Tinnitus After Stopping and Restarting Sertraline — Looking for Safe Anti-Inflammatory Supplements

CookieDRE

Member
Author
Apr 11, 2025
3
Tinnitus Since
2020
Cause of Tinnitus
SSRI
Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum, so I would like to say hello to all of you, share a bit of my personal experience, and hopefully get some feedback from others.

First of all, I would like to explain that my tinnitus was likely caused either by Sertraline or by anxiety attacks. I was on Sertraline for 17 years without any problems. During the COVID period in 2020, I was unable to get the medication because it was very difficult to even see a doctor. Since I was living in another country, things became even more complicated.

As I had been feeling well for many years, I decided to go through with stopping the medication abruptly because I could not access it. Everything went well until the fourth month, when I started to feel mentally strange — I assume this was the beginning of withdrawal symptoms. Around that time, I also tried the Wim Hof method. This triggered severe anxiety attacks, which I had never experienced before. During these attacks, I would feel enormous pressure in my ears and even in my eyes. This went on every day for about two weeks.

Eventually, I managed to get Sertraline again and resumed my previous dosage of 50 mg. About one week later, tinnitus started in one ear. The following week, it began in the other ear. It could have been triggered either by restarting Sertraline or by the extreme anxiety and pressure my body had been experiencing.

I have some hearing loss in my right ear, and interestingly, my tinnitus is usually worse on that side.

I am sharing this background because I do not believe my tinnitus is related to inflammatory problems. However, since I have a health condition similar to gout (which started a few years before the tinnitus), I have tried anti-inflammatory supplements such as Fish Oil, Turmeric/Curcumin, Black Cherry, and others. Unfortunately, these types of supplements only caused a spike in my tinnitus. The only exception was Meriva, which did not cause a spike but also did nothing to help with my inflammation flare-ups.

Does anyone have experience with supplements for joint inflammation that do not worsen tinnitus?

Thank you, and I wish everyone all the best.
 
I also developed tinnitus after stopping Sertraline last November, and I still have it in my left ear. My MRI report says my left ear is fine, so I am guessing it is brain activity causing it. 🤔
 
It might be worth looking up low-dose Naltrexone to see if it could help you with your condition and inflammation.

Arnica is also supposed to help with arthritis, so it may be beneficial. I have used it before for bruising and osteoarthritis, and it did not spike my tinnitus.

There are also supplements like Resveratrol that might help, although I have not personally tried it yet.

I hope you find something that helps!
 
I also developed tinnitus after stopping Sertraline last November, and I still have it in my left ear. My MRI report says my left ear is fine, so I am guessing it is brain activity causing it. 🤔
Thank you for your answer. For me, it was a bit strange because I was fine for four months after stopping it. I only developed tinnitus after starting it again. And since I was a mess in terms of anxiety, I still do not know to this day whether it was the Sertraline or just the intense anxiety that caused it.

But anyway, I do not even think about that anymore because it is not going to make anything better. I just know that if I can control my anxiety levels, the tinnitus will be manageable. Sometimes I do not even notice it is there.
It might be worth looking up low-dose Naltrexone to see if it could help you with your condition and inflammation.

Arnica is also supposed to help with arthritis, so it may be beneficial. I have used it before for bruising and osteoarthritis, and it did not spike my tinnitus.

There are also supplements like Resveratrol that might help, although I have not personally tried it yet.

I hope you find something that helps!
Thank you for taking the time to answer me. I am looking at those right now.
 

Log in or register to get the full forum benefits!

Register

Register on Tinnitus Talk for free!

Register Now