My Tinnitus Is Back Because of Antibiotics

[racerfish]

Hi, I've posted a few things but thought I'd do an intro here. I've had T for about 11 years now. I first got it from going to too many clubs and listening to music using headphones too loud. All that hearing damage added up. My T started after going out to a loud bar one night. I eventually habituated to it, and the intensity did go down (or at least my perception of it went down). I went to tons of ENTs, and no one could make it go away. But I learned to live with it, and after some time only noticed it if I was in a quiet room and listened for it. Since then, I've always been VERY careful about exposing myself to loud sounds. I avoid concerts and anywhere that I know will have a lot of amplified sound. If I know the decibel level will be too much even with ear plugs. I just stay away. It's not worth it.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I went to see my doctor about a health issue and they found out I had UTI even though I had no symptoms. Doctor prescribed Cipro 3 times daily with each dose being 275 mg. I'd taken it before so didn't think it would be a big deal to take it again. I've taken several rounds of antibiotics over the last few years, and I believe each time they did some damage to my ears that has built up, and this was my ear's way of telling me they were at their breaking point.

After the first dose, my ears felt stuffed up the following day. I kept trying to pop my ears. After the second dose I noticed a big increase in my T just a few hours taking it. The sound of the T was the same, but the volume was just louder. A whole host of other side effects hit me, and I stopped taking the drug. After a week, the volume seemed to go down a little bit.

The doctor then had me try Augmentin which I had read was much more easy on the ears. After one pill of 625 mg my T spiked again and was louder than the spike with the Cipro and much higher pitched. It's not quite a pure tone but sounds more like a tea kettle whistling in the background. That happened this past Saturday, and the T has not subsided since then. After the Augmentin incident, I totally panicked again and then sunk down to a low I haven't felt since I first got T 11 years ago. I feel like after reading posts here, I have more hope. But I worry about the future and what will happen I will need antibiotics again.

So here are the next steps for me...
1) I went back to the doctor for one more UTI test to see if the few antibiotics cleared up the infection. I have only very mild, transient symptoms of UTI at this point. Still awaiting results.
2) I'm going to see an ENT tomorrow and ask about taking Prednisone. After reading some posts on here, it seems like that could reduce the severity of the tinnitus. However, I worry about taking it if I have UTI. Will probably have to wait for the infection to clear or I could make things worse .
3) I'm going to a Chinese herbal medicine place over the weekend to see what they can do, mainly to see if there's an alternative to treating my UTI since I want to avoid antibiotics. Will also ask to see if they can do anything to reduce the intensity of my T. At this point, I'm exploring all options.

So, that's my story. Sorry it's long, but I wanted to spell everything in case others have had a similar experience. Will post updates so people can see any progress I make.

 

[madsci]

I had 3 teeth pulled a few months ago, and I was put on a Z pack for a week to control the antibiotic growth. I noticed the same thing for my T. Very Very loud after taking the pill. After I was off the Z pack, my levels returned to where the were before. Antibiotics are just a drug like anything else. I've observed some drugs spike up and some spike down for the T. I was even prescribed some double migraine/T drug and it make it feel like the worst screaming all the time until I got off of it.

I would keep on the treatments or see if a different antibiotic class would be better. Something that looks molecularly fundamentally different and targets something else might mess with the T less. When you get off the probiotic, it should decrease the T. Perhaps taking the antibiotic directly before bed (if you usually fall asleep OK?)

BTW - start taking a probiotic right away!!! The renew life helped my other end get back to normal after a month or two.

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Pro...133&sr=8-3&keywords=renew+life+ultimate+flora

Hopefully, we can use CRISPR to direct our treatment directly to the genus/species of the bacteria we are after instead of flooding a tiny killing agent to every part of our body...

Good luck!

 

[racerfish]

@madsci Thanks for sharing your experience. That's great news to hear that your T went down. How soon after you went off the Z pack did things return to normal for you?

