Prednisone (and Skull Thumping) Has Reduced My Tinnitu to Near Silence. Third Pill Since Last Night.

[AlexSongitus]

I kind of wanted to make a post in the success story thread, but I figured I am only on day 7 and my first day of Prednisone, so I don't know if I should exercise caution. Especially since I understand Prednisone might be temporary. I don't know if you guys think I should.

However I want to say that it was thanks to this forum that I acted so fast to go see an ENT yesterday and encourage anyone that even THINK they may have Tinnitus to go get it checked out and start treatment, ASAP. And temporary or not, it certainly is a welcome relief today after the past 6 days of hell.

I took my first pill before going to bed last night. Did nothing when I woke up, was actually spiking pretty bad and the one thing that actually I believed kick started it, is the simple procedure of covering your ears and thumping your skull with your fingers on the back of your head. The technique is explained here. The first day I tried this it didn't actually work, because I was too anxious to even give it a fair shot. I actually did something different of putting my fingers in my ears and pumping them fast, but eventually your ears get sore and irritated from this. But even that gave me a small break.

This morning, I tried again, and again on the first try it didn't do much and less than what I had figured out.
But I found out I was pressing too hard against my ears, and flicking too high up on my head. I decided to switch my fingers when flicking, and noticed it was hitting on a lower part of my head, right at the top of my neck arteries. Every time I did this, it created the loudest thump, and after 10-15 thumps, it immediately gave me about 2-3 seconds of silence. I repeated it 5-6 times, and each time I got more seconds of silence in between. When my fingers got tired of flicking, I started tapping the back of my head in the same spot and humming a "zzzz" like a song to the drum beats from my fingers. Eventually after doing this for about 10 minutes on and off, when I stopped I got about 15 seconds of silence, and my T reduced from a high spike to less than half its volume. More importantly the 2-5 seconds intermittent silence, along with the "zzz" humm gave me a total break from the T while I was doing it. It was the first time in 6 days I had a break from it. Not even white noise could mask it, but this did. I then immediately chewed gum, and kept chewing and my T maintained its lower level from then on long enough for the Prednisone to take over.

By my second pill this morning it was moderate to low. It got louder again as the 8 hour mark was coming up.

After my third pill, it went do to barely noticeable, even giving me moments of complete silence As I'm sitting here typing this it has been 2 and a half hours since my third pill, I am in total silence, and I would say its down to a 1 or a 2 at most, even when I am actively listening for it.

I think doing the thumping is highly underestimated and really wish I would have read a thread that insisted on trying that from the get go, because it's the only remedy that really gives you INSTANT relief, especially when spiking and your anxiety is going through the roof. I would have loved it if my ENT made me do that yesterday when I was spiking so bad in his office, rather than leaving me to wait in total silence with spiking T for 30 minutes. That helps someone like me that is new to T tremendously because in addition to calming spikes, it significantly reduces anxiety during spikes, and the anxiety of the thoughts that "I will never ever hear silence again". That little remedy proved for me, that even if its for 2-3 seconds, YES YOU CAN have silence again.

Now I have an ENT appointment with one of the the doctors that I believe is in charge of the AM-101 trial(I had no idea who he was until after I read a Q&A on here with his name at the top) on monday, but I am contemplating postponing it a week just at least give the Predistone a chance to work before going in. Do you guys think I should give Predistone a chance to work, and postpone my appointment?

 

[Jahhsoul]

I think I have to that 2-3 second of silence after the Skull Thumping but Im nor sure if it is because of the "sound contrast". Doing the Skull Thumping is a bit loud. Not sure but I will try it more times.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Give the "zzzz" humming and tapping a shot too. Mix it in between when you get tired of thumping. I know it's silly but it helps. And count how many seconds of silence you get after each attempt. At first I got 2 -3 seconds, but it added between each pause with each added repetition. I would just resume doing it before my T came back.

At the very least it helps with spikes and it gives you a nice breath of relief.

