Tinnitus Caused by Bupropion — It Comes and Goes

[kaje]

Hello,

I started lurking in October 2020 when my tinnitus started because of Bupropion. My doctor told me the ringing in the ears would come and go as I got accustomed to the med... well, exactly on week 3, day 21, at about 4:30 PM, it came and never went. I will never forget that moment. I was furious. I was even more furious when my doctor said he didn't know it could be a permanent side effect, and blew me off after asking if I'd had it before—I said, "once or twice," meaning once or twice in my entire life for maybe a few seconds, like if I hit my head. He just went, "oh, so you had it before," like he was suddenly free of responsibility. Like many of you, I am furious our doctors and big pharma don't warn us that these drugs could change our lives forever. Maybe we should put a looped recording of 11,000 Hz over the loudspeaker at the office of TEVA Pharmaceuticals.

Vengeance aside...

I spent about a week researching everything I could find including a number of threads on this forum. I was devastated to discover that I might be stuck with this forever, and never hear silence again. I also learned that one of the treatments is not to think about it, so after trying a few of the simpler treatments (ex. the tapping the back of your head thing), I decided to stop researching and just take a mindful approach to it. It took a while to accept the fact that I might never hear silence again, but ironically, I guess accepting that you might never hear silence can be the path to hearing silence.

That has helped. I still experience it roughly daily, but I accept it and move on. I am fortunate in that it it usually no worse than a 3 on a 0-10 scale. I can't imagine what it must be like for some of you who have reported a 7 or even a 10. It seems to correlate with stress, which is why I'm posting now... it's the pandemic, I live with my ex who has become increasingly toxic (we can't terminate our lease in the winter months, so we're stuck together until April 1), I hate my job (but applying for a new one!), I'm moving soon (but away from the ex!), I might move again within weeks if I get the new job... those are all the right-now things. In addition, I have ongoing anxiety and depression, which is what the Bupropion was supposed to help with. Since October (when the tinnitus started), I took a break from meds for a while in the terror something might make the tinnitus worse. I tried Mirtazapine for about a month starting mid-January but it knocked me out. I would sleep 12 hours a night and nap 3 hours during the day and still be tired.

I also had a pressure in my ears for a few weeks in November. I told my doctor and he diagnosed me with Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (no exam, he did so via a messenger app) and prescribed that allergy nasal spray, which did nothing (but was surprisingly expensive! More money for big pharma!). The ear pressure went away on its own after a while. I haven't been to an ENT because I have a $100 copay to see a specialist, and I just graduated with an MS, student loans, and am doing the low-pay long-hours rite-of-passage in my career, and from what I can tell, the solution to tinnitus is almost never to see an ENT. But if it worsens I'll go, because... if $100 can make this go away... then okay.

I just took my first dose of Concerta today. My dad and both my sisters are diagnosed ADHD and my mom may have it undiagnosed, so statistically speaking, I almost certainly have it. My psychiatrist and I are hoping that if we treat what could be the ADHD, the anxiety and depression will go away, too (as a hyperactive mind can cause anxiety/depression).

I took the Concerta (18 mg, minimum dose) about two hours ago and my tinnitus is now at a 4, has been for about 30 minutes. I fervently started searching the interwebs to see if Concerta can make it worse, and seems there's no evidence one way or the other. I'm thinking my tinnitus might be related to my blood pressure, since Concerta can increase blood pressure. I have also been on Propranolol for headaches for about 6 months, which can decrease blood pressure, and boy does it help with the headaches. I went from 3 headaches a day, 4-8 Tylenol a day, to 1 headache a week. I'm wondering if the Propranolol helps with the tinnitus. I did take a month off when my doctor prescribed me Rizatriptan, but the insurance company would only cover 4 of those a month (literally 4 pills, for 4 headaches), so back to Propranolol it was. My tinnitus did not get worse during that break.

I also just found out from this forum that Ibuprofen can cause or worsen tinnitus, so that you for that. Tylenol ad infinitum it is...

In addition to the tinnitus, there is a pressure in my ears, but not like the pressure you get on airplanes. More like a muscle tension? Could be high blood pressure. Nurses are always amazed when the take my blood pressure before doctor's appointments (that it's so low), so maybe it's not, but... I don't know what else to think.

If Concerta kills the anxiety, but induces high blood pressure which induces tinnitus, not sure what I'll do.

Anyway, I mostly wanted to vent. I am almost certain I'll post this and disappear for a few weeks, to try and combat the tinnitus by ignoring it again. I'm wondering if Concerta CAN make tinnitus worse, not chemically, but because it helps with focus, and therefore one can choose to focus more on the tinnitus, making it worse—the solution being, of course, not to focus on it. But I will likely return at some point to say thank you to anyone who posts. And update, and try new things, if my story resonates with anyone and they have any thoughts.

Thanks for reading. It's good to know I'm not alone. And if you are reading this, then you, too, are not alone. Welcome.

 

[Traveller_E]

Hi,

So sorry about your travails. I was searching for a remedy for my pandemic-and-reopening anxiety and, because of the COVID-19 situation, there seemed to be a lot of easier ways to get anxiety meds via online diagnosis. I was prescribed Zoloft, but that didn't do much after a few weeks, so I was put on generic Wellbutrin 150 mg. I was unaware that Wellbutrin was linked to tinnitus, so on the second day of taking the medication and feeling my ears ringing and clogged, I bought an ear cleaning kit. When that didn't get rid of the ringing, I started researching online and came across this forum and other sites that documented the dangers of getting tinnitus through Bupropion.