I was just at the doctors office today and he recommended probiotics for me. Hope that it will help.

 

[racerfish]

So, here's an update on where things stand. I went to visit an ENT on Friday, and they did a round of tests. He said he didn't think the Augmentin could cause an increase in my T but said the Cipro could. He also thought that based on my hearing test in which I've lost some low frequency hearing, that I had EVA (enlarged vestibular aqueduct). He gave me some meds including just 5mg of Prednisone per day for 3 days which I hadn't started taking yet because I wasn't sure if my UTI had cleared up.

Today I went back to my regular doctor's office for the UTI test results and came back clean. I'm happy that the UTI is gone but unhappy that I could've avoided all this had I just not taken the antiobiotic. Had I waited until today, I would've known that I didn't have UTI and never would've had to have taken the Augmentin which caused the further spike in my T. But I can't dwell on a rosier reality that only exists in my head. I need to deal with the here and now. I explained my T situation with my regular doctor and asked him about Prednisone after reading about it on here. He thought it was unusual to treat T with it, but he did end up giving me a 10 day course starting with 40mg and then tapering over 10 days and said I could take that instead of the 5mg the ENT prescribed to me.

After reading about peoples' experiences with Prednisone, it seems like in some cases it makes the T worse which would be disastrous for me.

For people who've taken Prednisone, what was your dosage? How long did you take it for? Did it help? And was your T drug-induced or noise-induced?

I want to take it but don't want to do anything to worsen my T.

(Oh, another thing that happened to me today... I had a raw blister on my ankle from my shoes about half the size of a dime. I grabbed some ointment to put on it, rubbed it on the blister and put a band-aid on it. Sat for a short while reading and then looked at the contents of the gel I'd put on and read that it had neomycin in it. Came across a few posts about how ototoxic that can be, even in topical form and then promptly washed it off. Ears have begun to feel full, and I don't know if it's from the neomycin or a continuation of the antibiotics' effects on my ears. I've definitely had better weeks.)

 

[_Chris]

(Oh, another thing that happened to me today... I had a raw blister on my ankle from my shoes about half the size of a dime. I grabbed some ointment to put on it, rubbed it on the blister and put a band-aid on it. Sat for a short while reading and then looked at the contents of the gel I'd put on and read that it had neomycin in it. Came across a few posts about how ototoxic that can be, even in topical form and then promptly washed it off. Ears have begun to feel full, and I don't know if it's from the neomycin or a continuation of the antibiotics' effects on my ears. I've definitely had better weeks.)

I got myself really worked up about the same thing back in May. Long story short, I had absolutely no change in my tinnitus after using Neosporin at that time, and I had it on my wound (about the same size as the one you describe) for a couple days. I worried about it a lot over the following weeks, wondering if I was maybe super-sensitive to it and that all hell was about to break loose... But nothing happened.

Here's my take on it -- I'm not a doctor, but think about the amounts involved. The whole tube of ointment probably has about 50 mg of neomycin in it. Apparently they give gastrointestinal surgery patients something like 4000-12000 mg per day of neomycin orally to kill gut bacteria as part of surgery prep. From what I've read, apparently the body excretes 97% of that. So if those people absorb 3% into their bloodstream, that means they would have 120-360 mg in their system, which is equal to the amount in 2-7 whole tubes of ointment. The amount in the ointment put on a cut is at least 100-200 times smaller, and not all of that would be absorbed.

The other thing is, from what I read, it seems that the ototoxic effects are not immediate, but follow after a week or two after dosage (in larger and more sustained amounts than would be put on a cut), and it occurs over the course of weeks. Apparently the neomycin accumulates in the cochlea and causes damage later. So I don't think it could have caused anything to happen on the same day.

