- Jan 18, 2024
- 189
- Tinnitus Since
- 2023
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Possible Ototoxic Reaction to Sertraline and Hydroxyzine
Hey all.
I want to introduce myself and situation, but first wanted to say -- I'm sorry that you all have experienced this. I've come to Tinnitus Talk because I know how it feels to experience a sound no one else can hear and understand. I know how it feels to be worried it might never go away, and to have it be so loud that you can not hear/focus. I consider myself lucky in that mine has lessened in volume, just over 2 months out, but I know that many here have struggled with it for years. I salute you and deeply respect that you have been able to survive an affliction I didn't myself understand until having it.
I'm a 34M, father of one, and one on the way. Last summer I developed severe anxiety and depression, to the point I turned to medication to assist. I was thrown several medications. First Ativan (worked great, not a long term solution), then Hydroxyzine (didn't help at all.) I started having serious issues with early waking insomnia. I was given Propranolol, but the LPN didn't mention how it might make someone with low blood pressure to begin feel (zombified/like I was going to pass out.) This drove me to 25 mg Sertraline. Day one was fine. I was amped up with anxiety and felt weird. Day two seemed okay, issues with sleep persisted. Day three I exhibited some weird symptoms. Muscle twitching, spasms, extreme insomnia (didn't sleep night before or that night) and so I popped 3x 10 mg of Hydroxyzine. I assumed I was having a panic attack, but what was really happening was I was having a bad reaction to either Sertraline, Hydroxyzine, or a combination of that and stress.
I was a mess. Not only was I exhausted, I had a loud ringing (8/9/10, around an 8-9 kHz noise) in seemingly my left (but later I would find both, lesser in right) ear. I also experienced a sensitivity in my right ear upon dishes clanging or loud noises in my right ear that triggered my stapedius muscle (reactive.) All day, all night, all morning. It took me a couple of days to recover to even realize I needed help. By the time I got to the ER my body had recovered, all tests/blood were fine thankfully, and they sent me home. I did all of the things. I read everything from Lenire to Susan Shore. I started to see the comments of the past where people had been so excited only to be let down about treatments and cures, and while I am hopeful there will be some day -- from the pain I saw in others I HAD to make peace that it might not get better. It's a thing I feel most days I am doing better with. For me, I am lucky enough to be able to say it has objectively gotten better. I know others haven't, but holding on to that has helped be more present around others and not grab my phone searching for cures. I also started laying off the temp fixes (the head tapping, the tinnitus maskers that are effective for 10-15 seconds but mostly make me sad about how I used to be able to hear like that without issue...)
Unfortunately, I was so concerned about my body/organs being alright that tinnitus took a back burner. I didn't have a PCP (lol I'm healthy, why do I need a... oh.), and was only able to establish care a month after the event, when I was given Methylprednisolone. I also had about an inch of earwax impacting my left side, which was removed with otis media behind.
I couldn't tell over the Methylprednisolone taper whether the tinnitus was getting quieter or I was simply habituating, but I started noticing that it was nearly gone (and sometimes, scarily completely gone in the morning.) It seems to ramp up from around 2-3 PM until later at night. I can certainly modulate it slightly in pitch (higher pitch with jaw opening.) Tinnitus exacerbated depression as I felt I had tried to improve my condition and by doing the one thing I had tried to avoid in taking an SSRI ended up giving me a reminder I might never be able to forget.
I saw an ENT yesterday (I made up my mind that I would regret not trying everything, especially after the PCP had identified impacted cerumen), which marked roughly 2 months and a week from onset. I have minor hearing loss in the 6 kHz range, and they don't test further up. I'm assuming if they did, I wouldn't be able to hear it because the tinnitus seems to mask noise in that range. The doctor gave me a Prednisone taper (60 mg x 3, 30 mg x 3, 10 mg x 3). So far (day one) it definitely seems to have calmed down my tinnitus a little, or oddly transitioned from the high frequency tone to a lower frequency tone. I had hoped it might turn into the "hiss" I see people talk about when it's going away, but we'll see if it gets better/stays better.
