My Teenager Daughter Got Tinnitus After Neomycin Otic Ear Drops

[Nelle]

My teenager daughter took Neomycin ear drops after ear syringing two weeks ago. She only did one day of the drops (3 doses, 4 drops each). Now she has a constant ringing in her ears. 24/7. It is hard for her to live with.

She has been to ENT. There is no ear drum perforation and was not at time of syringing. Hearing is normal. She was prescribed a Medrol pack but hasn't seen any significant improvement while on it.

Has anyone had Neomycin Otic induced tinnitus get better? How long until it improves?

Looking for hope.

 

[Hardwell]

Hi Nelle,

I'm not sure about specifics when it comes to ear drops. I've seen many cases of people get tinnitus this way, a lot of times temporary and sometimes permanent.

I know a fella that originally got his tinnitus this way, and he struggled like crazy with it for months to maybe a year? His tinnitus never went but it died down to a level so mild he never paid it any attention and it had no ill effect on him. So much so that he did the exact same thing again years down the line and gave himself a worsening with the same ear drops. He repeated the same cycle as above and it's died down again to an ignorable level again.

There's no way of knowing if your daughter's tinnitus will be permanent, temporary and for how long it lasts if it is temporary. But being permanent is not the end of the world, believe me.

My best advice would be for you to not tell her of this forum when's she's in an acute stage. Reading the horror stories on here will be of no aid if she's already struggling.

I wish her all the best.

 

[just1morething]

My teenager daughter took Neomycin ear drops after ear syringing two weeks ago. She only did one day of the drops (3 doses, 4 drops each). Now she has a constant ringing in her ears. 24/7. It is hard for her to live with.

She has been to ENT. There is no ear drum perforation and was not at time of syringing. Hearing is normal. She was prescribed a Medrol pack but hasn't seen any significant improvement while on it.

Has anyone had Neomycin Otic induced tinnitus get better? How long until it improves?

Looking for hope.

Sorry your daughter has tinnitus. It is very hard to live with. You could do a search on this forum for "Neomycin".

 

[ZFire]

Has anyone had Neomycin Otic induced tinnitus get better? How long until it improves?

The general rule of thumb here — if the antibiotic ends with -mycin, it's strongly advised not to take them. There's greater risk in causing ototoxicity with those antibiotics.

She's in the acute stage, so chances she improves are still good.

 

[BrysonKingMe]

My teenager daughter took Neomycin ear drops after ear syringing two weeks ago. She only did one day of the drops (3 doses, 4 drops each). Now she has a constant ringing in her ears. 24/7. It is hard for her to live with.

She has been to ENT. There is no ear drum perforation and was not at time of syringing. Hearing is normal. She was prescribed a Medrol pack but hasn't seen any significant improvement while on it.

Has anyone had Neomycin Otic induced tinnitus get better? How long until it improves?

Looking for hope.

It could be the ear syringing and not the eye drops, or it could be both. Both can cause tinnitus.

Have her stay off forums and wait a few months before thinking it's permanent. If it is, most people do better handling it within a year and there is a device that may work for tinnitus coming out in 1-2 years.

She should not take benzos unless she is extremely distressed.

Just my opinion, continue seeing professionals for more advice.

 

[eagerUser]

Sorry for your daughter. It is more likely to be a result of the ear syringing than ear drops because even Ciprofloxacin, which is extremely ototoxic, as an ear drop cannot do much in terms of ototoxicity unless there is a hole in the ear drum that the ear drop gets inside the ear from.

It is impossible as others have said to predict whether it's permanent or not but there is a great chance it's temporary. Even if it's permanent, it will most probably become less bothersome and she learns to live with it. There is also one good treatment on the horizon i.e. Dr Shore's device.

Please don't forget to update us with a success story when she is tinnitus free.

Best wishes.

 

[tiniturk]

Have her stay off forums and wait a few months before thinking it's permanent. If it is, most people do better handling it within a year and there is a device that may work for tinnitus coming out in 1-2 years.

This is by far the best advice you can give her (aside from going to the proper professionals of course).

 

[Stuart-T]

Unlikely to be caused by syringing if you say the ringing started after the ear drops. Hopefully though it will resolve.

 

[Leila]

It makes me so sad to hear that such a young person is suffering from this dreadful condition. Since a lot of good advice has already been given, there isn't really much for me to add.

By educating yourself and offering understanding, you yourself are already doing more for your daughter than many people on Tinnitus Talk have experienced from their environment when they first got afflicted.

Try to be patient with her because there will be a lot of lashing out in pain and frustration.

Suffering from an invisible illness is challenging for all parties involved - you just need to read up on the many unimaginably callous ENT visits many of us have experienced to see that even the professionals have a hard time when it comes to something they don't have a means of offering relief for.

Be there for your kid, maybe help her find some masking sounds or offer a little distraction (without calling it just that) because the more attention you pay to your tinnitus noises the worse they get.

