Doxycycline vs Bactrim — Which Is More Ototoxic?

[Clare Johnson]

Hello all,

My Lyme literate doctor seems to think I have a Lyme coinfection, bartonella.

He wants to treat me for a month with an antibiotic and see what happens. I have both doxycycline and bactrim as options.

I know it's not ideal but is there a better option that will (hopefully) not make my tinnitus worse?

Thanks!

 

[aot]

(Clare, it won't let me respond to our conversation, so I'm posting here.)

Ok. I'm not an ENT, I'm not an Audiologist, I'm not a doctor, so this is a shot in the dark.

The general consensus among the medical community is that tinnitus/and or hyperacusis does not mean that one is more prone to hearing loss, even when the tinnitus/hyperacusis is the result of hearing loss. The same can be applied to ototoxic meds. Even people with healthy ears can have temporary tinnitus from a bunch of aspirin.

Now, many people on here seem to believe that people with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis are more prone if it's from hearing loss. This could very well be true, as the medical community has been wrong before.

But, either way, since your tinnitus is likely from Lyme, and not from any actual problem with your ears, I don't think you're at a high risks of a permanent spike regardless of which antibiotic you choose. Go with the least ototoxic choice just to be safe, but I think any spikes you get will be temporary.

Again, I'm not a medical professional in any capacity, and a spike can last up to three months. I suggest asking Doctor Nagler.

I hope this helps.

 

[DebInAustralia]

Hello all,

My Lyme literate doctor seems to think I have a Lyme coinfection, bartonella.

He wants to treat me for a month with an antibiotic and see what happens. I have both doxycycline and bactrim as options.

I know it's not ideal but is there a better option that will (hopefully) not make my tinnitus worse?

Thanks!

Hi Clare,

Sorry to hear you too have this wretched infection.

I did doxycycline for 8 months for borrelia (didnt know I had bartonella till a few months ago).

It did diddly squat for my infection. At one point, I thought it had flared up my tinnitus but I'm not sure. My gut didn't like it.

I haven't had bactrim since tinnitus, so I can't say.

I've been blessed with an amazingly gifted lyme literate naturopath, who has introduced me to some natural products that are targeting the bartonella with success. That's the way I'd go if I were you as we know abs aren't effective with chronic infections (if that is you).

 

[Steph1710]

@Clare Johnson

Sorry, I know this is a little late but just so you know, I got tinnitus from doxycline. I was on it six months for issues with my eyes... It didn't help my eyes but gave me permanent T instead. I would advise against it.

However, I did have pleurisy recently and was put on amoxycline which didn't increase or aggravate my T. I think amoxy isn't ototoxic though, so it's okay.

Steph X

 

[ehrfried]

Hello all,

My Lyme literate doctor seems to think I have a Lyme coinfection, bartonella.

He wants to treat me for a month with an antibiotic and see what happens. I have both doxycycline and bactrim as options.

I know it's not ideal but is there a better option that will (hopefully) not make my tinnitus worse?

Thanks!

My experience from Doxycycline is that it will make your inner ear worse, meaning that you get hearing loss and or tinnitus from it. My experience furthermore is that these effects are fully reversible. It may take many months, however.

I do not recommend taking Doxycycline at all, since I have had this experience and I also got depression from it.

I would like to furthermore refer to my post I wrote in another thread, regarding Doxycycline:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...e-after-taking-doxycycline.42576/#post-549523