I want to introduce myself and situation, but first wanted to say -- I'm sorry that you all have experienced this. I've come to Tinnitus Talk because I know how it feels to experience a sound no one else can hear and understand. I know how it feels to be worried it might never go away, and to have it be so loud that you can not hear/focus. I consider myself lucky in that mine has lessened in volume, just over 2 months out, but I know that many here have struggled with it for years. I salute you and deeply respect that you have been able to survive an affliction I didn't myself understand until having it.
I'm a 34M, father of one, and one on the way. Last summer I developed severe anxiety and depression, to the point I turned to medication to assist. I was thrown several medications. First Ativan (worked great, not a long term solution), then Hydroxyzine (didn't help at all.) I started having serious issues with early waking insomnia. I was given Propranolol, but the LPN didn't mention how it might make someone with low blood pressure to begin feel (zombified/like I was going to pass out.) This drove me to 25 mg Sertraline. Day one was fine. I was amped up with anxiety and felt weird. Day two seemed okay, issues with sleep persisted. Day three I exhibited some weird symptoms. Muscle twitching, spasms, extreme insomnia (didn't sleep night before or that night) and so I popped 3x 10 mg of Hydroxyzine. I assumed I was having a panic attack, but what was really happening was I was having a bad reaction to either Sertraline, Hydroxyzine, or a combination of that and stress.
I was a mess. Not only was I exhausted, I had a loud ringing (8/9/10, around an 8-9 kHz noise) in seemingly my left (but later I would find both, lesser in right) ear. I also experienced a sensitivity in my right ear upon dishes clanging or loud noises in my right ear that triggered my stapedius muscle (reactive.) All day, all night, all morning. It took me a couple of days to recover to even realize I needed help. By the time I got to the ER my body had recovered, all tests/blood were fine thankfully, and they sent me home. I did all of the things. I read everything from Lenire to Susan Shore. I started to see the comments of the past where people had been so excited only to be let down about treatments and cures, and while I am hopeful there will be some day -- from the pain I saw in others I HAD to make peace that it might not get better. It's a thing I feel most days I am doing better with. For me, I am lucky enough to be able to say it has objectively gotten better. I know others haven't, but holding on to that has helped be more present around others and not grab my phone searching for cures. I also started laying off the temp fixes (the head tapping, the tinnitus maskers that are effective for 10-15 seconds but mostly make me sad about how I used to be able to hear like that without issue...)
Unfortunately, I was so concerned about my body/organs being alright that tinnitus took a back burner. I didn't have a PCP (lol I'm healthy, why do I need a... oh.), and was only able to establish care a month after the event, when I was given Methylprednisolone. I also had about an inch of earwax impacting my left side, which was removed with otis media behind.
I couldn't tell over the Methylprednisolone taper whether the tinnitus was getting quieter or I was simply habituating, but I started noticing that it was nearly gone (and sometimes, scarily completely gone in the morning.) It seems to ramp up from around 2-3 PM until later at night. I can certainly modulate it slightly in pitch (higher pitch with jaw opening.) Tinnitus exacerbated depression as I felt I had tried to improve my condition and by doing the one thing I had tried to avoid in taking an SSRI ended up giving me a reminder I might never be able to forget.
I saw an ENT yesterday (I made up my mind that I would regret not trying everything, especially after the PCP had identified impacted cerumen), which marked roughly 2 months and a week from onset. I have minor hearing loss in the 6 kHz range, and they don't test further up. I'm assuming if they did, I wouldn't be able to hear it because the tinnitus seems to mask noise in that range. The doctor gave me a Prednisone taper (60 mg x 3, 30 mg x 3, 10 mg x 3). So far (day one) it definitely seems to have calmed down my tinnitus a little, or oddly transitioned from the high frequency tone to a lower frequency tone. I had hoped it might turn into the "hiss" I see people talk about when it's going away, but we'll see if it gets better/stays better.