To give an update, the Prednisone has given me pretty much complete silence for the past 30 minutes. It's amazing. If I listen REALLY hard I might hear it, but I can't honestly even say this isn't what silence always sounded like for me before my T.

The only difference is that I'm feeling woozy and my ears are feeling slightly stuffed. But so far I'm extremely impressed with the significant effect from this pill.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update. Day 2 on Prednisone. Woke up with it blasting, after total silence before going to sleep. Does anyone have any clues why Prednisone would not work while sleeping/overnight? It was basically a 1 or a 2 at most all day yesterday, down to pretty much much silent for the 5 hours prior to going to sleep last night. I went to sleep in total silence and now in the morning it's back. Same thing happened the first night. No effect when I first wake up. I take a dose right before sleeping to make sure it lasts a full 8 hours while I sleep.

Ironically, before Prednisone, the only time I would get about 5 seconds of silence was when I first woke up before my T ramped up. On Prednisone it's loudest when I first wake up, but it settled at its normal level after waking up. I sleep very deep, always have woken up with a heavy head, and it always takes me about 10 minutes in the morning to fully wake up and clear my head. Been like this my entire life. Sometimes I would get vertigo and slight ringing even before my T when I woke up.

So weird. You would think it would work best at night when your body is healing and everything is quiet. I don't get why an anti-inflammatory would prevent T all day, but not overnight. Could it mean it's not not caused by inflammation? And if that's the case then I don't understand why it has such a great effect during the day.

It's been now 2 hours since I took the morning pill, and it's lowered it just slightly, maybe from a 6-7 to a 5 since I woke up. Thumping skull trick only lowers it today, doesn't give me the 1-2 seconds of complete silence. Feeling pretty discouraged right now. A big set back since yesterday evening. I'm going to see if it dies down again by the 3rd pill today as it did yesterday.

 

[Sailboardman]

Prednisone is a short term fix. I had and injection of Prednisone when I first diagnosed with SSHL and T and for one day T was gone 100%. I was also given a tapered course of Prednisone, which at first gave me hours of silence. However, as the days passed, the quiet periods diminished, until I was left with permanent T.

I even had an intratympanic injection done, of a cortiosteroid and it did nothing for my hearing loss and severe T.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Did yours also stop working overnight? Today it's definitely more stubborn. It's a bit more quiet now, probably around a 4-5, but it's not working as good as yesterday so far. I will see how it goes by tonight, but it's so freaking weird this disease and the way Prednisone works or doesn't work. I'm stumped as to why it would stop working overnight.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T Day: 9. Predistone Day: 3. Back to almost silence.

Before going to sleep it was only down to about a 3 out of 10, and that mainly happen while chatting with Dutchy and Bart on here for a couple of hours. Got my mind off of it and it helped. Good news is this morning I woke up with it about the same at a 3. I did not have the increase I experienced yesterday. I took my first pill and immediately started the day listening to this that I found in the forums here:




That had an immediate effect and dropped my T down to about a 1. I also mixed in some skull thumping, and white noise, and it's been at a 1 or 2 ever since this morning, stable. I have also been supplementing by Prednisone with Nature Made Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc made with D3(2 a day), a handful of Energy B12, about 4-5 at 1000mcg gummies and yesterday I started Ginko as well.

Since I don't know for sure my T was strictly due to acoustic trauma, I want to help my blood circulation. I haven't really changed my diet much, and I still smoke, and drink coffee, but I am taking it easy on both and doing some light exercising.

But it definitely seems to help to due some sound therapy along with the Predistone, to bring it down. Then the Predistone keeps it there.

I was experiencing some mild side effects last night such as dry mouth, increase in appetite, I had some dizziness, slight confusion and memory loss and also my right side of my upper lip would experience some temporary paralysis and twitch about 6 times an hour. My T also got quiet and lost the high pitched ring, with just a hiss sound. Then as it got later right before going to bed, it reversed, had nothing but a high pitched ring, and the hiss was not audible. Today it's back to its normal hiss and ring, but like I said, down to a 1-2 at most. So far today I feel great, no dizziness, no side effects.

