Tinnitus After 12.5mg of Lexapro

[Cabbie]

I was prescribed Lexapro 5mg, 2.5mg each day for the first 3 then a final tablet 5mg and the tinnitus started almost immediately. I called my doctor who told me to stop Lexapro immediately. My tinnitus is very severe and debilitating. I'm depressed mainly due to bullying in my workplace and told my doctor about it.

I was prescribed Lexapro and after 4 days of it, have had tinnitus for almost a year with no signs of relief.

Why a drug like this is allowed to be prescribed is beyond my reason. It gets me the most at night and keeps me from sleeping at all about half the time. So during most of my awake time I feel exhausted.

Now I'm more depressed than ever and have seen many doctors with no success.

People without tinnitus tell me that it's a minor thing, but have no idea of what this really is. It has turned my life upside down, I can't go to work anymore, ended up in the hospital psyche ward after a suicide attempt.

And after a year of this, I'm still being bullied. Sound generators and tinnitus masks just add to the noise. Music helps but I have to keep it on the loud side. keeping busy helps the most. I mostly work all night when I can't sleep. What will happen tonight?????

Thanks Cabbie

 

[GregCA]

Hi @Cabbie - welcome!
Lexapro is what I was prescribed to "deal with my Tinnitus" a couple of years ago. I ended up not taking it because I didn't feel I had a chemical imbalance in my brain. Tinnitus is a side effect of quite a few meds, especially anti-depressants.
It's a bit surprising that it didn't get better after you discontinued its usage, but it's not unheard of.

Did you do a hearing test? If so, what are the results? (you can post your audiogram if you are comfortable with it)

 

[Cabbie]

I have had 3 hearing tests that showed minor hearing loss due to age. but this tinnitus started from nothing to full blown in less than a day. I just don't think this is caused by hearing loss. I will try to post my audio-gram when I have time to do so.

 

[Rajin]

Sad to hear your story, prescribed a drug for depressions ,now the drugs make you more depressed. You were on it such a short time, Very scary. Not a minor thing at all . Especially there is no treatment. You. Have you try melatonin for sleep , they say it also protects your ears from ototoxic drugs .

 

[SugarMagnolia]

This is why I am so leery of pharmaceuticals. I was once prescribed an antidepressant, took one pill, and the side effects were intolerable. I flushed the rest.

Antidepressants are not the answer to bullying. The victim of bullying shouldn't be medicated into acquiescence. Rather, the bullies should be stopped. It's the HR department's responsibility to stop the bullies.

@Cabbie ~ They have done you wrong: the bullies, the HR dept., and the doctors. It's normal to feel depressed when you're being mistreated. There's nothing wrong with you for your feelings.

 

[Cabbie]

Thank you so much. You get to thinking the problem is within when authorities do nothing about it. You really helped me with your kind words.