By the third day after taking Bupropion, the ringing had increased by 50 percent. I could distinctly hear two major tones: one lower-pitched, steady one, and a higher pitched hiss that corresponded with my pulse. Ironically, while the medication did help to lessen my anxiety at first, it quadrupled and more when I found out that the tinnitus could be permanent. On a 10 scale, I would rate my tinnitus at that time a six. Whereas before the fan on my computer distracted me from sleep and I would have to remember to turn it off before bedtime, I now could not hear it at all above the hiss. My TV sounded like it was behind a thick wall of glass. In the quiet of the night and with my head against the pillow, the volume of the hiss was almost unbearable. I stopped taking the meds immediately, and began drinking a bottle of wine a night so I could pass out.

Then I read an earlier post on this forum that mentioned the possible benefits of NAC if taken shortly after the onset on the condition, so I ordered a bottle from Amazon and got it shipped express. I immediately started taking 1800 mg each day. For the next three days, I didn't notice any change in the severity of the tinnitus. I was in despair, thinking my quality of life was ruined forever. Coincidentally, at this time, a news report came out that the CEO of Texas Roadhouse had killed himself because his post-COVID-19-related tinnitus made life miserable.

But I decided not to give in to my despair, and sought ways to make living with the condition bearable. I ordered Bose Sleepbuds for $200+ and tried sleeping with them, but I could unfortunately still hear the tinnitus above the tracks. It was so bad that even sound masking wasn't helping. I then came across an article that explored the possible correlation between tinnitus and upper cervical (neck and upper back) issues. I saw a few posts that claimed total relief from tinnitus from chiropractic adjustments. I thought this couldn't be possible be an option for me, as my tinnitus was obviously chemically induced, and not reversible through physical therapies.

But just to explore the possibility, I began playing with my neck and head to see if the sounds in my ears changed in any way given different positions. Interestingly, I found that if I turned my head to my extreme left to the point of neck strain, the tinnitus in my right ear, where it was loudest, lessened significantly. I immediately began searching for chiropractors in my area that specialized in upper cervical issues and made an appointment with one I found online who had sterling reviews from patients. Over the next two days, while waiting for my appointment, I continued to experiment with head positions. I found that just the act of doing this seemed to have a persistent effect on my tinnitus, meaning the volume of the sound seemed to have decreased even when my head was in a normal position. This didn't happen instantly, as in something clicked during my exercises, but gradually. By the time I actually had my appointment, I could confidently say that the tinnitus had decreased on the scale to about a 4. All this time, I kept taking NAC, stopped drinking coffee and alcohol, and also began taking a supplement with Niacin to help lower my blood pressure, as the pulsative tinnitus seemed to correlate to my borderline high blood pressure.

During my appointment, I described to the chiropractor my symptoms and he pointedly asked me if the tinnitus modulated if I shifted my head and neck certain ways. When I told him it did, he stated that it was a good sign. He then examined me, pressing down at the top of my head (increased the pitch and volume), and laying me flat and gently pulling on my head so that my neck decompressed (decreased the pitch and volume). He directed me to get some X-rays, and we made an appointment for my first adjustment for the following week.

This brings us to now. I have been doing my neck and head stretches, taking NAC, and also bought a Neck Hammock online. As I write this, my tinnitus has gone down to a 2-3. Sometimes it gets louder, but it generally goes back down. I am hoping that it goes down further and stays down, after a few chiropractic adjustments, and my experience over the past two weeks leaves me very hopeful that it will.

I truly hope that other tinnitus sufferers read this and benefit from it. I will post again after my appointment.

All best

 

[kaje]

Thanks for sharing Traveller.

I have been on and off the forums maybe three times since my initial post. Mostly I've been hanging around the laser light therapy threads. It seems like most treatments (of any kind) posted on the forum have about a 50% efficacy based on the subjective reports of the forum users. I'm not to the point yet where I want to spend money on something with that low of a success rate. I guess the reason LLLT interests me is because all the other treatments discussed don't have that many variables. You take a pill and it works, or it doesn't. With LLLT there are a lot of variables—wavelength, power, treatment duration. I guess a part of me thinks if you get the right combination the efficacy goes up. But I'm probably not going to be able to substantiate that, so I probably won't end up getting a laser. Even though there's a part of me that thinks if you spend money on something it will make your problems go away. Because I know that part of me is wrong.

The tinnitus has been much better lately. I've even had a few days without it! As I was just on a LLLT thread it came and went. Truly, the difference for me has been training myself to ignore it. When I hear it I think, "okay, and on to the next thing," and it generally disappears as soon as I actually focus on the next thing.

I am going to try NAC, which is actually more for my anxiety and headaches than my tinnitus. If it also helps with the tinnitus, awesome. But I have had the anxiety and headaches for years, and the tinnitus only for 6 months or so, so I don't expect it to help with the tinnitus. Though if my anxiety goes down, I might think about tinnitus less, so the tinnitus might be resolved or reduced as a side effect of the anxiety going down. We shall see.

So, that's where I'm at. It's not gone enough that I will never be back, but it is better. Of course now that I'm typing about it, it's very present. Time to move on to the next thing!

 

[Uklawyer]

@kaje, sorry to drag you back in here.

How are things a few months later? There is a very positive thread on here about progressive improvement from Bupropion-induced tinnitus. I hope you have had similar improvement.

Best