Please Help: Ototoxic-Induced Tinnitus, Benadryl-Related

[Andrew91]

Hello everyone, my name is Andrew and it's nice to meet you. I'll keep this as brief as I can, if any of you guys have any input please put it in this thread, every bit helps, thanks.

I'm 23 and I've recently starting experiencing subjective ototoxic-induced tinnitus from taking Benadryl (diphenhydramine hcl) about three weeks ago. I was previously taking Melatonin to help myself sleep better since I'm such a night owl, and it was ok. I was doing some shopping and saw some "Sleep Aids" with Benadryl as the main ingredient. Each pill was 25 mg, so I began to take two a night and it would help me sleep a bit and I thought everything was going fine for about a week. I sometimes would take 3 a night but this was very rare. After about a week of taking it, I turned off the lights one night and I began to hear a ringing OUT OF NOWHERE. I searched everywhere for this noise and realized it was in my head. I also felt both my ears clog up slowly one by one out of nowhere like I had a pressure change but that was only once. I've dealt with anxiety for the past two years with my girlfriend helping me and since she was asleep I figured I would take more Benadryl and it would help me. I stopped taking the pills just from being worried and not having to need them so I didn't freak about trying to go to bed.

A couple of days went by with the ringing but I wasn't focused on it. I went to Atlanta on May 29th to visit my brother and I didn't hear the ringing at all except for a small brief moment before I went to bed but it went away quickly. I didn't take Benadryl for at least a while until I came home June 1st and decided to take three Benadryl like a FOOL and go to bed. The next day I woke up with loud ringing in my ears that seems to switch from ear to ear and it hasn't gone away since then. I finally went to the hospital (MCG) and a student nurse and an older doctor did a simple check on their database and they found that Benadryl can cause tinnitus. They used a simple ear tool to check the basic outsides of my ear canal and said I look clean and told me to stop taking the Benadryl.

I thought everything was great but now I'm reading all these posts about Tinnitus and I'm freaking out. I took x27 25 mg altogether of the Benadryl in the month of May. It was a loud pitch whine of a ring last 10 days back then but it seems to be going away in the whine day by day. When I stress out about it it gets loud especially with my anxiety.

I've been trying to get insurance to see an ENT specialist since I've heard about Eustachian Tube Dysfunction and my ears do feel a bit clogged when I swallow and I've been yawning rather frequently. When I shift my head or plug up one ear the noise temporarily goes away but then goes to the other ear.

Please, if you guys have any knowledge on the matter, let me know, thank you so much and stay strong!

 

[Tibberz]

Step 1, calm down. If it went away once, it should go away again, based on your post its in the process currently. If I were you I would stop taking those meds, dont even consider them since your body seems to react to it. It's also possible something else could be amiss like an ear infection, but you should consult your doctor on that. Until then suspect the meds.

Step 2, read the positivity thread and the success stories (THEY HELP A TON!). Things will get better even if the tinnitus is permanent. Try to live your life normally and ignore the noise the best you can, use masking noises and occupy your brain with a task (can be as simple as playing a video game, or a house project, just do something to keep the brain off the ringing).

 

[Andrew91]

Thanks Tibberz, I was worried no one would respond. I heard that melatonin can help with reducing Tinnitus, so I've been taking 5mg a night. And yeah, I DEFINITELY stopped taking the Benadryl about a week and a half ago and hopefully the noise has gone down or maybe it's in my head, I don't know. Thanks for the reply, hope you're kicking butt man.

 

[Karen]

Hi, Andrew,

I had a similar experience five years ago, but for me it was blood pressure medicine. We never know how our bodies are going to react to a drug, and in my case, the drug caused a lot of problems. I've been off this medicine for about 4 1/2 years now, and my tinnitus is still there, but it's much, much better. It is true what Tibberz (above) says; the tinnitus may or may not go away, but there is much you can do to control it. Distraction works really well for me.

I hope you won't take Benadryl any more, and find some other alternative. It's possible that, in time, your tinnitus may go away, or recede to the point that you don't pay much attention to it. That is called habituation, and it really is possible. I was totally habituated to my tinnitus before the blood pressure drug, and I'm working toward getting there again.

To minimize any further damage to your ears, you might consider taking NAC (N-acetylcistene), a natural supplement. It seems to help protect the ears, and for me, I believe it has helped to reduce my tinnitus to a more manageable level.

I'm sure there are many others out there who have experienced tinnitus after taking an ototoxic drug. For some people, it eventually goes away, or at least becomes less intrusive. Hopefully, more of them will share their experiences on this thread.

Take care, and please keep us posted on how you're doing.

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[Andrew91]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Karen. Is this medication over-the-counter or prescription only? I used to be focused on it a lot a couple of days ago but it feels like it's getting better. I hope they come up with a cure soon to end this for people suffering from this. I'm not gonna lie, I'm scared to be around loud noises right now, I do not want to make this worse in any way. Have there been complete recoveries from tinnitus that have been ototoxic-induced? Thanks for your replies everyone they really help

 

[Karen]

Yes, there have been some people who have recovered from exposure to an ototoxic drug. It depends on the drug and the person, because some drugs cause permanent damage, where others may be reversible. For example, I've read that aspirin may cause ringing in the ears, but after you get off the medication, the ringing generally goes away.

