Parents Are Demanding I Take Lexapro, I'm Worried It Will Make Tinnitus Louder

[Karl28]

I've been in a terrible place this month.
A new noise that comes and goes making sleep hard and it's been stressful for everyone.

My parents and doctor are demanding I take an antidepressant, Lexapro, as it will supposedly help with my mood and how I'm handling this crisis and management.

However I read a lot of doom and gloom reports on the internet and some people say lexapro made their tinnitus worse.

I can't take anymore increases and I'm also worried it might lock this new noise into place. If it got worse again I'd really kill myself.

But everyone is so fed up with me right now saying how I'm just doing nothing, wasting time waiting for a miracle to happen and this is when I should be on the meds. We had a crisis team over at the house the other day and they left and said they can't really come back unless I start these meds to get help.

My Mum said it's all shit I read on the internet and to listen to the health professionals and not some random persons report that it made them worse.

Can anyone offer me some advice?

 

[bshar]

This SSRI (could) very much be the reason I'm experiencing my current dreadful spike, I took it for a week about 5 weeks ago, and noticed my Tinnitus screaming, and it has been screaming ever since.

I also attended a club with loud music at the same time, and was also experiencing a lot of stress and depression thus why i was given an SSRI.

I don't know which cause my tinnitus to spike enough to make me notice it and freak out, but I'm just sharing, I also read a lot about SSRI causing spikes, but I only found that information after I spiked, I wish I knew before.

cheers

 

[GregCA]

I was prescribed Lexapro and decided against taking it because I didn't think I had any chemical imbalance in my brain. I felt that my reaction (panic, fear, depression & other "fun" things that happen at onset) were a natural reaction to an intrusive noise that follows you around without any second of relief added to a degradation of hearing that doctors couldn't figure out. In other words, I felt that I was "objectively depressed", and that I reacted the way any healthy brain would.

This doesn't mean that it is the right thing to do for you. I'm just telling you what I did, and my rationale.

 

[butterfly75]

I'm sorry. Your situation right now sounds so stressful. If it calms you down, I took Zoloft which is another drug in the same class and it didn't make my tinnitus worse. It sounded louder the first day, but then it went back down, so don't freak out if that happens to you. I did try Lexapro once (before tinnitus) and it gave me a lot of side effects. But that might not happen to you. But maybe talk to them about another drug instead? They'd probably agree as long as you agree to take another one. But you may not experience any side effects with Lexapro at all. Some people get very minor side effects with Lexapro, and tons of side effects with Zoloft. Everyone is different. It sounds like you're under a lot of stress right now from your family and the doctors not understanding what you're going through with the tinnitus. But I wouldn't worry about the medication too much. Many people with tinnitus take SSRIs, and it's very rare for them to make tinnitus worse.