Has Anyone Tried to Take Antipsychotics for Tinnitus?

IvanRus

Member
Author
Jul 2, 2017
493
Tinnitus Since
04/2017
Cause of Tinnitus
ototoxicity
Has anyone tried to take antipsychotics (antipsychotics) for tinnitus?

Did they help you? They help some people.

The most common are Sulpiride, Quetiapine, Risperidone....
 
Has anyone tried to take antipsychotics (antipsychotics) for tinnitus?
I am not sure whether they are antipsychotic drugs, but check out the post below
My daughter searched the internet and found a study done by a Dr. Sherman (I think that is how the name is spelled). He had participants who all had tinnitus take a combination of Clonazepam and Gabapentin. I then went to my family doctor which had earlier given me an anitdepresant and sleeping pill (which didn't help). She prescribed .5 mg of Clonazepam and 300mg of Gabapentin 2x a day. After my 10 days of Ativan I switched to the new prescription. it was a Godsend. The Gabapentin and Clonazepam lowered by tinnitus and I started to lead a more normal life. I still had tinnitus but it was much better and tolerable. 6 years later I am still on it. It works best when taken at the same time. My tinnitus has changed for the better. I tried tapering off but my tinnitus would spike back up. I would only recommend the drugs for the worst tinnitus that is unbearable. Always see a doctor if you are in the same boat as me.
 
I am not sure whether they are antipsychotic drugs, but check out the post below

The medications mentioned in your quote aren't antipsychotic drugs. Clonazepam is a Benzodiazepine and Gabapentin is an anti-seizure/anti-convulsant drug that is prescribed for a bunch of different disorders. Both work on GABA receptors though, so they carry the same risks of dependency and withdrawal symptoms.
 
Has anyone tried to take antipsychotics (antipsychotics) for tinnitus?

Did they help you? They help some people.

The most common are Sulpiride, Quetiapine, Risperidone....

I'd be weary of antipsychotics for tinnitus. They are drugs with heavy side effects and there have also been studies that claim that they can cause brain atrophy: loss of brain volume. Pretty scary in my opinion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3476840/

Results
During longitudinal follow-up, antipsychotic treatment reflected national prescribing practices in 1991 through 2009. Longer follow-up correlated with smaller brain tissue volumes and larger cerebrospinal fluid volumes. Greater intensity of antipsychotic treatment was associated with indicators of generalized and specific brain tissue reduction after controlling for effects of the other 3 predictors. More antipsychotic treatment was associated with smaller gray matter volumes. Progressive decrement in white matter volume was most evident among patients who received more antipsychotic treatment. Illness severity had relatively modest correlations with tissue volume reduction, and alcohol/illicit drug misuse had no significant associations when effects of the other variables were adjusted.

Not saying to completely dismiss them, just posting so that anyone reading is aware.
 
Why would anyone take an anti-psychotic drug if they had never been psychotic or were not at risk of becoming psychotic.
This is playing with fire.

Lots of psychiatrists are prescribing for example Quetapine or Risperidone to "treat" :rolleyes: for example OCD or a bipolar condition. They don't care about the individual in the long run. But they'll be sure to rake in the dinero from big pharma.

Well, i guess the medicine is okay if it makes the sufferers life more bearable.

Imagine if there was tinnitus medicine that would lower severe and moderate tinnitus sufferers tinnitus by 80 or 90 %.
I would give my dose to the users on this board with severe tinnitus.

But reality is not like that (YET! :cool:)
 
This following POST is from a different forum, but it feels applicable to this discussion. It seems like Amisulpride (Dopamine system stabilization drug, available without a prescription) could be helpful for many on this forum who have some of the symptoms it's purported to be helpful for.