All the best to you and your daughter - fingers crossed her tinnitus will be temporary!

 

[SarahMLFlemmer]

I am a 35-year-old woman with two young children. This ailment threw me into a 3 month panic attack. I lost a lot of weight as I could not eat and also could not sleep. I was almost put into the mental hospital and was getting pretty suicidal. The best thing my husband could've done was to understand my pain and just hang in there with me. The first 3 months were hard, and I mean really, really hard. One day at a time, one moment at a time.

I will be sure to have your daughter in my prayers today.

 

[Nelle]

Thanks everyone. My daughter woke up this morning to find the tinnitus had decreased a bit in volume and changed to static. It was, sadly, shortlived. Is this a good sign?

 

[Michael Leigh]

My daughter woke up this morning to find the tinnitus had decreased a bit in volume and changed to static. It was, sadly, shortlived. Is this a good sign?

Hi @Nelle.

I am sorry to hear about the difficulties that your daughter is going through with tinnitus at the moment. The fact that it decreased and changed to a static noise, although temporary, suggests to me this is a good sign. Your daughter's young age I believe is an advantage that will enable her auditory system to recover, with the tinnitus eventually going away. However, I feel it's important to try and find out what caused the onset of tinnitus, as more than one thing could be responsible.

The most common cause of tinnitus is exposure to loud noise. If your daughter regularly listens to audio through headphones, earbuds, AirPods or headsets, it's quite possible that the original cause of her tinnitus was noise induced. Ear syringing can also cause tinnitus, especially when it is not administered correctly or the patient did not apply ear drops (olive oil) to each ear, 3 x a day for 10 days prior to having the earwax removed. Please note, ear syringing is not usually performed today and has been replaced by ear irrigation. This is when water is squirted into the ear by the health professional using a hand held wand, instead of the old method of ear syringing, when the water was applied to ear under pressure. Please go to my started threads and read my post: Microsuction and Irrigation.

Therefore, if your daughter regularly listens to audio (music) through the devices that I have mentioned, like so many people do, there is a tendency to be listening at too high a volume without realising it. It is possible that the tinnitus was already there but operating at such a low level that enabled her brain to easily ignore it - then she had ear irrigation. If she did not apply ear drops for 7 to 10 days, to thoroughly soften the earwax before having it removed, this could have aggravated the tinnitus that was already present or caused it to develop.

The Neomycin ear drops could also be responsible for causing your daughter's tinnitus as it can have side effects. This medicine is an antibiotic and therefore, I assume your daughter's GP (PCP) prescribed it because she had an ear infection? Ear infections are known to cause tinnitus. The tinnitus usually goes away after the infection has cleared up.

I advise that your daughter doesn't listen to audio through any type headphones, even at low volume until the tinnitus completely goes away. If she does return to using them, keep the volume low as possible and not to wear headphones for too long a period without giving the ears sufficient rest.

Advise your daughter to use low level sound enrichment especially at night, by using a sound machine by her bedside. More about this is explained in my post: New To Tinnitus, What to Do?. It is available on my started threads.

All the best,
Michael

 

[eagerUser]

Thanks everyone. My daughter woke up this morning to find the tinnitus had decreased a bit in volume and changed to static. It was, sadly, shortlived. Is this a good sign?

It can be a good sign if the tinnitus intensity changes but it's still too early to say anything. As I said, there is a perfect chance it will completely resolve.

Best wishes to you and your daughter.

 

[SarahMLFlemmer]

Thanks everyone. My daughter woke up this morning to find the tinnitus had decreased a bit in volume and changed to static. It was, sadly, shortlived. Is this a good sign?

I wouldn't be able to answer that because I've never had it happen, but it sounds like it's possible!

Please, just let her put anything else in her ears and keep her away from loud noises for a while. Let it heal. <3

I would suggest earplugs if she's going to be out viewing fireworks on Tuesday.

Hang in there you two!

 

[Mo8409]

I can't say anything that you haven't already read. I'm 3 months in myself from a very very low dose medication. It's the luck of the draw if it goes away. I'm still in the struggling part of it but people like my father and brother are 30 years in and live a normal life.

She's young and has great chances of it healing and going away but there's also a chance that it won't. Only time will tell. Keep seeing professionals and make sure everything is good and clear. During an MRI for my tinnitus they found out I had herniation of my brain. You just never know what's hiding.

Keep listening to her as she will need a lot of support in the upcoming months. Try to find tinnitus YouTube videos or download the ReSound or TinnitusPlay app for a tune that can help zone out the tinnitus. There's always anti-anxiety drugs but I don't recommend them unless it's urgent. That's what caused my tinnitus in the first place.

Good luck!

 

[RunningMan]

Thanks everyone. My daughter woke up this morning to find the tinnitus had decreased a bit in volume and changed to static. It was, sadly, shortlived. Is this a good sign?