Will continue to keep posting updates.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T Day: 10. Prednisone Day: 4. Same pattern. Went to bed in near silence, was a 1 all afternoon yesterday through the night, times of total silence last night. Woke up with a 5. Lower pitch. This prompted me to change the sound therapy this morning. Instant and immediate relief, down to a 2 within 15 minutes. It settled around a 2 and Prednisone kept it there again. Once again it seems it lost its effect over night and responds great to getting a kickstart with sound therapy. Very strange. It was a bit more stubborn today, and it took about 4 hours and couple of spikes to get it to a 1 today but now it's pretty quiet again and stable for the past couple of hours, and this is before taking my 2nd pill. Side effects seem to have tempered as well yesterday and today.


I listened to the same video I did yesterday, for about 4 minutes, and it was not working as as good probably due to my T being louder than yesterday morning as well as the lower pitch. So I followed it up with this strong heavy rain on a tin porch roof with thunder video instead for about 15-20 minutes and any other ones that helped mask or reduce it. Just whatever I could find to mask it or temporarily lower it and kickstart the Prednisone. It worked.

 

[Dana]

@AlexSongitus
I also had to take Prednisone these days to counteract the effect of some acoustic traumas. What I noticed after Prednisone is that, for a while, my hearing got a little crisper. Do you have the same feeling?

 

[AlexSongitus]

Hard to say if it got crisper in general, because my hearing just gets a lot better with my T down so low. So yeah it does, but I think it's probably more due to that fact. I normally have highly perceptive, crisp hearing though from training my ear over the years with music, so I definitely wouldn't say I am back to my normal self yet. Even a T of 1 is a major nuisance when it comes to listening or composing music. I just can't concentrate, or enjoy music, as long as its there, even at its faintest.

 

[Dana]

I feel sorry for myself a lot, of course, but when I hear about a case of a musician who got T that interferes with his passion and career, I am speechless. So sorry. Your T is very new. Maybe you are lucky and won't become a chronical sufferer and you will heal completely. Fingers crossed for you!

 

[AlexSongitus]

I feel sorry for myself a lot, of course, but when I hear about a case of a musician who got T that interferes with his passion and career, I am speechless. So sorry. Your T is very new. Maybe you are lucky and won't become a chronical sufferer and you will heal completely. Fingers crossed for you!

Thanks. I have an appointment tomorrow to get checked out again and talk about AM-101. I am not getting my hopes up for Prednisone to get rid of it, but it's great for what it does do. But I am hoping perhaps AM-101 can give me my passion back. I hope they are on to something and that AM-102 can give long terms sufferers some help too. Right now I still have hope, and the positive effect Prednisone has on my T adds to that, but we will see.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T Day: 11. Prednisone Day: 5. Woke up with a 3 and it has pretty much remained that way up until about now. Sound therapy once again seems to be working for me to lower it.

I went and saw an ENT and have a follow up appointment if my T persists to sign up for the AM-101 trials in a couple of weeks.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T day 12. Prednisone Day 6. Big change. Late night sound therapy and sleeping with white noise which may have prompted a change in my T pattern this morning. Had only about 5 hours of sleep, was very stressed yesterday, woke up with a different pattern, lower frequency, of fast intermittent beeps, blasting loud at about a 7 out of 10 when I first got out of bed. Once again...by my 2nd pill I am down to a 1 or near silence. I can hear my original T sound making its way back, but still faint sounds of the new beeps as well on top of it. The new beeps on top make it more interesting. This morning it was unbearable, but died down very fast, and now at a 1 at most, it's almost soothing since it broke up the familiar noise. I think the attitude towards me not freaking out to the new noise helps, because I took it as a positive. Any change and a break in the constant sound was a positive to me, despite how horribly loud it was to start the day. Of course the biggest help was the fact it died down to a 1 so fast.