LOTs more very useful information at the link provided above. My impression from what I've read on Amisulpride is that it is likely more helpful than many of the drugs mentioned on this forum, with far fewer and severe side effects. But there is still MUCH I have yet to learn about it. -- @Michael Leigh

"""At very low doses, amisulpride is know to act as an:

Antidepressant treatment
Anti-anhedonia treatment
Anti-anxiety treatment

Reduces ME/CFS noise sensitivity symptoms
Greatly reduces ME/CFS irritability symptoms
Improves sociability
Treats anxiety psychosis symptoms (anxiety psychosis from anxiety disorder)
Improves attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)"""​
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I was just perusing another post in the above linked thread, and came across the following. Which again, seems like it could be helpful for many people new to tinnitus. Seems like it could be very helpful for the brain as it starts its process of habituating to entirely new circumstances...

"""Specifically, at the low doses, Amisulpride is a "selective dopamine antagonist" which stimulates specific types of dopamine receptors (D2 and D3) on their presynaptic side. For this specific purpose, it is used in very low doses (12.5-100mg/day). ...... Since it was designed to be used at much higher doses, there are few side effects at these low doses. Keep in mind it may take up to two weeks to feel any effects from amisulpride, so try it for at least 2 weeks!

It seems to have a very unusual ability to tone down a person's unwanted emotional outbursts in a very precise clean way, while preserving the drive to accomplish important matters in their life. Strangely enough, it actually seems to shut down the part of the brain that spends time worrying about other people's problems or going in circles about personal emotional issues. The emotional spin cycle simply disappears!"""​
 
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Just ran across this interesting testimonial:
...........................................

"I had amisulpride in my possession for over a year before I finally gave it a try. I didn't do well with low dose Abilify, so I wasn't hopeful for amisulpride. However, one evening after fanaticizing about strangling my saint-like husband for putting his spoon down too loudly, I decided to give it a go.

I started with 12 mg and with in 15 min began to feel relief from the hyperacusis, mysophobia, irritability, and the inner tension they create. Within an hour I was happily chatting away with my husband and actually having thoughts about how it might be nice to visit with a friend. I did find, though, that my motivation was a little low at the 12mg.

I dropped the dose to 6mg and then to 4mg and still found relief at these doses, though never quite as much relief as the first time I took it. Sadly, amislpride wasn't all roses for two reasons.

1. After a few doses it seemed to aggravate my OI [Orthostatic Intolerance], especially the feeling of weakness in my heart that I associate with poor ventricular filling.

2. I became ravenously hungry, putting on 5lbs in the two weeks I used it. Menstrual cycle was also one week late. I could measure prolactin and try cabergoline or bromocriptine to see if I could curb the cravings, but I'm hesitant to take meds to treat my meds.​

For now, I decided to only use amisulpride as a rescue med for when the sound sensitivity and irritability get really bad. Interestingly, they have been better since my amisulpride experiments, which ended about 3 weeks ago. I'm not sure if this is a residual benefit from the amisulpride or due to what I am currently experimenting with (coenzymated B1 and GHK peptide)."​
 
The older antipsychotic medications worry me. I spoke toDr. De Ridder today who often uses Flupentixol and Aripiprazole. In particular Flupentixol can cause tardive dyskinesia, and it can be permanent. He was very upfront about this and that's why he emphasised to use Clonazepam. He did say at 0.5 mg of Clonazepam getting tardive dyskinesia is unlikely. Like many, I don't want to use Clonazepam every day though so I'm really not sure. Amisulpride, Aripiprazole and Lurasidone have very low risks of side effects at low doses and are a better bet. Ideally I don't want to take any. I don't want loud bilateral, sound reactive tinnitus either. Striking a balance is difficult.

Cariprazine is another that has a bizarre action where it acts as an antagonist at over stimulated dopamine neurons and agonist at understimulated neurons. Sounds too good to be true in that it can balance them out.

"Cariprazine has partial agonist as well as antagonist properties depending on the endogenous dopamine levels. When endogenous dopamine levels are high (as is hypothesized in schizophrenic patients), cariprazine acts as an antagonist by blocking dopamine receptors. When endogenous dopamine levels are low, cariprazine acts more as an agonist, increasing dopamine receptor activity."​

Below is just a case study, so read little into it!

155 Improvement of VIIIth Cranial Nerve Function With Cariprazine

Really we learn through trial and error and reporting our experiences.
 

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