I think it's something to give hope, but it doesn't give any certainty. Ever since my tinnitus intensity increased significantly 17 months ago, it is always cycling through different sounds (hiss/static/single tone with squeal) and intensities within 2 or 3 days, and has only gotten worse as a baseline and at the extremes over those months. I was habituated to the mild tinnitus I had the 20+ previous years.

I hope hers will fade.

 

[Nelle]

We tried a 50/50 water peroxide rinse to help the ear. The tinnitus spike drastically decreased for 5-10 minutes and then gradually increased to baseline. It also now transitions intermittently from weeeeee tone to static.

Could the peroxide/water solution have helped her tinnitus? Is this a good sign?

 

[Jupiterman]

Leave it alone, do nothing.

It could take weeks, months, years or never to reduce.

Tampering won't help.

 

[Nelle]

Leave it alone, do nothing.

It could take weeks, months, years or never to reduce.

Tampering won't help.

Gotcha. Her doctor was the one that recommended the water/peroxide on the off chance that there was residue left from the Neomycin otic drops. I was wondering if this was a normal response to the rinse.

 

[Eleanor89]

Hello @Nelle, give it time and her tinnitus will fade into the background, it just takes time.

She's scared and upset and it's awful at first. I was the same all those years ago and it faded in the background.

Just give it time, she will get better x

 

[Stuart-T]

Gotcha. Her doctor was the one that recommended the water/peroxide on the off chance that there was residue left from the Neomycin otic drops. I was wondering if this was a normal response to the rinse.

A shower would probably do as good a job at rinsing out.

Mine is mostly a weeee very high pitched and is sometimes more a static sound. I prefer the static sound but my preference is irrelevant.

Yes, I agree, don't tamper except maybe try some of the masking videos on YouTube if it is hard to cope with.

 

[Utdmad89]

Hello @Nelle, give it time and her tinnitus will fade into the background, it just takes time.

She's scared and upset and it's awful at first. I was the same all those years ago and it faded in the background.

Just give it time, she will get better x

How long did it take for yours to fade?

 

[Luman]

Thanks everyone. My daughter woke up this morning to find the tinnitus had decreased a bit in volume and changed to static. It was, sadly, shortlived. Is this a good sign?

If the tinnitus fluctuates, that's not unusual, mine does it all the time. This bothered me a great deal, at first. Now, a day with louder tinnitus, all else being equal, is no worse for me that a day when it is very mild.

The brain learns to ignore it, and it helps to not over-analyze or track the types and levels of sounds. I was told by a therapist, who has tinnitus, to just let tinnitus do what it does. I started practicing this advice and doing other things to minimize my attention to it, and now I rarely hear it. In your daughter's case, it could very well go away completely but, if it does not, she'll be fine. Tinnitus is very common, many people have it and never mention it, because they're not bothered by it. Best of luck to her.

 

[rangers30]

@Nelle, how is she now? I hope she is well.

 

[Blackbird1016]

We tried a 50/50 water peroxide rinse to help the ear. The tinnitus spike drastically decreased for 5-10 minutes and then gradually increased to baseline. It also now transitions intermittently from weeeeee tone to static.

Could the peroxide/water solution have helped her tinnitus? Is this a good sign?

Hi,

My tinnitus is noise induced but personally I wouldn't play with this.

Sorry to hear your daughter is so young and suffering from this. I imagine it would be a lot worse at her age.

At two weeks, she shouldn't panic. It can take 3-6 months to subside. Sometimes 1-2 years or more, but do not tell her that off the bat if she is very young. It may frighten her.

I would treat it like a sprain. Avoid anything ototoxic (check all medications). I would not do anymore rinses/syringing, etc.

Also, I know her tinnitus is not noise induced but it may also be good to avoid loud noises and headphones.

Tell her to eat healthy and get good sleep. If she is struggling, buy her a small fan to run at night.

The body is always trying to heal so in instances like this it's best to create a healing environment and let it do its best.

Unfortunately, doctors know very little about it and seem to be very slow to learn any more about it. Be cautious with them and research anything they suggest yourself first.

Syringing is also a risk; many people have gotten tinnitus that way. I would discontinue any syringing/ear drops as well.

 

[JimmyStrong]

@Nelle, how is she now? I hope she is well.

I also hope she is well.

 

[Nelle]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's nearing a year since onset and, unfortunately, my daughter still has the tinnitus. The ringing did get a bit quieter in the first month or so. Like the others said, eventually the brain does habituate. It no longer bothers her much. We are still hoping and praying for a full healing but, for now, this is an okay place to be.

 

[Hardwell]

I have a pretty bad outer ear infection right now, and I am wondering what my action plan should be, as I want to avoid the troublesome antibiotic ear drops.

 

[Utdmad89]

I have a pretty bad outer ear infection right now, and I am wondering what my action plan should be, as I want to avoid the troublesome antibiotic ear drops.

Mullein ear drops.