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

[Lena T]

I had my second Moderna vaccine on May 7th.

1 week later (yesterday), I suddenly lost my hearing in my left ear for 2 hours. After I got my hearing back, tinnitus kicked in, and has since been unbearable.

Sounds appear weird, like crackling or an echo when I hear someone talk too loud etc. Other than that it is a constant ringing in my left ear. It's driving me nuts.

I NEVER had any problems with this type of stuff before.

I now wish I would have never received the vaccine!

I'm praying it will go away. I'm barely 25... I can't live like this

 

[t_scot randal]

I am almost six weeks out from Moderna shot #2, which greatly exacerbated my mild tinnitus that developed a week after the first shot.

I have not taken any meds outside of daily Zyrtec that I would be taking anyway because of seasonal allergies.

I have yet to see an ENT because they are booked months out.

At this point it's a mixture of "quiet" days, where I hardly notice the tinnitus and am not distracted by it; and "loud" days where the tinnitus rises to a hiss (worse in the left ear) that is both distracting and distressing. My symptoms MIGHT be gradually improving from 1-2 weeks ago but it's impossible to say for sure until I go more than a few days without a "loud" day. My suspicion is that the tinnitus is exacerbated by sound exposure, activity and car travel, but I'm not sure.

Whatever the case, "recovery" appears to be a slow, gradual process.

 

[Steph1710]

The choice is easy, get vaccinated, first dose and the booster shot. I'm a medical doctor subspecialist.

Not an easy choice for me.

I was advised to hold off having the second shot because of a bad reaction concerning my lungs after having the first shot.

The first shot didn't make a difference to my tinnitus, yet I ended up in hospital not being able to breath - like when I caught COVID-19 last year.

I was given steroids and antibiotics - which didn't help whatsoever. And it has taken, since the end of March, up until now, to get my breathing back to normal, which it still isn't. I have been under the respiratory clinic ever since. My breathing was so bad, my legs/feet were constantly swollen.

So yes, no booster shot for me. Guess I'll just have to be careful not to catch it again.

 

[GenZen]

It's now been 11 days since my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and my tinnitus is still at its baseline. I haven't experienced any spikes since the week I received the vaccine and I attribute that spike to stress, anxiety, exhaustion and my general hyper awareness.

I'm still on the fence about getting the second dose. On the one hand, I don't want to risk worsening my tinnitus. But then on the other with all these variants and the fact that we may never reach herd immunity I want to have the best protection against COVID-19 that is available. It's kind of a catch 22 I guess. Either choice is fraught with risk. It will be a tough choice to make, for sure.

Just got home from my 2nd Pfizer shot. So far my tinnitus levels are normal. It's been 3 weeks since the first shot with no worsening of my tinnitus. As with the first shot, I will post updates over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Jon R.]

I had the Pfizer 5 days ago and I have been left with a killer forehead headache and a 50% increase in my tinnitus (started approx 24 hours after shot, I woke up with the spike and just sighed, here we go again).

Very similar to the tinnitus spike I get with colds. I now have to wonder whether to take the 2nd shot.

The headache is the worst right now, just wish it would go.

 

[twa]

*Update #4*

I had the first vaccine on March 17th. I woke up with vertigo 5 days later and it resolved that day. I didn't feel sick but I had fluid in both ears and tested positive for strep. I felt fine for three weeks.

I had the 2nd Pfizer shot on April 9th. I had fatigue and a sore arm 24 hours later and then I was doing well. Thirteen days after the vaccine, I woke up with severe vertigo, dizziness and nausea. I threw up that day several times, my neck starting hurting intensely and my ears were burning. I had no prior history of vestibular issues. I started a steroid taper, but stopped on day 9 due to side effects. I improved enough to be able to walk without holding onto walls for support, but continued to feel dizzy. It has been 26 days at home without driving.

The last three mornings have been the first without vertigo. Slowly the dizziness is also improving, the nausea has abated completely.

 

[GoatSheep]

I got my second dose of Pfizer on May 5th. First shot I had no issues.

Since the second shot I would say I've had at least a roughly 8 month setback or more in hyperacusis /noxacusis sensitivity. I was able to listen to music again. Now a few songs causes burning nerve pain in my ears even at low volume. My ears are jumping at the slightest sounds again. The mindset of being on edge over every little sound is starting to re-emerge.