Sound therapy that may have prompted the sound change:

Yesterday I didn't take my pill until after my doctor's appointment, and it stayed more or less consistent throughout the day. Sound therapy always helped kickstart the effect of the Prednisone but yesterday I did more than what I normally do. Last night I did some sound therapy combining multiple frequencies at this link, and also slept with white noise throughout the night. By gradually sliding the slider, I basically identified that I had a gap in hearing loss in my left ear in the 8k-10k Hz range, and the hiss of my T was much higher, in the 15k-17k Hz range. My T is originally composed of a high pitch hiss and a ring on top, a ring more predominent in my left ear. I listened to both for about 10 minutes and opened 2 tabs and blasted both of them simultaneously with in-ear buds for about 5 minutes. Ironically these things that hurt me originally seems to be the only thing that helps with sound therapy. I only use them for treatment, because open headphones or open speakers do not work to give me instant relief or instant change in tone or volume of my T. These do. Perhaps the reason some people get no relief from sound therapy and I am, is the difference between attempting therapy through normal headphones or just speakers vs in-ear buds. Caution, that's what caused my T! When listening to the higher frequencies I could feel a physical, pulsating feeling at the top of my skull towards the middle of my forehead. As if I was stimulating a physical reaction in my brain, nerves or blood vessels from the sound frequency. This morning I woke up with a very similar pattern to the combination of beeps imprinted on top of my T. Coincidence? Perhaps. It was similar to the alien sound in Inedpendence Day:







At 1:18. Interestingly, I actually watched it about 3 days ago....another coincidence? Who knows.



Multifaceted treatment, for multifaceted T causes?

After speaking with my 2nd ENT I am having to find an explanation of why I am having such a positive reaction to the Prednisone, as well as the Magnezium, vitamins, B12, and Ginko, when I got indications that it shouldn't be giving me this level of relief. I believe it's possible my T may be due to multifaceted causes, and what I believe is that it's responding to both sound therapy and Prednisone, thus a multifaceted treatment. Gradual, relief throughout the day for the past 6 days, can't possibly be a coincidence. My T was 100% continuous, present and unabated for 6 days until I started Prednisone, and started this combination of sound therapy and vitamins treatment. I am looking into seeing a family practitioner to get a physical checkup to see if there may be an underlying condition that led up to it as well.


Last day of 3 a day Prednisone before starting the tapering off period.

Whether I got hours of silence, or whether I woke up with it loud and reduced throughout the day, every day, I am getting consistent, significant relief, very low T, or silence by evening. I'm almost back to being able to do the things I normally do. I even listened to some music yesterday evening. Even played a bit of guitar, just not caring so much about my T. I did not want to become OCD or too fearful of it. Tomorrow I start tapering it off, 2 for 3 days, 1 for 2 days, and will be off of it in 6 days. Resetting and the setbacks overnight is still a total mystery to me, because during the day it's a gradual, consistent improvement.


I just want to say that the positive experience I am having so far with this, and conflicting yet still useful information I'm getting from different doctors, and this community, speaking with awesome members from here, gives me the attitude that I am going to beat this freaking thing in the end ! The gradual relief, the experimentation with sound therapy prompting changes or instant relief, just gives me this attitude that I'm going to beat it. Perhaps that mentality is also helping today. I don't have time or patience to sit around and wait for it to go away. I hope I am not being overly optimistic. Right now it feels like it's an everyday battle that starts in the morning, but I am winning by noon!

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T day 13. Prednisone Day 7. Tapering off period, 2 a day today. Another change. Woke up with my familiar, original T back very loud in my left ear only, about a 6/10 and my right ear down to a 2/10 with the alien sound I had managed to introduce in my T yesterday. Sound therapy using the ACRN -based treatment sound generator and rain sounds fixed my left ear quickly, about 5 minutes, removed the alien sound in my right ear too, and managed to stabilize back to my old T hiss sound, even in both ears, at around a 3/10 all day, stable. Today was the first I did not experience the gradual decline towards silence or lower T, that I have the past 6 days. It has been constant all day. Make of that what you will as far as how it coincides with going from 3 to 2 pills of Prednisone. But I notice the ring that was part of my T pretty much subsided, left with mainly the hiss.

