Prednisone Just Improved My Hearing 8 Months After Onset

[Rings-a-Bell]

Ok here's the story. I injured my ears with loud noise back in April... 8 months ago and have had tinnitus ever since, especially in my right ear. I've got the standard noise damage dip at 4000hz (right ear has lost about 45db, left 35). Last week I was coping... the T was there all the time but I had gone from thinking about it 2000 times per day to maybe 100 or so.... then on Friday night I went to a loud bar. I took magnesium. I wore earplugs. I just stayed an hour. It didn't matter. The rest of the weekend my T spiked like crazy. Freaky loud. It didn't let up. So on Wed I went to the ENT and got myself on 60mg per day prednisolone.

Within 6 hours of the first pill my T went from top of mind to far in the background. It's still there if I listen for it and it can still be fairly loud so I've been working on the theory that it's bothering me less because:

1. Any damage on Friday was fixed and I was back to my old level of damage.
2. Being proactive and DOING SOMETHING allowed me to feel like I had some control and that killed my guilt and panic.

In other words... a combination of reverting to my usual and a subjective...but not real improvement due to a better mindset.

Fine... but today I started noticing that sometimes I actually had to work a bit to find my T. Especially if there was a bit of noise in the background. That's not just a subjective improvement.

So I have an app on my tablet and I make myself a hearing chart once every couple of weeks. My right ear is always fixed at a 45db hearing loss. It never really changes. Today I can hear the tone at 35db clear as a bell. Never before have I even come close. This is way better than my baseline. The left ear improved a bit too... it went from 35db loss to 30db.

Prednisone isn't supposed to do anything 8 months after an acoustic trauma. But an actual measurement goes way beyond a subjective improvement. When you can measure it you know you are not just imagining it. I should also note that I majored in astrophysics in university. I have a very rigorously controlled environment when I test my ears.

I'm 2 days into my course of drugs and will start to taper in 2 more. I don't know if this is permanent or not but I hope to hell it is. I am having a huge increase in quality of life.

 

[VRZ78]

Great for you
Good to know that improvement in hearing lessen the loudness of T

 

[SilverSpiral]

You sure? Almost 9 months after my acoustic trauma, should I try to get on prednisone?

 

[Rings-a-Bell]

The question "Is my tinnitus louder or softer today" is so subjective it is impossible to answer... your state of mind, anxiety etc cloud it completely. I am focused on 2 things that are more easily measurable....

1. My measurable hearing improvement.
2. My inability to even find my tinnitus in certain situations that normally mask it a bit but not completely... like being in the shower.

I use an android app called "hearing test" and bose noise canceling earphones in a dead quiet room. I have 2 months of saved tests taken nearly every week on it to compare against and I have never gotten numbers this high at 4000hz before. If you are going to try it... establish a baseline like I did first.

FYI... my T isn't gone. In fact I am listening so hard for it right now that it is pretty loud, but subjectively speaking, when I am not paying attention to it, it is not calling attention to itself anywhere near as much the last 2 days.

 

[Rings-a-Bell]

So far the reduction in T and the 10db+ improvement in hearing in my bad ear is sticking around. The improvement in hearing may not sound like much, but it is enough to move that ear from the "moderate" to "mild" hearing loss category. I am still amazed when I hear tones quite clearly that I have been completely unable to hear for months. This afternoon I start tapering from 60mg per day to 30mg per day. I am really hoping the effect is permanent.

If it IS permanent... what does that mean for our community? According to everything I've read prednisone shouldn't be able to improve any of my 8 month old trauma. But it clearly has (at least temporarily so far). Perhaps we should conduct our own "clinical trail"?

 

[jumping jack]

It's odd that you're seeing the benefit of the drug at this late stage. Its main effect is supposed to be on reducing inflammatory processes inside your body, but, at 8 months post tinnitus onset, those should have run their course already. I'm rather interested to see how this therapy progresses for you. May I suggest that you also monitor the level of your tinnitus as compared to a generated tone at the same frequency (assuming you experience a tonal tinnitus that does not change in pitch)? This website has a very useful tool to help with both identifying the tinnitus frequency and matching its amplitude (via the tone strength slider): http://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

I hope your reduction in perceived tinnitus (and adverse reaction to the perception, which is what really counts) stays at the lower level.