I had a tic that developed from taking Zopiclone around the time I got tinnitus 2 years ago. It was pretty mild at this point, though still there. Now it's the worst it's been since I stopped taking that medication, which I was only on for 4 days to begin with.

I hadn't really been suicidal in a couple months and that was nice. I wasn't happy, but I was pretty functional again. Getting a lot accomplished, enjoying my children instead of just caring for them, looking at going back to college. Now I'm back to being dead inside.

Doesn't seem to have any noticeable effect on my tinnitus though. So that's a plus I suppose.

After two weeks, I can say that things have started to improve. I'll report back.

 

[Wrfortiscue]

It's been 25 days since the onset of my new high frequency tinnitus after Johnson & Johnson shot. Not sure if my tinnitus is resolving as it's up and down. In the beginning it was loud during the evenings and now it's quiet during the evenings. Some nights it's not too loud, other nights it wakes me up when it's screaming.

My regular old tinnitus that I had before the vaccination is louder.

I read vaccine related tinnitus takes 3-6 months to resolve.

 

[Adam0309]

I had my first dose of the AstraZeneca jab yesterday afternoon at around 4 pm.

Initially I didn't notice a significant change in my already intrusive/severe tinnitus.

Then, I woke up in the middle of the night to my right ear screaming at me and a temporary loss of hearing.

Things have settled from that point today, but
(a) tinnitus is noticeably worse, and
(b) I've had a terrible 24 hours with headaches, feeling sick etc.

I'm 37 years old, and otherwise healthy and active. Current status is one of deep regret for putting myself through all of this.

 

[GenZen]

Just got home from my 2nd Pfizer shot. So far my tinnitus levels are normal. It's been 3 weeks since the first shot with no worsening of my tinnitus. As with the first shot, I will post updates over the next couple of weeks.

It's now been 72+ hours since Pfizer shot #2 and I've had no worsening in my tinnitus.

The day after the shot was pretty brutal, I had chills and body aches most of the day and my tinnitus did flare a bit because of all that and also just because I kept listening to it. But by day 2 I was back to normal.

I will keep posting updates over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Plat87]

3 weeks after first Pfizer shot, no real change in my tinnitus. It ''spiked'' a little bit but I think it was more from anxiety from the side effects of the vaccine; it didn't last long.

 

[Plat87]

I had my second Moderna vaccine on May 7th.

1 week later (yesterday), I suddenly lost my hearing in my left ear for 2 hours. After I got my hearing back, tinnitus kicked in, and has since been unbearable.

Sounds appear weird, like crackling or an echo when I hear someone talk too loud etc. Other than that it is a constant ringing in my left ear. It's driving me nuts.

I NEVER had any problems with this type of stuff before.

I now wish I would have never received the vaccine!

I'm praying it will go away. I'm barely 25... I can't live like this

The thing is your tinnitus would probably be worse if you had caught COVID-19.

 

[Chinmoku]

I had the AstraZeneca yesterday. My tinnitus has been escalating constantly of late and is constant torture, but the vaccine didn't seem to worsen it significantly. Tinnitus remains my main problem and compared to this the headache and nausea coming from the vaccine are nothing.

I'll update in a few days if the symptoms worsen.

Ok, update here, my tinnitus has become even more intrusive if possible, and the worsening has accelerated. I have had a sore arm since the first shot end of March and a lot of pain if I stretch the arm. Not sure what to do.

I probably got COVID-19 in March 2020, three weeks of heavy flu and high fever, and at the time the tinnitus had a jump (rather than the usual progressive pattern) in intrusiveness.

I had a similar jump now, starting a few weeks after the vaccine. It could be a coincidence but at this point I don't know if I should risk the second shot: between having had COVID-19 (very likely) and the first shot would I have enough immunization not to risk the second shot? I'm in hour by hour survival mode already so I'm not sure what to do.

 

[SteelWolf]

I'm a new user here, I figure this is the right place to post after things have happened.

I've had trivial tinnitus for most of my life, I have to assume, because I don't remember a point in my life when I've "heard" silence. I've always had a ringing in my ears, like what I'd imagine a high-frequency noise from a TV would sound like, but there even if the room was technically silent. Maybe I could've picked it up from walking through tunnels with other loud-as-heck schoolchildren who thought it was fun to scream and cause hearing damage. But I digress.

