Tinnitus from Wellbutrin

[SoundB0und]

It is very good to hear you're having improvements still over a year in. My (probably Wellbutrin induced) tinnitus has gotten way better and I'm slightly over a year in. By way better I mean from 10/10(could not read) to a minor annoyance.

But I'd attribute most of the improvement to the laser treatment. It seems to me, from reading this forum for a while now, that ototoxicity induced tinnitus heals better than audiotrauma induced.

 

[dnl]

It is very good to hear you're having improvements still over a year in. My (probably Wellbutrin induced) tinnitus has gotten way better and I'm slightly over a year in. By way better I mean from 10/10(could not read) to a minor annoyance.

Oh man, that's great to hear! I'm glad you're doing so much better.
Just out of curiosity, are you taking any supplements?
Also, have you taken any antibiotics or statins since the onset of your tinnitus? I've successfully avoided doing so thus far, but I know I'll probably have to at some point in my life. I know the "...mycin" family of antibiotics are particularly associated with tinnitus (my mom got tinnitus from Z-Pak a few years ago), and statins are thought to be correlated as well.

 

[Lane]

I'd attribute most of the improvement to the laser treatment.

@SoundBound -- Are you still doing laser treatment? Home unit, or professional setting? -- Thanks!

 

[Lane]

I'll probably have to at some point in my life.

Just my opinion of course, but I believe there's a lot that most people can do to prevent ever having to take statins.

 

[SoundB0und]

Just out of curiosity, are you taking any supplements?

I'm taking several supplements like D3 and some B vitamins, magensium etc. But the only non mineral or vitamin supplement I'm taking that might help Tinnitus is Lion's Mane.

I'm taking it for a separate condition but it might be helping my tinnitus as well, though I am not at all sure if it is or not.

I have tried many supplements for my tinnitus after the onset but they either didn't work or the side effects were unbearable. Nicotinamide Riboside worked really well but I had to quit it for that reason.

Also, have you taken any antibiotics or statins since the onset of your tinnitus?

I have not taken either luckily. I've been fortunate enough to not fall very ill since my onset. I'm taking a lot of vitamin C and it seems to help to prevent the colds for me.

 

[SoundB0und]

Are you still doing laser treatment? Home unit, or professional setting? -- Thanks!

I am doing it. It has worked well and I plan on continuing for another 2 years and 2 months at least, if not more. Then it'll be 3 years total(I've heard you can get improvements for up to 3 years with the laser).

I am using the Konftec laser with the 660nm and 808nm probes. Clinical lasers have never been used on me. There's none near me and I haven't bothered travelling long distances.

BTW, 8th of April I will have an audiogram and then I'll see exactly how well the laser has worked within the past 10 months because I had one a year ago. I'm expecting big improvements.

It has been really hard to gauge exactly how much I've improved because it's been so gradual with the laser. Hopefully I can get the graphs emailed to me and post them here in the thread of my success story.

 

[Jim Goose]

I'm almost positive my tinnitus started from taking Lexapro. I stopped after two weeks with a ringing noise, and then had vertigo 5 days later from what i assume was withdrawal. I did taper for 4 days, but I was only on it for 2 weeks!

I took Wellbutrin 12 yrs ago and became very emotional. Zoloft replaced it but got off that shortly after.

Ssri's are very powerful. Be careful.

 

[Lane]

Ssri's are very powerful. Be careful.

As far as I'm concerned, they should all be banned. There's no scientific proof they work (no better than placebo). Plus, they make so many people's lives miserable in so many ways. I can't understand why they're even legally allowed on the market (and market is exactly what it is). -- I guess I'll stop now.

 

[dnl]

16 Month update.
Not much has changed. I had a couple of mild spikes this month that lasted a day each, and I've noticed more clicking/pulsing than usual in my tinnitus here at the end of the month, but nothing too disturbing. Aside from that, I'd say my tinnitus is about the same as last month. Maybe a 3 out of 10. I still can't hear it above the shower, which I'm very thankful for. I was sick with nausea a week ago and didn't take any supplements or drink coffee for a few days and didn't notice any positive/negative change in my tinnitus. I'm therefore more inclined to think that the supplements aren't really helping/hurting my tinnitus. I currently take niacin, turmeric, magnesium/calcium/zinc/D and CoQ10. I drink coffee in the morning. I do think that turmeric, or one of the other supplements might help with my depression a bit, as I was feeling pretty detached/down during my short period of being off the supplements. I've also reduced the frequency with which I use sleep aids like melatonin.
If my tinnitus has changed at all, it is that these days, I am more aware of it in the morning than in the day evening. I'm not sure if the fact that I'm moving around reduces the signal for me, or if it's just the ambient noises that I'm around.
Not a big update, but I'm thankful for the progress that I've made over the past 16 months. I'm still paranoid that it will get worse. I probably always will be, but that's probably the safest way to approach things going forward.

