Novavax Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination Experiences — Did It Make Your Tinnitus Worse?

[Manex]

Now that Novavax has been approved in the US, I'm looking to find out what the experience of people who have tinnitus already have had with Novavax (doesn't matter what country or when).

My tinnitus got worse with the first Pfizer shot and I've been waiting for an alternative ever since. Many others with tinnitus had this experience too.

I've not seen so far anyone say their tinnitus worsened from Novavax, but also have not seen a lot of experiences reported about it.

Please share your experience, both positive and negative, and how long ago your shot was. Thanks.

 

[tickspoon84]

Hi Everyone!

I've been following this thread for a little over a year now. I was excited and ready to get vaccinated and then read about the tinnitus side effects and couldn't take that chance. I've had tinnitus in my left ear for about 6-7 years. It started after SSHL on that side and it took about 5 years before I was accustomed to it and could sleep and live normally with it. I couldn't risk it all happening again so opted not to get vaccinated.

I started tracking Novavax at that point in hopes that with it being a protein subunit vaccine, there would be less side effects and hopefully no reports of tinnitus. Once it was finally approved and available near me this past week, I made the first appointment I could to get the shot. I received the shot this past Wednesday and am happy to report that it had absolutely no effect on my tinnitus so far and I haven't had any other side effects either. I will post again if anything changes or if I have any side effects, tinnitus related or otherwise, after my second dose.

Thanks!

 

[Manex]

Thank you for sharing. I hope it remains good.

But I'm surprised only one person so far. I thought a lot of people with tinnitus were waiting to take this Novavax.

 

[tracyNYC]

Thank you for sharing. I hope it remains good.

But I'm surprised only one person so far. I thought a lot of people with tinnitus were waiting to take this Novavax.

I was waiting, but my tinnitus keeps worsening, so now I have second thoughts about any vaccine.

 

[fliesatnight]

I was waiting, but my tinnitus keeps worsening, so now I have second thoughts about any vaccine.

Same situation. There was a time when I was checking regularly to see how things were progressing with FDA approval but after being relatively stable for years, my tinnitus and hyperacusis seem to be worsening for no clear reason. Now I'm even more wary of doing anything that has the potential to make my ears worse than they are already.

 

[Manex]

I continue to be amazed how little data there is on Novavax. I guess not a lot of people are taking it.

 

[CRGC]

Bumping this thread up to see if anyone else has had experience with the Novavax vaccine.

I'm thinking of getting a booster shot, but am wary of the mRNA vaccines now that I have tinnitus. I have had three doses of the Pfizer vaccine already, but all were taken before the onset of my tinnitus and hyperacusis.

 

[tpj]

I continue to be amazed how little data there is on Novavax. I guess not a lot of people are taking it.

It's probably because many places no longer have vaccine mandates and that was the only reason people were waiting for Novavax.

 

[CRGC]

It's probably because many places no longer have vaccine mandates and that was the only reason people were waiting for Novavax.

Considering that the virus has been shown to cause hearing loss and tinnitus, I was expecting more people on here to get this vaccine once released. I think I'll be getting it as a booster.

 

[tpj]

Considering that the virus has been shown to cause hearing loss and tinnitus, I was expecting more people on here to get this vaccine once released. I think I'll be getting it as a booster.

Novavax just came out too late. Most people concerned about the virus would have already had their vaccinations.

 

[CRGC]

I will be getting the Novavax vaccine as a booster on Friday. I will keep this thread updated.

 

[CRGC]

Happy to report that I've received a Novavax booster shot yesterday, with no effect on my tinnitus so far.

 

[Leah]

Thank you all for sharing. I need a booster and have an appt for Novavax. I've had tinnitus for many years, I don't need it any worse. I have had two Moderna vaccines but hearing so many people with tinnitus as a side effect is concerning. I lost three family members to COVID-19 before vaccines and I want to be protected. Stay well everyone.

 

[Manex]

Happy to report that I've received a Novavax booster shot yesterday, with no effect on my tinnitus so far.

Thanks for the update! Did you have an increase with the previous vaccines?