On April 20th I got my first Moderna vaccine. Went fairly well, but a few hours later while playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, I had a brief moment where my right ear suddenly seemed to reduce in hearing before returning along with a new, high-pitched element to my usual tinnitus; enough that it was actually distracting. For a few hours I was distressed, ended up talking to my father — I hadn't known until that moment that he also had tinnitus and wore a hearing aid to mitigate it. His description sounds much worse than mine though (he describes it as being similar to a heart monitor going flat in a hospital drama).

Over the next few days I looked for resources on COVID-19 based tinnitus (already being rattled by the news of Ken Taylor), and started listening to white noise occasionally; I'd already been listening to rainfall sounds using my Google Home speaker, so getting to sleep hasn't been an issue. Eventually it got to a point where I didn't really even notice it was there, especially if I was engaged in any other activity (Twitch streaming, listening to music or podcasts, driving). It wasn't until I was doing nothing when I remembered it was there; and about a week ago it was like I had to concentrate to make sure it was still there. I think I was coming down from it.

Yesterday (or two days ago, technically) I got my second Moderna vaccination. I didn't get any increase in tinnitus for the first twenty-four hours (that I noticed). It wasn't until I woke up and dealt with the more butt-kicking side-effects of the vaccine that I noticed a moderate spike. I'm already about 85% from the body aches, so nothing to worry about that at least; but this spike in tinnitus has me... intrigued, I guess. It's not driving me crazy, so maybe I'm luckier than others. And if I really was recovering from it from the first shot, I have hope that I'll recover from this one too. All the same I think one thing has kept me positive:

As long as I don't lose my hearing so I can't listen to Undertale music, it's not all bad — I can get through this.

 

[hans799]

I got my first AstraZeneca dose on April 8. It absolutely floored me for the next day, I had such a splitting headache that even lying motionlessly hurt. Then 3-4 more days of fatigue. No effect on tinnitus.

I got my second dose on May 13. Three days later a tinnitus noise which has been quiet for several months suddenly spiked. I can't confirm it was the vaccine but I had done nothing out of the ordinary — no loud noises, no new types of chemicals, etc.

However, the spike seems to have gone back to baseline in a few more days.

 

[Aryhian]

I developed severe bilateral tinnitus two weeks after my first Pfizer shot on February 28th, 2021. I have seen an ENT specialist who can find no other cause. One of the first blood tests she did was to check for autoimmune thyroid disease which was negative. I suspect the antibodies created in thyroid disease are the cause of tinnitus in patients with thyroid disease.

As 6.6% of people who have had COVID-19 develop tinnitus, I am wondering if it is the antibodies created by the vaccines to COVID-19 that are the cause. The way I am looking at it is that had I had COVID-19, I would probably have been in the 6% that developed tinnitus. I would like to add that my father died of COVID-19 and I have been very pro vaccination, however I dare not have a second shot as my tinnitus is unbearable.

I would encourage U.K. residents to report side effects on the Yellow Card Scheme.

 

[Rainer]

I had my first shot of Pfizer on May 10.

I figure that's probably long enough to say that it didn't do anything to ease or exacerbate my tinnitus.

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

I had my second Pfizer shot Friday last. Got a really sore arm, more so than from the first shot.

But now with the second I've had a headache for 2 days. It's mild but it's there.

No change to tinnitus. In fact as I write this the tinnitus is quiet to where I can hardly hear it. Strange because with the first shot the tinnitus spiked for 48 hours before subsiding.

 

[Zugzug]

Got both shots of Moderna and it's been 5 days since my last shot.

1st shot: Absolutely nothing. Wouldn't have even known I took anything.
2nd shot: Headache, fatigue, fever (102 deg. F), temporary tinnitus spike that immediately went away. Definitely no hearing side effects. The tinnitus spike was clearly from the fever.

I would strongly recommend vaccines, especially since COVID-19 itself is way more likely to cause auditory issues.

 

[Jack Straw]

It has been about a month from my 2nd Pfizer shot. 24 hours after the shot I felt like I had the flu, but no effect on my tinnitus.

 

[Momma28]

I got my first shot of Pfizer vaccine on 18 May.