 

[dnl]

17 month update.
My tinnitus is just slightly louder this month, but I've been busy in work/life, and my sleep/exercise schedule is terrible, so I'm thinking that has something to do with it. It's still not loud enough to hear over a shower, and I'm still able to 'not notice' it for a couple of hours at a time, especially when I'm at work where we have a lot of low volume white noise. It's still the first thing I notice when I get up in the morning, but once I start moving around, it goes to the bottom of the order of operations in which I process things.
Still very thankful for the progress that I've made over the past year and a half, even though this month as been a slight setback overall.
I'm still pretty worried about it getting louder as I age and my hearing inevitably gets worse. I'm not sure if that's how it works. But I'm doing what I can to protect my hearing, and hope to get back on a regular sleep/exercise schedule soon.

 

[dnl]

18 month update.
My tinnitus feels about as loud as last month, which is to say, a little bit louder than it was a few months ago, but still nothing compared to what it was during the first year. My sleep/exercise schedule remains erratic, so I'm guessing that has something to do with it. Sleep (for me) is definitely correlated with how prominent the tinnitus signal feels in my brain. At this point, I'm not sure how correlated exercise is, but generally speaking, I sleep better when I exercise, so it's probably all entangled. This isn't really much of an update. I'm just posting in the interest of providing a monthly status report. I intend to stop updating this thread after 24 months from my tinnitus onset date. The goal for this thread has been to provide a somewhat detailed thread of my experience with tinnitus that origninated from Wellbutrin/Bupropion, so that people who get tinnitus from this drug in the future can know what they might expect over the first two years or so. Hope everyone is doing well.

 

[dnl]

19 month update:

Just a quick update... I've had a pretty good month this month with my tinnitus. It's hard to say if it's gotten better or not, but I think qualitatively, something feels different about it, and it's bothering me a little less than it has been over the past two months. It's still there, and still ringing, but feels less like it's boring small hole in my psyche and more like it's just "there". It feels less intrusive.
I'm still taking all of my previously mentioned supplements. I've gotten better at sleeping without melatonin. I've started to get back on an exercise regime after being off of it for a month or so. That's it for this month.

 

[cls]

@dnl I've read through almost all of your posts and the situation somewhat reminds me of mine. I wanted to know if you've submitted an FDA MedWatch form? Not like I really trust that we will see some sort of major activity (like a boxed warning), but I'm just thinking that if we have enough info in that database, maybe somebody in the future could use that information to help us in some way (whether it's to raise awareness for others in the future or maybe even for research purposes). I'm only at day 66, but I will be filling one out once I hit the 3 month mark.

 

[dnl]

@dnl I've read through almost all of your posts and the situation somewhat reminds me of mine. I wanted to know if you've submitted an FDA MedWatch form? Not like I really trust that we will see some sort of major activity (like a boxed warning), but I'm just thinking that if we have enough info in that database, maybe somebody in the future could use that information to help us in some way (whether it's to raise awareness for others in the future or maybe even for research purposes). I'm only at day 66, but I will be filling one out once I hit the 3 month mark.

Hey @cls I'm sorry to hear about the onset of your tinnitus. That's really rough. My ENT said that Wellbutrin was the likely cause. I've had mild hearing loss for many years (in the upper ranges), but had no tinnitus until I took Wellbutrin. I think at day 66, I was sill ringing pretty hard and I was still pretty scared. It can get better. Mine hasn't gone away, but it had calmed down a good bit. Anecdotally, I've noticed that good sleep, exercise really help. Some people have said diet helps too (omitting inflammatory foods from your diet). I haven't tested that. I started to see a good amount of improvement after 10 months. I hope yours gets better too.

 

[cls]

Hey @cls I'm sorry to hear about the onset of your tinnitus. That's really rough. My ENT said that Wellbutrin was the likely cause. I've had mild hearing loss for many years (in the upper ranges), but had no tinnitus until I took Wellbutrin. I think at day 66, I was sill ringing pretty hard and I was still pretty scared. It can get better. Mine hasn't gone away, but it had calmed down a good bit. Anecdotally, I've noticed that good sleep, exercise really help. Some people have said diet helps too (omitting inflammatory foods from your diet). I haven't tested that. I started to see a good amount of improvement after 10 months. I hope yours gets better too.

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate it. I also really appreciate your taking the time to write all of these updates. I think I've definitely had some down moments where I had some hope based on what you've written. I will continue monitoring your updates until you finish after 24 months and I will try to take this advice.