 

[Manex]

Thank you all for sharing. I need a booster and have an appt for Novavax. I've had tinnitus for many years, I don't need it any worse. I have had two Moderna vaccines but hearing so many people with tinnitus as a side effect is concerning. I lost three family members to COVID-19 before vaccines and I want to be protected. Stay well everyone.

How did your booster shot with Novavax go? I'm getting to a point where I might try it myself. I want to be sure I am as protected as possible from COVID-19 as it seems impossible to live in the US without eventually getting it.

 

[Manex]

Has anyone had any new experiences, positive or negative, with Novavax? Still debating if I will take this.

 

[MatthijsDJ]

Thank you all for sharing. I need a booster and have an appt for Novavax. I've had tinnitus for many years, I don't need it any worse. I have had two Moderna vaccines but hearing so many people with tinnitus as a side effect is concerning. I lost three family members to COVID-19 before vaccines and I want to be protected. Stay well everyone.

Look at this thread. For most people, vaccines didn't have any impact on tinnitus/hyperacusis, and those who noticed some impact are saying that it was just for a few days/weeks.

Please notice that there are also a lot of people making false reports of side effects. Here in the Netherlands one anti-vax group went as far as reporting deaths by using announcements of deceased people in news papers.

Share Your Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccine Experience: Any Impact on Your Tinnitus or Hyperacusis?

 

[fliesatnight]

Has anyone had any new experiences, positive or negative, with Novavax? Still debating if I will take this.

This post is pretty encouraging:

Providing my story here as a data point for anyone that it might be useful to, as other people's anecdotes have been helpful to me over the past year as I decided what to do.

Background: I have had tinnitus since 2015 and, long story short, I appear to have some sort of condition where it gets worse semi-permanently (new sounds for months or years) if I get a viral infection (flu, cold, whatever). I suspect it's autoimmune.

In 2021, I was excited to get one of the initial COVID mRNA vaccines because I was concerned about what might happen to my tinnitus if I got COVID unvaxxed. However, exactly 6 days after my initial Moderna dose in April 2021, I experienced a severe worsening in my tinnitus, in much the same way that I do when I get sick. I was borderline suicidal (which didn't stop my primary care doctor from encouraging me to get my second shot, of course). After 5 months of wrangling with said doctor trying to find a solution or alternative, I got my second Moderna shot, and had the exact same tinnitus worsening 6 days after the shot. I handled it better, since I expected it to happen and had been prescribed anti-anxiety medications, but was put off mRNA for good.

Since then, I had been closely following the Novavax production and approval saga - while the mRNA vaccines reliably produced a bad reaction, I had continued receiving my annual flu shots with no negative effects. I hypothesized that my body would react to the Novavax vaccine more like the flu shot than the COVID shot, since both Novavax and Fluarix simply deliver the target antigen into the muscle, vs. having cells produce it and present it on their surfaces like mRNA — perhaps this was cuing my body to overreact? The unknown was whether Novavax's adjuvant would trigger the same overreaction, as Flurarix is unadjuvanted.

I finally got my first Novavax booster at the beginning of December 2022 and I am pleased to report that, a month later, there has been no worsening of my tinnitus or any other discernible side effects. If you're someone who suffered tinnitus issues with previous COVID shots (or if anything about my condition sounds familiar to you) I can't guarantee anything, but I can say that Novavax is worth your consideration.

 

[kingsfan]

The latest Novavax vaccine was approved in the US. Can anyone who gets it post here?

 

[R0B]

I did my research and found that the Novavax was the one with the lowest percentage of reported tinnitus side effects. I went ahead and took the vaccine.

About a week later it spiked my tinnitus quite a bit which lasted for a while, I was very worried about it. Fortunately, it settled down after about a month. It's hard to tell if it's back at the same level and honestly, it feels like it's slightly more intense than before after it settled down. But at least it came down from the spike. I hope it keeps coming down. I read somewhere that for someone else a similar spike lasted about 3 months.

Can anyone else who has had a spike after the Novavax vaccine report how long it lasted?

If I had to do it again, I might think twice about taking another vaccine after this experience but everyone should make their own choice and it seems that for most people the vaccines are OK without any side effects so it still seems like a safe option for most people.