Side effects within 24/48 hours:

• Sore neck
• Sore arm
• Slight fever

I went to bed on the Friday night, 72 hours after the vaccination, and was more aware of the loudness of my tinnitus.

It's now been 4 days since and although my tinnitus is not as loud as when I first got it in 2018, it's definitely louder than it was before I got the shot. I hope this settles back down to the level it was before the shot! I am also now re-thinking getting the second shot.

I've not changed anything or been around loud noise exposure. I do have a toddler who likes to scream but that doesn't usually affect my tinnitus.

 

[vivianrose]

I went to bed on the Friday night, 72 hours after the vaccination, and was more aware of the loudness of my tinnitus.

It's now been 4 days since and although my tinnitus is not as loud as when I first got it in 2018, it's definitely louder than it was before I got the shot. I hope this settles back down to the level it was before the shot! I am also now re-thinking getting the second shot.

I also had a tinnitus spike after my first Pfizer shot.

But it subsided after 11 days or so.

Please let us know if your tinnitus spike does so too.

 

[SteelWolf]

I'm a new user here, I figure this is the right place to post after things have happened.

I've had trivial tinnitus for most of my life, I have to assume, because I don't remember a point in my life when I've "heard" silence. I've always had a ringing in my ears, like what I'd imagine a high-frequency noise from a TV would sound like, but there even if the room was technically silent. Maybe I could've picked it up from walking through tunnels with other loud-as-heck schoolchildren who thought it was fun to scream and cause hearing damage. But I digress.

On April 20th I got my first Moderna vaccine. Went fairly well, but a few hours later while playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, I had a brief moment where my right ear suddenly seemed to reduce in hearing before returning along with a new, high-pitched element to my usual tinnitus; enough that it was actually distracting. For a few hours I was distressed, ended up talking to my father — I hadn't known until that moment that he also had tinnitus and wore a hearing aid to mitigate it. His description sounds much worse than mine though (he describes it as being similar to a heart monitor going flat in a hospital drama).

Over the next few days I looked for resources on COVID-19 based tinnitus (already being rattled by the news of Ken Taylor), and started listening to white noise occasionally; I'd already been listening to rainfall sounds using my Google Home speaker, so getting to sleep hasn't been an issue. Eventually it got to a point where I didn't really even notice it was there, especially if I was engaged in any other activity (Twitch streaming, listening to music or podcasts, driving). It wasn't until I was doing nothing when I remembered it was there; and about a week ago it was like I had to concentrate to make sure it was still there. I think I was coming down from it.

Yesterday (or two days ago, technically) I got my second Moderna vaccination. I didn't get any increase in tinnitus for the first twenty-four hours (that I noticed). It wasn't until I woke up and dealt with the more butt-kicking side-effects of the vaccine that I noticed a moderate spike. I'm already about 85% from the body aches, so nothing to worry about that at least; but this spike in tinnitus has me... intrigued, I guess. It's not driving me crazy, so maybe I'm luckier than others. And if I really was recovering from it from the first shot, I have hope that I'll recover from this one too. All the same I think one thing has kept me positive:

As long as I don't lose my hearing so I can't listen to Undertale music, it's not all bad — I can get through this.

UPDATE: Day 7 and it feels like things are dying down - or I'm getting more used to the ringing. It's definitely still there, but I found it was easy to forget that it was. Listening to some videos specifically targeting tinnitus has helped; 10 minutes will turn that ringing into a low hiss.

Either way, it's bearable; and it's a small price to pay to not kick the bucket. If this goes back to my baseline before the first shot, great; and even if it doesn't, it's something I think I can live with if it means I don't have to die from something much, much worse. ^_^;;

 

[Karno]

I had my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine three days ago. I was quite nervous about the impact on my ears, but I had no doubt that it was the right thing to do. I had a moderate increase in tinnitus volume for the first two days but it has now gone back to baseline.

 

[TimmyC]

Just came back to share my experience. I got my Pfizer shot #2 over a week ago and no changes to tinnitus. Considering what COVID-19 can do, I think it's really important to get vaccinated, as it is well known to increase tinnitus and create tinnitus for some.

I know it's scary, but remember a lot of times your tinnitus can worsen if you are constantly focused on it. Try not to focus solely on the negative reactions here, as plenty of us were just fine.