Exercise helps me and I make sure to do some hard exercise every other day, but have seriously considered bumping it to every day (unfortunately, there is this thing called work that gets in the way of this ideal plan!). When I do go through my workout, I notice either quieter ringing (less anxiety? I'm not sure, I'm going to consult my ENT on this and report my anecdotal findings) or at least more manageable ringing. My diet isn't great though, so this is something to look into.

I've recently standardized my sleeping schedule so I'm getting 9 hours every night (luckily, at my age, I can still afford to do this without sacrificing other, more important things!) and I think it's been helpful as well.

 

[all to gain]

As far as I'm concerned, they should all be banned. There's no scientific proof they work (no better than placebo). Plus, they make so many people's lives miserable in so many ways. I can't understand why they're even legally allowed on the market (and market is exactly what it is). -- I guess I'll stop now.

I rue the day I ever went on an SSRI. It's led to my overall downfall now.

I've always been anti-drug, in general, so going on them was not in keeping with who i am. Too late now.

They are on the market because of $$$.

 

[dnl]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, so this is an update for months 20 and 21:

I've been slammed at work and consequentially been (embarrassingly) off of my sleep schedule and exercise regimen. Essentially working on 5 hours of sleep a night and not really exercising at all for the past month and a half. I'm through the craziness at work now, and anticipate getting back to healthier sleep and exercise in the next week or so. Anyways, my tinnitus has been a little bit louder lately. That kind of lends itself to my theory that sleep and exercise help. Objectively, I'm not sure if it's REALLY louder, because I still can't hear it above the shower, but it is more evident... which might mean that I've de-habituated a bit. It's definitely not a spike... but it's definitely higher in the order of operations in which I process all of the signals coming into my brain. I'll update next month after my lifestyle gets back to normal, and let you know if that's had an effect. All in all, not making progress, but not really getting worse, so I'd say my tinnitus is still as stable as it has been for the past several months.... which, all things considered, I'm still thankful for. I hope everyone is doing okay.

 

[dnl]

Update for months 22 and 23:
Lately it feels like my tinnitus has been more noticeable in the morning and only occasionally noticeable in the day time. During the day, it's there if I listen for it, especially if everything around me is quiet. But I can go for 3 hours or more without noticing it on some days. I've been getting little spikes/wavering that last 20 seconds or so. I usually get one of those every 2-3 weeks. I don't panic about them as much as I used to.
I had to take antibiotics to combat a sinus infection a couple of weeks ago. I told the doctor about my tinnitus and how I was suspect of any antibiotic that ends in "...mycin" and was also nervous about clavulanic acid in Augmentin. She prescribed me a 10 day dose of regular Amoxicillin. I took that with NAC and made it through the dose without any spikes. It felt weirdly empowering to ask the doctor to work with me on finding a solution that involved the least amount of risk for increasing my tinnitus.
Anyway, things have been fine/stable over the past 2 months. I don't expect this to go away, but I feel like I can live with it at current levels. I guess that's what habituation is.
I hope everyone is doing well.

 

[Lane]

I had to take antibiotics to combat a sinus infection a couple of weeks ago.

Hi @dnl -- From my own research, I've come to believe virtually all sinus infections can be successfully treated without antibiotics. Below is a link to just one video that describes a sinus cleansing technique that can work wonders. -- Whatever you do, don't EVER take a fluoroquinolone antibiotic for ANYTHING (they're often prescribed for sinus infections). Many people's lives have been destroyed by them, sometimes by taking just a single dose.

Chronic Sinus Problems? Try the Bulletproof Sinus Rinse

 

[dnl]

Hi @dnl -- From my own research, I've come to believe virtually all sinus infections can be successfully treated without antibiotics. Below is a link to just one video that describes a sinus cleansing technique that can work wonders. -- Whatever you do, don't EVER take a fluoroquinolone antibiotic for ANYTHING (they're often prescribed for sinus infections). Many people's lives have been destroyed by them, sometimes by taking just a single dose.

Chronic Sinus Problems? Try the Bulletproof Sinus Rinse

Thanks for this info @Lane ! I'll try this next time I get a sinus infection.

 

[JasonP]

Yes. When I have a spike, I will take a standard dose of NyQuil and sleep for a natural number of hours and about 80% of the time, my tinnitus has returned to baseline. I don't know why this works for me.

I'm wondering if it is due to the antihistamine affect in Nyquil. Sometimes if I took meclizine (an anti-histamine) 3 hours or so before bedtime, I would wake up with lower tinnitus. I remember however taking it right before drifting to sleep and getting distorted or loud tinnitus the next day. I am wondering if it has to due with letting the drug get up to the onset of action time before sleeping (for me at least, not sure). I don't know if that is the case for you though. (I also doubt it would be good for me to take an antihistamine long term anyway so I never took it long term).