The hiss is really hard to effect with sound therapy, in part because it's damn hard to pin point the frequency with the sound generator. It could be multiple frequencies adding up to the white noise in my head. The ring made it easier to identify, but I'm not complaining that it subsided.

I also noticed 2 very interesting things last night when falling asleep. I felt a blood vessel in my right leg pulsate with a very similar pulsating frequency to the intermittent T alien sound I had all day yesterday for about 6 seconds. I can also catch my brain turning T off completely in moments when drifting into sleep. I tried to lock in on it, but it only happens about once every 5 minutes or so when I am drifting into and out of sleep. Very difficult, will try again tonight, but it's encouraging to see the brain's ability to do that....now how could one could teach it to do it permanently?

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T day 14. Prednisone Day 8. First day since onset I woke up with a T of only 1/10 in my left ear, NO audible T in my right ear! Been a 0.5-1 all day since I woke up, mainly only audible on the left side! Right side/ear seems totally gone! Last night I supplemented my medicine with an antibotic, Penicilin V and took my vitamins at night. This morning I woke up with a swollen left side of my face, throat, left tonsil, drainage in both ears, and felt my sinuses drain. Same side where I still hear it faintly. The antibiotic?

Sorry for the long posts, but if I am doing something that is working, I want to be thorough and not leave anything out that might be affecting it.

Yesterday my T was a constant hiss all day, around a 3-4 and was the first day of tapering off Prednisone, and nothing seemed to have an effect. No gradual relief like every other day. Just constant. Throughout the past week I managed to get my T down to just a hiss, and the ring was pretty much inaudible. But sound therapy was useless for an immediate effect on the loud hiss, or so I thought, because I tried everything all day long and nothing seems to have an effect on the hiss. I could only mask it. Except this morning the faint T in my left ear was back to the intermittent sound I experienced 2 days ago after serious sound therapy so maybe it did do something because it's back to the alien-like intermittent sound.

Anyway, I came across one post on here mentioning that if someone had a reaction to Prednisone they should increase dosage. I did have a positive reaction as I have been documenting, but didn't increase my dosage, thought I missed my chance now, but I began thinking why that might be even more. Especially since my 2nd ENT really didn't believe I should be experiencing so much relief from Prednisone. So if it's responding, why is that?

Penicilin V:

So in searching for answers I found another thread by EngineerLA titled Here is How I Solved My Tinnitus - New Protocols and Supplements To Try. It was form December, but I noticed he never came back....which I took as a positive. In it he lists a whole bunch of medication, related to inflammation, sinuses, vitamins, etc, steroids which I am already taking, and what stuck out to me the most was the mention of antibiotics.

I had some Pencilin V, around the house, but never thought to try it, because I had no indications I have had any infection and neither ENT thought I did. Although I have always felt a slight feeling in my left ear, and louder T, than compared to my right. I have taken many times Penicilin in my life, even took it as a child when I had otitis, I have no adverse reactions to it, always treated my infections well, so I feel safe taking it, said what the heck, and tried it last night. And then I woke up as I described. Feeling moisture in my ears as if they drained overnight, swollen left side of my face, throat, left, tonsil, left ear, swelled up on my left side and sinus draining. So it had some effect! I can still feel my left tonsil a bit more swollen than my right. I never felt this until today.

Much, much too early to say, but I will continue both the Prednisone and Penicilin and report back! Wouldn't it be something if all this is due to some sort of undetected, painless infection?!!!

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T day 15. Prednisone Day 9. Setback and more changes. Woke up with a hiss of about 6/10 in my left, and the ticking sound moved to my right, a low 2/10. A couple of minutes of sound therapy got my left down to about a 3/10. Seems to have settled there. I am no longer inclined to believe Penicilin gave me the low T yesterday morning, but will continue to take it and try taking the vitamins again at night today to see if it was that instead or the heavy sound therapy the day before.