As far as tapering -- I believe it's only needed if you are on a heavy daily dosage of it for more than a week. I took it at the 60mg level for 7 days, and followed that with a 5-day tapering-off phase.

 

[Rings-a-Bell]

It's odd that you're seeing the benefit of the drug at this late stage. Its main effect is supposed to be on reducing inflammatory processes inside your body, but, at 8 months post tinnitus onset, those should have run their course already.

Agreed. I thought I might reverse any new damage that happened last friday but was not expecting any progress beyond my usual baseline.

I'm rather interested to see how this therapy progresses for you. May I suggest that you also monitor the level of your tinnitus as compared to a generated tone at the same frequency (assuming you experience a tonal tinnitus that does not change in pitch)? This website has a very useful tool to help with both identifying the tinnitus frequency and matching its amplitude (via the tone strength slider): http://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

I have two tones. My main frequency is approximately 3900hz... right at to the dip in my audio chart. I've also got another hiss up at 13250 or so. It's hard to measure the amplitude because when I listen to tones of the same frequency I get residual inhibitation for 10-15 seconds (which means my T stops while I try to measure it)

As far as tapering -- I believe it's only needed if you are on a heavy daily dosage of it for more than a week. I took it at the 60mg level for 7 days, and followed that with a 5-day tapering-off phase.

I am doing 60mg for 4 then 30mg for 4.

 

[Vinnitus]

So far the reduction in T and the 10db+ improvement in hearing in my bad ear is sticking around. The improvement in hearing may not sound like much, but it is enough to move that ear from the "moderate" to "mild" hearing loss category. I am still amazed when I hear tones quite clearly that I have been completely unable to hear for months. This afternoon I start tapering from 60mg per day to 30mg per day. I am really hoping the effect is permanent.

If it IS permanent... what does that mean for our community? According to everything I've read prednisone shouldn't be able to improve any of my 8 month old trauma. But it clearly has (at least temporarily so far). Perhaps we should conduct our own "clinical trail"?

Interesting. One would think some inflammatory process related to at least a part of your Tinnitus was still going on in your body. Perhaps an inflamed trigeminal nerve causing a louder Tinnitus perception next to the hearing damage?

Doesn't explain the hearing improvement though, although I believe 10dB isn't considered significant in audiological terms...

 

[Rings-a-Bell]

Doesn't explain the hearing improvement though, although I believe 10dB isn't considered significant in audiological terms...

If I wasn't using the app so much over the last 2 months and if I wasn't so comfortable with it, I would be tempted to write it off as not significant. It's easy to fool your brain... can I hear that beep still or am I just imagining it? Through familiarity with the app I have minimized that as best I can.

The 10db has also made a huge difference in terms of the number of times I spontaneously notice my T each day (currently a 10x decrease from baseline, 30x from last weekends spike).

 

[jumping jack]

Yeah, some low-level residual inflammation may have stuck around until you started taking prednisone. If that's the case, then, hopefully, your hearing system is catching a breath and starting to heal.

As far as measuring your perceived level of tinnitus, I mentioned it since that seems like the most objective way of telling whether there is a physiological effect. You also seem to have had a pretty good psychological outcome (reduced reaction to the tinnitus sound), which counts for a lot, as well.

 

[xXHotelCrazyXx]

Sadly it will only be temporary. The damage is already done. Once the half life of the drug wears off, it will be back to baseline for your T.

 

[hopeforme]

So how is it now?

 

[Boy Helios]

prednisone is a miracle drug for hearing related issues

i credit it with saving my hearing. i had a sudden 50 db drop in one year and now my affected ear has better hearing than the non affected

 

[hopeforme]

prednisone is a miracle drug for hearing related issues

i credit it with saving my hearing. i had a sudden 50 db drop in one year and now my affected ear has better hearing than the non affected

That's great news! Has the ringing stayed down? I am taking prednisone right now also but at a low dosage. Tapering off in 3 days. It's only been day 4 but I feel a better than the first 3 days. The first 3 days were miserable but now I can tolerate the side effects.

 

[Oli]

Should I give Prednisone a try after one year xd? My vet prescribed me some for my cat

 

[Martinf]

Any update? I am going to give Predisone a try. I am also about 8 months in.

 

[Matchbox]

Try Prednisone once, if you taper off or get new noises while on it, don't do it again.

Likely you'll just have temporary silence, but it might help to wean back into the tinnitus.