 

[racerfish]

@_Chris thanks for the reply. That's very reassuring to hear that your experience didn't end up with worsening of your T. I'm just now at a point where I don't know if I should take the Prednisone that was prescribed to me. Maybe I should go with the lower dose that the first doctor prescribed to me. I dunno. I think Monday, I'll try to see a different ENT for one more opinion and then make a decision. I just feel like everything is just bearing down on top of me, and I find it hard to focus on anything else at the moment.

 

[Robert44]

@racerfish Hi, I can't remember anyone getting a spike from prednisone.

 

[racerfish]

@racerfish Hi, I can't remember anyone getting a spike from prednisone.

There are a small number of posts on here of people reporting T spikes after taking Prednisone.

 

[Mikie_Mike]

Cirpo can also lower GABA and Serotonin, so that might explain your reaction:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25902267

I took Cipro, followed by high doses (60 mg tapering over 2 weeks) of prednisone, and my T got a little worse when on Cipro, and started screaming when I took the prednisone. I'm assuming it had more to do with my central nervous system, than increased damage to the ear ... my guess. I also have "mild" hearing loss. The prednisone also brought on severe depression, high anxiety, tight chest, muscle twitches, etc. I went to the emergency room 5 days into the prednisone, and they told me to taper quicker. Because I was having so much trouble with the anxiety, I started taking Xanax at day 8. That helped, but now I'm tapering off Xanax, which is very addictive. By the way, I'm 58 and never had a chronic depression or anxiety issue .. so this was totally prescription drug induced.

You might also check out:

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/06/10/prednisone-withdrawal-symptoms-how-long-do-they-last/

Anyway, I've taken both Cipro and Prednisone alone, but never one after the other ... I think that was the issue. My T is much lower, but spikes every time I cut the Xanax dose ... but comes back down. I should be off the Xanax within a month. In the benzo world, slow and steady wins the race, otherwise withdrawals can be harsh.

Everyone is different, and you may not have an issue ...

 

[racerfish]

@Mikie_Mike Thanks so much for the reply and resources that you provided. Sounds similar to my situation though very sorry to hear that you had such a tough time with the Prednisone. I've taken it in the past when I first got my T and didn't have issues with it though that was for noise-induced T, not drug-induced T. The first time I took it, it had no effect on my T.

How soon after your spike from the prednisone did the spike go down? Or did it only go down with the Xanax? And was the prednisone specifically prescribed to help with your T?

 

[Mikie_Mike]

Sorry, I wasn't clear about the cause of my T ... it started with an ear infection. The T didn't really shake me up until the end of the Cipro, start of the prednisone. My GP was treating the infection as a bacterial infection (3 weeks) and Cipro was the last antibiotic I took before I went to an ENT, who told me it was viral and put me on an anti-viral and prednisone. The ENT was correct! To answer one of your questions, the prednisone was prescribed for the infection, not the T. In the initial stages (pre Cipro/prednisone) I'd say my T went from 0/10 to 3/10 ... and on the prednisone it was 10/10. In fact, initially I could take Sudafed and the T would go away. Anyway, I ended up a mess, and couldn't work, hence the Xanax.

When on the prednisone, the T "volume", and a lot of the side effects, were dose dependent. When I was taking 60 mg, it was highest, and as I tapered it came down. I started taking the Xanax at the end of taking 40 mg of prednisone, moving to 20 mg, because I had to function at work. By the way, 0.5 mg of Xanax made my T disappear. I don't mean the T didn't bother me ... I mean it would disappear! But I wouldn't really recommend Xanax, because it brings its on set of problems.

At this point, I'm still hoping the T reduces or goes away ... after I finish the Xanax taper and my CNS stabilizes. Xanax down regulates GABA receptors, and some people who go off Benzos, who have never had T, get it during withdrawal. I guess my T is actually not too bad, but still annoys me. It's probably a 2/10 now, but is always there, and my ears still hurt occasionally. At least before I took the prednisone it would disappear at night. Part of it hanging around is probably due to the Xanax taper.