 

[linearb]

I had Pfizer shot #2 on Wednesday; I felt pretty tired and out of it all day yesterday, but feel a little better now.

As with my last comment here -- if I develop any really scary or significant spikes or changes not otherwise attributable to TMJ etc over the next 1-2 weeks I will absolutely pop back up to report them, so, if I don't... well then it's a case where absence of evidence, should be construed as evidence of absence

I hope I am not jinxing anything but mostly I am feeling relieved to be done with the jabs part of this, at least for the moment; COVID-19 has been nothing but stress since February 2020. Stress and tinnitus don't go so well together for me.

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

Not sure what went wrong. I had the second Pfizer vaccine last Friday. I had a sore arm on Saturday and a mild headache that lasted 2 days. But the strange part of this is my tinnitus went silent for 5 days. I couldn't hear the ringing orhissing.

Then on Thursday night whilst sleeping I was woken to the screaming ringing and hissing. It has spiked over the top, along with a different ring; I can't explain it. Now today on Friday, a week later, it's still spiked but not as bad.

Hell at first I thought Pfizer found a cure for tinnitus. Not.

 

[linearb]

Then on Thursday night whilst sleeping I was woken to the screaming ringing and hissing. It has spiked over the top, along with a different ring; I can't explain it. Now today on Friday, a week later, it's still spiked but not as bad.

I would not be too worried about this; immunologic drugs do extremely bizarre things, limbic ties to immune system hormones are well documented, etc.

The 2020 flu vaccine spiked me pretty badly for 10 days and it was annoying and a little unnerving by the time it subsided, but it won't stop me from getting the 2021 dose because I've done my homework on parental flu vaccination as it related to pediatric mortality, and even though the risks to my kids of flu death are relatively low, the risks of the vaccines doing anything harmful to me long term are orders of magnitude lower.

Note that I'd never had a flu vaxx pre kids, but, in a post COVID-19 world that does make me wonder "huh, could I have spread flu to a bunch of nursing home patients and killed them? Possibly, and I'll never know!"

 

[Meagan G.]

I can add three bits of data:

My two grown sons and I had mild tinnitus.

10 days after my first shot of Pfizer I developed a louder and more intrusive hiss that has not gone away; it has been 3 full months. I now consider my tinnitus 'moderate' and permanent. I have no plans to get a second shot.

My oldest son heard my story and opted for J&J instead. He had a temporary spike to his tinnitus that lasted about 10 days and went back to baseline.

My younger son, at my urging, also opted for J&J and saw no change at all to his tinnitus.

Both young men chose Johnson and Johnson so they could become "fully vaccinated" with just one shot. I, however, am in limbo where I cannot claim to be "fully vaccinated" and that may prove to be very problematic in the future with travel and attending public events. Already I have to keep wearing the mask in my exercise class while others whose vaccination is complete may go maskless. Sort of feels like a social stigma.

I deeply feel the need to be protected from COVID-19 due to the risk of exacerbating tinnitus but am now deeply afraid of the second vaccine jab/shot.

 

[GenZen]

It's now been 72+ hours since Pfizer shot #2 and I've had no worsening in my tinnitus.

The day after the shot was pretty brutal, I had chills and body aches most of the day and my tinnitus did flare a bit because of all that and also just because I kept listening to it. But by day 2 I was back to normal.

I will keep posting updates over the next couple of weeks.

It's been nearly 2 weeks from Pfizer shot #2 and I haven't noticed any worsening of my tinnitus aside from the spikes that I experienced right after the shots which I am attributing to other factors (stress, fatigue, self-monitoring), not the vaccine itself. My tinnitus did get a little bit annoying and more noticeable at one point last week but I think that was due to work stress. It seemed to normalize the next day.

It's been a really difficult 5 weeks for me as I was really worried that the shots would exacerbate my tinnitus. I was really worried about the first and came very close to skipping the second. In retrospect I'm glad I got them as I am now protected from COVID-19 and its impact on tinnitus. If I do experience any kind of worsening tinnitus within the next few weeks that I feel may be related to the vaccine I'll report that here. Hopefully I won't have to worry about this again until it's time for the 3rd / booster shot.

I wish everyone the best of luck with their decisions and their shots.