The one that caused my problem was a prescription drug. I've tried to avoid prescription drugs as much as possible going forward , as you can imagine.

You're wise to stay away from loud noises, and protect your ears with earplugs when exposed to a loud noise. It is important not to overuse earplugs, but to use them only when needed during loud noise exposure.

Good luck, and I'm glad to hear yours seems to be a bit better now.

 

[Mike82]

I presume diphenhydramine is an active ingredient in Unisom.

I used to have mild, barely noticeable tinnitus, then I took Unisom tablets on and off for about nine months after a trip to the United States (I forgot my sleeping tablets on a trip to New York). Now my tinnitus is crazy loud and bothers me 24 hours a day.

But I certainly hope yours goes away, Andrew.

 

[Andrew91]

Hello everyone, it's been nearly a week since I made my last post and I thought I should give an update to anybody who would care to listen.

Things were going smoothly for about a week, I believe I had begun to habituate to it, until I woke up one night and in a rush began to do certain errands that had slipped my mind. I immediately felt my tinnitus kick up out of nowhere into the usual ring it was about a month ago. I began to panic, for I have always heard that tinnitus can flare up. I felt my pulse and it was pounding, because of my anxiety (which I'm currently attempting to get insurance for), I can get surges of adrenaline from stressing things and it can make my heart beat a bit fast for a sec. I took a shower and attempted to calm down. After an hour it appeared to subside, but for the rest of the night, it was a blur of me trying to force myself to sleep.

I don't know why, but every time I go into a quiet room I found myself testing myself if I can still hear it. I feel like a bat constantly looking for a ring, and I fixate entirely on any type of noise that appears from the quietness. It's driving me crazy that I find myself looking for any ring, especially when I'm watching television. I'll mute it and realize things are kind of quiet, but when the noise is on I feel like I can hear it, and I can't help but keep testing myself, although I know that when I stressed out that night, it was an unbelievable ring, like it was when I first got it a month ago. I know my problems are so minute to some of your problems and you guys are so brave and I admire that. I don't mean to annoy anybody with my questions. My anxiety is just stressing me out and I know stress can alleviate any kind of tinnitus. My main question was that I'm worried to take ANY kind of medication if I were to be prescribed one due to toxicity of the ears. I also don't want to stop taking any kind of medication and receive a side effect from withdrawal. Based on anybody's experience, is there any type of "safe" anti-anxiety medication out there that won't cause any further damage (if any) to my ears? Thank you everyone, much love to you all.

 

[Mike82]

My doctor prescribed me Mirtazapine and now I sleep like a rock.

I also drop a .5mg Valium from time to time whenever it's all getting too much. The latter is, of course, addictive... so I simply don't take them too often.

Neither have lowered the volume, so to speak, but both have helped in my everyday life.

 

[Dane]

I know its been years since the OP. But I must add this 2 cents. The tinnitus is due to skeletal muscle tension. The ear drum is a skeltal muscle, when you have tinnitus caused by acetylcholine inhibitors due to excess benadryl dose. Your ear is basically flexing, constricting. This causes the ear to lose sensitivity to subtle changes in air pressure. The body responds to this by developing its own substitute sound by producing an electric signal to fill in the frequemcy range that your ear is not registering. Think of it like this. Your ear needs a color picture, when its overstressed it may not notice all the colors and attempts to fill it in with its own color. The substitute color may be too bright, or overtly contrasts the natural colors we are used to seeing associated with an object we know. Red becomes maroon, its noticibly off color, but not so much so that it is foreign. We see maroon, notice a difference, but we move on with our day. If it was gray, not maroon, the discrepancy would have a ripple effect on our understanding of our environment based on the senses that signal our brain to properly react, or not react to the environment....

 

[Dane]

The OP needed to bre treated for the skeletal contractions that resulted from Acetylcholine inhibitors. Acetylcholine acts on memory and learning, and is used to signal skeletal, smooth muscles to contract or not. This is why sever toxicity will cause paralysis and require manual assistance for functions such as breathing. That is until the excess acetylcholine is no longer clogging the synapses it regularly travels/communicates with.

 

[Dane]

Im currently recovering from incidental benadryl overdose that occured after I ingested a larger than normal dose for severe allergic reaction to seasonal allergies. I also have a degree in sound design and have extensively researched the psychological and physiological properties of sound and the human senses.

 

[Dane]

I also happen to take the skeletal muscle relaxer Zanaflex. I had a lapse in using it while the benadryl toxicity occured. (Insurance coverage issues) when I resumed my muscle relaxer prescription my body finally loosened up. The benadryl overdose caused muscle damage by over exertion, leading to tension, limited mobility, trouble breathing, blood pressure spikes and dips. My posture changed drastically before readminastering the skeletal relaxer, I also must mention that I have TMJ/Bruxism that came out of submission due to the tightened muscles. Resuming zanaflex drasticslly reduced the exacerbated tmj/bruxism symtoms.

 

[Choohooo]

@Dane

curious to know if any muscle relaxer will work or just zanaflex. I can relate to the condylar shift from muscle tension. I also get a lot of neck stiffness. It only seems to happen with iv benardyl for me, not oral.