I am even more than 100% confident sleep brings back my T. I had 16 hours of total silence in my right ear and near silence yesterday in my left. Couldn't fall asleep until about 4am and it stayed that way all day. I had to wake up to take the Penicilin at 7, and just 3 hours of sleep was enough to bring it back. Went back to sleep and could only sleep for about another hour, and in waking up I could hear my brain adjusting the volume of that hiss in my left ear at will. Encouraging I suppose.

Any clues why even the shortest amount of sleeping would trigger it so evidently? What could it be about sleep that triggers T?

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T day 16. Prednisone Day 10. Down to 1 pill a day today. 1 day left. Woke up similarly as yesterday, but lower volume. Took the vitamins at night again, but no significant change noted. 3-4/10 in my left to start the day, so a bit lower. and 1-2 in my right. Same pattern. Hiss in left, fluttering/ticking in my right ear, which sometimes travels stereo, still no ring. Layed down still, relaxed, took about 20-30 deep breaths. Currently it settled down about a 2/10 for the hiss in my left, and 0-1 for the fluttering/ticking in my right.

I had some blood work done today and will be going in for a checkup on monday to check for anything else. Looking forward to getting of Prednisone as I'm noticing my ability to focus and mental acuity is really getting affected. I was thinking it was just from the relentless pounding of T throughout the day that tired my brain, but Prednisone might have something to do with that too.

Still took the Peniclin, had to interrupt it last night due to having to do blood work this morning, but it's beginning to feel like 2 days ago of silence, was just a fluke, coincidence. The clearing up of my sinuses and drainage in the ears were not though. Inconclusive, though I will not continue it after today, since I am going to be out of it.

I have only one more day of Prednisone, since I took my first Pill the night before my first full day on it, and then I am off of it. I will try to post a short review/recap, that is more concise, once I am completely off of it, as far as the difference before I started, and where I am now, and then I will be done updating this thread.

 

[glynis]

You can get a low feeling roughly after 48 hours of stopping prednisone and feel really lethargic due to the energy feeling taking it .... I have taken this medication for long periods with sever asthma and did notice it helped my tinnitus when taken more than 5 days .some courses have lasted weeks with a very slow taper.....lots of love glynis

 

[AlexSongitus]

You can get a low feeling roughly after 48 hours of stopping prednisone and feel really lethargic due to the energy feeling taking it .... I have taken this medication for long periods with sever asthma and did notice it helped my tinnitus when taken more than 5 days .some courses have lasted weeks with a very slow taper.....lots of love glynis

Yeah I'm actually noticing that while on it. I'm not typically a big pill popper, so in a way I look forward to being off of it. I still second guess the idea of whether it would have helped to increase the dosage earlier on, when it seemed to really give me periods of total silence during the first week....but now I also worry about staying on it for too long. This T thing is hard with all kinds of stressful decisions you have to make, in a short period of time, with almost no knowledge of it on which to base your decisions.

Even with the place of this forum, which has been truly a blessing, it's still a full time job to go through everything, digest so much information so quickly, and then make some big decisions. I don't know if it would be possible to start some type of a thread for first response treatment options for newbies, where we can all pitch in to help them go straight to what might work in the acute phases. Luckily I had time to digest a lot, but I know not everyone can.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Update: T day 16. Prednisone Day 11. Final day. Started with a 2/10 in my left ear, 1/10 in my right, same pattern. Being my last day, and last pill, I waited until about 3 to take it. I woke up feeling drowsy, and once again with the left side of my face swollen. In addition to that I just wasn't feeling well period. Experienced some vertigo and weakness/fainting symptoms that I sometimes get, which can last a couple of hours after I ear. I did notice a spike today, got up to about a 4/10 and changes in my T before taking my pill. First day I had my T rise during the day since I started Prednisone. Moved from my left to right ear for about an hour with the ticking disappearing, and then reappearing. Three hours after taking my last pill, it's settled at around a 2, hissing in both ears, left slightly louder, ticking very low more predominantly in my right. I was actually supposed to have 1 more, but I took pill #1 the first day before going to bed, so I'm off of it today.

