Ear Infection / Antibiotics / Ringing Sucks

[blacklabel]

Hi All,

I'm a long time lurker, first time poster and was hoping to get some opinions. I seem to be going through a massive spike/ change right now and am unsure what to do. I've had tinnitus for just over 4 years. Guessing it was progressive noise induced as I always listened to music on blast with my ear buds in my teenage years then it caught up with me in my late 20s I was also super stressed out at the time. I also have no hearing loss that can be detected as of a year ago. I tend to avoid taking medication I don't need like otc NSAIDs and have ear plugs for anything pseudo loud, so I'm super annoyed that it was come to this with my precautions.

Long story short doctor thinks I have a middle ear infection that started in my left side and seems to be slowly replicating to the right ear. He prescribed amoxicillin with Clavonic acid (augmentin I think is the non generic name) 875 mg x2 daily. Doc assured me that it was not ototoxic and a quick google search confirmed this so I didn't argue with him.

The infection first came on Wednesday last week and messed with my hearing on the left. Tinnitus might've gotten slightly worse due to the ear being plugged and my drum being inflamed / swollen and painful but was still easily maskable with a fan and the tv or white noise machine on low. It's possible that it may have even ruptured slightly. I seem to have picked up some weird tonal hearing where people's voices sound as if they are robots. Guessing some liquid against my ear drum.

Anyways here's where I am now, I started taking the prescription on Sunday and within about 4 hours my T started screaming at me at it's usual high pitched static dog whistle sound only 5 times louder than normal. If I plug my ears the sound is not static but a pure tone. I've had spikes in the past but for the last couple of months it's been around a 3/10 for the most part. Night is hard but can generally forget about it through the day as long as I avoid pure silence, but this is annoying and seems it can only be masked while in the shower. I figured maybe the spike was because I've only been sleeping an hour a night for the past week, had been using small amounts of otc pain meds since this came on and had also started a new job ( awesome timing for this) so my body is probably in some sort of shock ,so I took the the pills 2 more times and my t seems to be getting louder including these new pure tones. The infection seems to be getting better but not sure if it's because it was viral and is going away on its own or that the antibiotics are working.

My concern however is that the antibiotics are making the T progressively permanently worse and am stuck in a damned if I do, damned if I don't scenario. Maybe it's the infection maybe it's the anti biotics. Which leads me to my potential move forward options below -

Scenario 1 - stop taking the antibiotics and see what happens. If the infection gets worse I'm probably super effed but if the infection is viral then the antibiotics aren't doing a damn thing anyway. If the infection is bacterial I'll probably need to get a different anti biotic if I stop taking this one. One that is potentially super ototoxic which will screw me later.

Scenario 2 - keep taking the anti biotics for 7 more days and hope that my t spike isn't permanent and is just to do the antibiotics fighting the infection and eventually chills out. I do take melatonin and vitamin C ( for which I understand is good at countering ear damage. I also take magnesium/ ginkgo and niacin as well. Was also going to see if I could find some NAC locally and start taking it during the anti biotics course to see if it stops it from getting worse.

Scenario 3 - the amoxicillin is also a fairly hefty dose.im about 3 doses in and wondering if it's possible to go to my doctor and get a lower dose like 500mg x 2 a day and still combat
The infection but not be as harsh.

Scenario 4 - open to your suggestion.

I'm not looking for official medical advice ,moreso a "what would you do" based on your previous experiences.

Thanks in advance fellow T owners and sorry for writing the novel.

 

[DebInAustralia]

I'm sorry to hear of your spike, but am glad to see that your infection is improving.

There are several variables that may be contributing to your t spike.

The infection, possible drum perforation, the OTC med, stress, lack of sleep, pain, and the augumentin.

When you mentioned that your hearing has changed, I wondered if you have perforated your drum and/have a middle ear effusion (a tympanogram would help you decide if the latter is the case).

You would probably know that augumentin is probably one of the safer options as far as ototoxicity is concerned.

I would definitely take nac.

If you have a discharge, you could consider having your dr send off a culture/swab, so that you at least know if its viral or bacterial.

I think its more likely to be the infection/fluid in your middle ear that is causing the spikes. its happened to me many times, and always settles down.

As long as your drum is intact, you could try garlic and mullein oil ear drops if you are concerned about using the augumentin ongoingly.

You don't want to not treat the infection though, so if you discontinue the course, I would consider natural therapies.

Having the dose reviewed is a good idea.

I cant tell you not to take the augumentin. I have taken Keflex, which is a relative, and have had no noticeable effects on my t from this.

I understand your caution. My instinct and experience tells me that it is the infection that is causing your spike, and that it will settle down once the infection effs off.

let me know how you get on and what you decide

deb

 

[blacklabel]

@DebInAustralia

Hi! Thanks so much for your input and helping try to logically think this through. I think we are on the same on the reason of the spike. For science I skipped a dose of the anti biotics last night just to see how I would feel this morning. T is still going strong.

I think I did have a small rupture on my eardrum last week as I had a very small amount of leakage in my ear, almost like moisture not like gobs or grossness.it looked super clear. Doc checked my ear on Sunday and didn't see any perforations at all plus the discharge has stopped so guessing it healed itself. Unfortunately being in Canada it would take me months to get to someone who can do a tymanogram or see an ENT.

I have an appointment with my family doctor on Thursday. I may just power through the anti biotics until then and see what she says about the dose as well as see if I can track down some NAC in the meantime.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[blacklabel]

Just a quick update. The augmentin (amoxiclov) seemed to really affect my ears after taking it about 4 times, so I stopped taking it. The pills were huge btw ( 1g total including amox and clovanic acid). Ears seem to be returning back to "my normal" aside from a bit fullness and some feelings of fluid/ cracking in the ear. I saw my doctor who gave me some prednisone for 5 days which seems to have helped with the healing process. T is still dumb but H seems to have dissipated quite a bit.

I've also been taking NAC, magnesium and Vit C in addition to the prednisone during the recuperation process.

As a side note it seems that amoxiclav can affect the CNS in ways for some people. It seems to also affect people who have used / are using benzos in some sort of gaba relation which I guess could explain why it messed with me as I do take .5mg of klonipin for sleep ( it was at 1mg plus 7.5 mg or zopiclone but have tapered slowly down to .5mg and will continue to taper once I'm levelled out)

Peace everybody