In any case, I have mild hearing loss, so I've order Widex Zen HAs, which might help if I have to live with this. I went ahead and order the HAs because I have a lot going on, including a sick dad, and I'm getting tired of messing with all of this ... and since I've met my deductible, my insurance will pay for 2/3 rds of the costs. If you think at some point you might be interested in HAs, you might check out:

http://www.audiology.org/news/hearing-aids-tinnitus-therapy

I tired them on in my audiologist office, and they seem to help, but I won't really know until I wear them in the real world.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck!

 

[brodi]

@racerfish, you said your doc "also thought that based on my hearing test in which I've lost some low frequency hearing, that I had EVA (enlarged vestibular aqueduct)." Was the EVA diagnosis really based just on hearing loss, or a scan? From what I understand, you need a CT scan to measure the size of the vestibular aqueduct in order to determine that it is larger than it should be. If you didn't have scans, I'd ask the doc for more detail about that EVA diagnosis next time.

 

[IvanRus]

Hi, I've posted a few things but thought I'd do an intro here. I've had T for about 11 years now. I first got it from going to too many clubs and listening to music using headphones too loud. All that hearing damage added up. My T started after going out to a loud bar one night. I eventually habituated to it, and the intensity did go down (or at least my perception of it went down). I went to tons of ENTs, and no one could make it go away. But I learned to live with it, and after some time only noticed it if I was in a quiet room and listened for it. Since then, I've always been VERY careful about exposing myself to loud sounds. I avoid concerts and anywhere that I know will have a lot of amplified sound. If I know the decibel level will be too much even with ear plugs. I just stay away. It's not worth it.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I went to see my doctor about a health issue and they found out I had UTI even though I had no symptoms. Doctor prescribed Cipro 3 times daily with each dose being 275 mg. I'd taken it before so didn't think it would be a big deal to take it again. I've taken several rounds of antibiotics over the last few years, and I believe each time they did some damage to my ears that has built up, and this was my ear's way of telling me they were at their breaking point.

After the first dose, my ears felt stuffed up the following day. I kept trying to pop my ears. After the second dose I noticed a big increase in my T just a few hours taking it. The sound of the T was the same, but the volume was just louder. A whole host of other side effects hit me, and I stopped taking the drug. After a week, the volume seemed to go down a little bit.

The doctor then had me try Augmentin which I had read was much more easy on the ears. After one pill of 625 mg my T spiked again and was louder than the spike with the Cipro and much higher pitched. It's not quite a pure tone but sounds more like a tea kettle whistling in the background. That happened this past Saturday, and the T has not subsided since then. After the Augmentin incident, I totally panicked again and then sunk down to a low I haven't felt since I first got T 11 years ago. I feel like after reading posts here, I have more hope. But I worry about the future and what will happen I will need antibiotics again.

So here are the next steps for me...
1) I went back to the doctor for one more UTI test to see if the few antibiotics cleared up the infection. I have only very mild, transient symptoms of UTI at this point. Still awaiting results.
2) I'm going to see an ENT tomorrow and ask about taking Prednisone. After reading some posts on here, it seems like that could reduce the severity of the tinnitus. However, I worry about taking it if I have UTI. Will probably have to wait for the infection to clear or I could make things worse .
3) I'm going to a Chinese herbal medicine place over the weekend to see what they can do, mainly to see if there's an alternative to treating my UTI since I want to avoid antibiotics. Will also ask to see if they can do anything to reduce the intensity of my T. At this point, I'm exploring all options.

So, that's my story. Sorry it's long, but I wanted to spell everything in case others have had a similar experience. Will post updates so people can see any progress I make.

Hey. I do not think that this is the way to act. It is not so ototoxic. I do not believe in that. It is a modern antibiotic, which is prescribed even for children. But the amoeoglycosides, which are prescribed in our country in Russia, are yes. Type amikatsin, gentamicin, streptomycin. By the way, does someone have experience of victory over amonoglycoside tinnitus or loss of perception?