I will try to post a concise recap of every single day tomorrow and how it changes in about 2 days once I am off of it. But it looks like, while on this, I definitely had a significant reduction considering I started at a very constant 6/10. Unfortunately, it's definitely not conclusive, and it's no permanent cure, that's for sure. Days 1 and 3 remain as the only days I experienced a few hours of complete silence in both ears. The rest were just gradual improvements in volume throughout the day, or improvement in right ear only.

 

[AlexSongitus]

Recap of Prednisone + sound therapy + vitamins 11 day treatment.

Base T before Prednisone: 5-7/10 Constant ring + hiss in both ears for a duration 6 days.
Days since Tinnitus onset when I started Prednisone: 7 days.

Prednisone 3 x 20 mg
Other Vitamins:
Nature Made Clacium(333mg) Magnesium(133mg) Zinc(5mg) D3(2ooui) x 2
Ginko(1 x 120mg)
B12(5x 1000mg)
Sound therapy: ACRN-based treatment app, white noise, rain sounds.
Took my first pill before bedtime of Day 1, so my tapering off period got cut short by 1 day and 1 pill.


Day 1:
Both ears: Wake up: 6/10 Morning: 5/10. Noon: 2/10. Evening: 0/10. Complete silence, ~5 hours
Day 2:
Both ears: Wake up: 6/10. Morning: 5/10 Noon: 4/10. Evening 3/10.
Day 3:
Both ears: Wake up: 3/10. Morning: 3/10 Noon: 1/10. Evening: 0/10- 1/10. Periods of complete silence.
Day 4:
Both ears: Wake up: 5/10. Morning: 2/10 Noon: 1/10. Evening: 1/10.
Changed tone to more of a hiss, less ringing.
Day 5:
Both ears: Wake up: 3/10. Morning 3/10. Noon 3/10. Evening: 3/10.
Day 6 (Performed lots of ACRN-based sound therapy the day before, slept with white noise masking):
Changed to a ticking, intermittent sound.
Both ears: Wake up: 7/10. Morning: 2/10. Noon: 1/10. Evening: 1/10

Prednisone 2 x 20 mg
Other Vitamins:
Nature Made Clacium(333mg) Magnesium(133mg) Zinc(5mg) D3(2ooui) x 2
Ginko(1 x 120mg)
B12(5x 1000mg)
Sound therapy: ACRN-based treatment app, white noise, rain sounds.

Day 7:
Left ear: hiss Wake up: 6/10 Morning: 3/10 Noon: 3/10 Evening: 3/10
Right ear: ticking, then hiss Wake up: 2/10 Morning: 3/10 Noon: 3/10 Evening: 3/10

Day 8(introduced Penicillin V 150000 UI, the night before, every 6 hours):
Left ear: hiss, ticking Wake up: 2/10 Morning: 1/10 Noon: 1/10 Evening: 1/10
Right ear: could not perceive any sound Wake up: 0/10 Morning: 0/10 Noon: 0/10 Evening: 0/10

Day 9(Penicillin V 150000 UI, every 6 hours):
Left ear: hiss Wake up: 6/10 Morning: 3/10 Noon: 3/10 Evening: 3/10
Right ear: Ticking Wake up: 2/10 Morning: 2/10 Noon: 2/10 Evening: 2/10

Prednisone 1 x 20 mg
Other Vitamins:
Nature Made Clacium(333mg) Magnesium(133mg) Zinc(5mg) D3(2ooui) x 2
Ginko(1 x 120mg)
B12(5x 1000mg)
Sound therapy: ACRN-based treatment app, white noise, rain sounds.

Day 10(ended Penicillin V):
Left ear: hiss Wake up: 4/10 Morning: 3/10 Noon: 2/10 Evening: 2/10
Right ear: Ticking Wake up: 2/10 Morning: 1/10 Noon: 1/10 Evening: 1/10 Periods of intermittent silence.

