again and I was happy. Yet it's from that moment on that things went downhill.
Here I have to backtrack one more time. Since last December I've been on 0.75-1mg of Klonopin daily for sleep and general anxiety and had recently started tapering off very slowly with no issues. In addition, since the hearing loss originally began, I've tried several different supplements and vitamins. Both NAC and vitamin E were staples at one point, especially NAC after my hearing had initially recovered. I never had any issues with either even at pretty high doses of NAC. Though after my last setback with the hearing loss, I stopped all supplements when I started this last round of intratympanic injections and Prednisone.
Now back to this past Saturday morning. After waking, I took my Klonopin as usual and then fell back asleep. A little after I woke, I put on the TV and noticed some distortion that wasn't there a few hours earlier, meaning that my hearing levels had dropped off some. I was disappointed but waited a couple hours bit to see if they would bounce back. They didn't. I then decided to take one NAC (600 mg) and a vitamin E (400 mg). About two hours later I put on the TV and my low frequencies had basically bottomed out. That had never happened before and on top of it, I realized my BOTH ears were ringing at a very high pitch with a buzzing as well. This had never happened either. I was in disbelief but stayed calm figuring it was just temporary until the NAC and vitamin E got out of my system. As the hours passed and it was still there I began to panic a bit. Had I just given myself tinnitus from a supplement and vitamin I had taken many time before and are known to be good for ears (or at least not harmful)? Apparently I may have as it's been a week and it's still there. The buzzing is pretty much gone but still comes back once in a while and it sounds a lot like what I heard when taking the Prednisone. The high pitch has remained mostly constant though there have been several times where I can barely notice it even in a completely silent room and once or twice it had basically appeared to go away so much so that I got excited that it was going to just go away but yet it still keeps coming back. I'm obviously still taking the Klonopin because I can't just stop cold turkey so I realize it could be suppressing the sound temporarily or keeping me calm at times, and lastly, I don't have any sensitivity to sound (other than the distortion from my hearing loss) and sounds don't appear to make it worse.
Given that I only took NAC and vitamin E, I'm beginning to think this may have more to do with the Prednisone, having only been off it at that point for three days. But I've also since read that vitamin E can under the right conditions turn out to not be such a good thing. I imagine the might be similar NAC as well but never in a million years did I think that either one or the the combination would give me (hopefully not) permanent tinnitus. My theory lies more that they caused something to happen given my whole body is probably still out of whack so to speak from the Prednisone, even though I don't feel any other physical symptoms. But of course it's just a theory.
I'm hopeful that this could all just go away or at least lessen significantly over the coming days or weeks, when my system bounces back from all the Prednisone but I also realize it's been over a week since it started and it might not. It's just so confusing that I went from not having tinnitus to having tinnitus just a few hours after taking NAC and vitamin E and taking or doing nothing else.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on what might've happened even though I realize I'll never know for sure. Also, any ideas on what to do or take that might help (if anything), or educated guesses on what might be to come. I'm obviously hoping to hear that given how it happened some may think it's just temporary but either way, any input or just words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
Six months ago I was diagnosed with mild low frequency idiopathic SSHL in one ear and ever since I have been in a struggle to regain my hearing.
I had great success initially with Prednisone and multiple Dexamethasone intratympanic injections. But I also had several setbacks and repeated the process. A month ago I started one last round of intratympanic injections and my third (!), three-week 70 mg Prednisone taper (70 mg - 3 days, 60 mg - 3 days, etc.) in five months. I had no side effects on the first two courses but this last one was really rough in several ways. And unlike the first two courses, on the last one I was getting some ringing and buzzing in my ears each day shortly after taking it but it would fade away by nighttime and I did not have any ringing or buzzing at all after tapering off.
This brings the story to last Saturday morning, two days after my last injection and three days after finishing the last course of Prednisone. I woke up Saturday and noticed my low frequencies levels had bounced back again and I was happy. Yet it's from that moment on that things went downhill.
Here I have to backtrack one more time. Since last December I've been on 0.75-1mg of Klonopin daily for sleep and general anxiety and had recently started tapering off very slowly with no issues. In addition, since the hearing loss originally began, I've tried several different supplements and vitamins. Both NAC and vitamin E were staples at one point, especially NAC after my hearing had initially recovered. I never had any issues with either even at pretty high doses of NAC. Though after my last setback with the hearing loss, I stopped all supplements when I started this last round of intratympanic injections and Prednisone.
Now back to this past Saturday morning. After waking, I took my Klonopin as usual and then fell back asleep. A little after I woke, I put on the TV and noticed some distortion that wasn't there a few hours earlier, meaning that my hearing levels had dropped off some. I was disappointed but waited a couple hours bit to see if they would bounce back. They didn't. I then decided to take one NAC (600 mg) and a vitamin E (400 mg). About two hours later I put on the TV and my low frequencies had basically bottomed out. That had never happened before and on top of it, I realized my BOTH ears were ringing at a very high pitch with a buzzing as well. This had never happened either. I was in disbelief but stayed calm figuring it was just temporary until the NAC and vitamin E got out of my system. As the hours passed and it was still there I began to panic a bit. Had I just given myself tinnitus from a supplement and vitamin I had taken many time before and are known to be good for ears (or at least not harmful)? Apparently I may have as it's been a week and it's still there. The buzzing is pretty much gone but still comes back once in a while and it sounds a lot like what I heard when taking the Prednisone. The high pitch has remained mostly constant though there have been several times where I can barely notice it even in a completely silent room and once or twice it had basically appeared to go away so much so that I got excited that it was going to just go away but yet it still keeps coming back. I'm obviously still taking the Klonopin because I can't just stop cold turkey so I realize it could be suppressing the sound temporarily or keeping me calm at times, and lastly, I don't have any sensitivity to sound (other than the distortion from my hearing loss) and sounds don't appear to make it worse.
Given that I only took NAC and vitamin E, I'm beginning to think this may have more to do with the Prednisone, having only been off it at that point for three days. But I've also since read that vitamin E can under the right conditions turn out to not be such a good thing. I imagine the might be similar NAC as well but never in a million years did I think that either one or the the combination would give me (hopefully not) permanent tinnitus. My theory lies more that they caused something to happen given my whole body is probably still out of whack so to speak from the Prednisone, even though I don't feel any other physical symptoms. But of course it's just a theory.
I'm hopeful that this could all just go away or at least lessen significantly over the coming days or weeks, when my system bounces back from all the Prednisone but I also realize it's been over a week since it started and it might not. It's just so confusing that I went from not having tinnitus to having tinnitus just a few hours after taking NAC and vitamin E and taking or doing nothing else.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on what might've happened even though I realize I'll never know for sure. Also, any ideas on what to do or take that might help (if anything), or educated guesses on what might be to come. I'm obviously hoping to hear that given how it happened some may think it's just temporary but either way, any input or just words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
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