Day 11:
Left ear: hiss Wake up: 2/10 Morning: 3/10 Noon: 4/10 Evening: 3/10
Right ear: hiss, ticking Wake up: 1/10 Morning: 1/10 Noon: 2/10 Evening: 2/10
Spiked towards noon, until after taking my last pill around 3pm. Ticking moved stereo from ear to ear throughout the day.

Day 12(Today. Off Prednisone, continuing the same vitamins treatment):
Left ear: hiss, low ticking Wake up: 2/10 Morning: 3/10 Noon: 3/10
Right ear: hiss, low ticking Wake up: 1/10 Morning: 2/10 Noon: 3/10
Spiked towards noon, until after taking my last pill around 3pm.
It's currently at around a 3/10 in both ears, slightly louder in my left, 3.5.

Side effects: Minor to moderate. Dry mouth, increased appetite, focus issues, memory, zombie like state by evening. I would say I got pretty bad by evening and by the end of the treatment as far as shot term memory goes, so from that perspective, I'm glad to be off of it.

Conclusion: I feel it's helped me, obviously, as did sound therapy, but it's also hard to say where my T would have eventually settled if I didn't take it. Started with a 5-6/10 baseline, ring+hiss, and now I seem to have settled at a baseline of more around a 3/10, mainly hissing which is far more pleasant, though I also now have a ticking sound that comes and goes, and likes to play stereo in my head throughout the day(still not sure if this should be attributed to sound therapy, or just a coincidence). Thank God it's low.

One thing that I will say is, that I got 2 days with periods of silence, day 1 and day 3 which I cherished then, and will cherish for a long time since they may have been my last. I don't believe that would have happened without Prednisone. Other than that, I also got gradual relief throughout the day and other days of low T, or silence in one ear. I had an opposite effect yesterday and today, so the only days my T got louder throughout the day was yesterday, when I waited to take the last pill late in the day, and today, when I am off Prednisone. Most likely not a coincidence but rather a result of tapering off and getting off Prednisone. I also seem to have restored a slight bit of hearing in some ranges, so that's also a positive.

Hope others have even more success with it than me, but I am happy to have tried it, because who knows where I would be now. Perhaps we should have a similar thread to the Retigabine thread for people in the acute stages taking Prednisone to track their results and success with it.

 

[Boy Helios]

I also compose music... we're pretty much in the same boat. even minor diff. in hearing between the 2 ears make a huge diff. when mixing and monitoring. I will do everything I can to make a full recovery. My gains have been quick over the past 4-5 days but this i snot enough. I need full hearing in the functional range. I can accept some T.. but no hyperacusis or hearing loss.

Thanks for documenting your situation in such a detailed manner.

 

[AlexSongitus]

I also compose music... we're pretty much in the same boat. even minor diff. in hearing between the 2 ears make a huge diff. when mixing and monitoring. I will do everything I can to make a full recovery. My gains have been quick over the past 4-5 days but this i snot enough. I need full hearing in the functional range. I can accept some T.. but no hyperacusis or hearing loss.

Thanks for documenting your situation in such a detailed manner.

No problem. Try some sound therapy like the ACRN app if yours is still tonal at times to get relief. It worked for me in the early days. But I recommend stopping if it's more of a hiss, because it can actually make it more apparent. At that point, rain sounds and masking seem to work better. It's pretty much impossible for me to figure out the right frequency when it's hissing. Could be a number of frequencies combined.

And yeah I haven't been able to really go back to listening, playing, or producing music since. For me if I have any noise present, I just can't do it. I've given that up. Replaced it with a lot of videogame time since because they appear to be the best distraction method for me to get my mind off of it.

 

[Boy Helios]

Thanks for all the suggestions. this is a pretty helpful forum.

Did you ever try hyperbaric oxygen?

 

[AlexSongitus]

No. I have not. From what I understand it's pretty expensive and I am signed up for AM-101 and can't try any other type of treatment at the moment.

 

[Andi Wijaya]

I had positive effect from this medicine. Is it long lasting?

How are you doing with T now?