I'm wondering if I got my tinnitus from Wellbutrin. Like you, I was on 150mg and then I went to 300mg for a couple of days or so and got tinnitus right around then. I was taking Lexapro at the time and blamed the Lexapro instead. I remember trying a supplement called lithium orotate which lowered my tinnitus a couple of times when it was loud but only back to my lower tinnitus level. It didn't seem to have an affect on my low level tinnitus. Also, I had some weird gas effects from that supplement so I had to quit taking it for now, although I doubt most people would have that.

Anyways, I hope things get better for you asap.

 

[Lane]

(an anti-histamine)

@JasonP -- My understanding is that most (if not all) antihistamine drugs are anticholinergic, and can potentially cause or exacerbate tinnitus. I read an account of a man who got tinnitus from a single dose of Benadryl, and still had it four years later. I think people with tinnitus need to be extremely careful about any drug they're considering taking. -- My understanding as to why lithium can help tinnitus is that it reduces glutamate in the body, an excitatory amino acid. I think there are other supplements that reduce glutamate as well.

 

[JasonP]

@JasonP -- My understanding is that most (if not all) antihistamine drugs are anticholinergic, and can potentially cause or exacerbate tinnitus. I read an account of a man who got tinnitus from a single dose of Benadryl, and still had it four years later. I think people with tinnitus need to be extremely careful about any drug they're considering taking. -- My understanding as to why lithium can help tinnitus is that it reduces glutamate in the body, an excitatory amino acid. I think there are other supplements that reduce glutamate as well.

It's sad but antihistamines can really screw up my tinnitus if taken for a couple days or so in a row. Even drugs that aren't considered "antihistamines" but work on the H1 receptor like Remeron messed it up. Granted, I don't think I have taken the newer type of antihistamines so I don't know what they would do but Cyproheptadine and Meclizine both exacerbated it after two or three days.

 

[dnl]

@JasonP I'm still not sure why NyQuil helps me. These days I only take it at night when I have a spike... maybe every month or two. Everyone is different, so it's not something that I'd really recommend. It helps me get deep sleep, so that might be the thing (deep sleep) that is really helping to return my tinnitus back to baseline. I don't think Benadryl had the same affect though... but I haven't taken Benadryl since the first month or two of the onset of my tinnitus.

Definitely be careful with all drugs. My mom got tinnitus from an antibiotic (Z-Pak) and my aunt got it when she was young from Ibuprofen. I avoid antibiotics.

These days, when I have trouble getting to sleep, I take a melatonin supplement called ZzzQuil PURE Zzzs, ironically it's made my the makers of NyQuil. I take those maybe once a week if I'm behind on sleep. I think it's mostly Melatonin and Valerian Root.

 

[Lane]

My understanding as to why lithium can help tinnitus is that it reduces glutamate in the body, an excitatory amino acid. I think there are other supplements that reduce glutamate as well.

Just ran across the following POST that says NAC can also scavange glutamate:

I researched the heck out of what supplements cross the blood brain barrier and specifically affect neurons damaged by excessive glutamate. Too much Glutamate roaming around in the brain causes neuron death and other problems. Glutamate can increase from loud noise. supplements , Aspartame.

NAC regulates glutamate in the brain to normal levels. ALC also crosses the blood brain barrier and is a pre curser to acytel choline which increases nueron production and repair. Doses I came with what seemed right. Again I attacked tinnitus as a toxic Brain problem that needed help cleansing and reorganizing. Worked for me big time. NAC and ALC u can pick up for 12-20 bucks at any supplement store so easy investment.

 

[cls]

@dnl I have a question regarding your tinnitus perception. Could you describe how it sounds like a little more? Is it a constant frequency? Does it ever change pitch? Can you "feel" it if it does change pitch?

Thanks for your updates over the last two years! I don't want to keep you from moving on, but I'm starting to wonder if anyone has tinnitus like mine, but I've only found two potential people on this site that have mentioned something similar.

 

[dnl]

Hi @cls I'm not really moving on, just not updating this thread unless someone has a question.

I'm in my mid 40s, so when I was a kid, we had cathode ray tube televisions ... the big clunky ones with the convex screens (computer monitors as well). When you turned them on, or powered them down, you could hear a very high pitched sound... that's the sound that I hear. I've heard it called coil whine. You could also describe it as a tea kettle whistle, but coming from another room, but it sounds like it is coming from all other rooms (omni directional). I measured the kHz of my tinnitus at one point, but I think it was a little above 12500 Hz but it might be higher. I've lost hearing above that range. It's always the same sound and pitch, and it's constant. When it first started, I could heard it above the shower, but now I can't. It doesn't change pitch, but it does sometimes waver a little in severity. Every now and then I'll get a new pitch.... like once every couple of weeks. It will last a few seconds and then fade away. Early on, I also had clicking/crackling at times, but I haven't had that in over a year and a half or so. My tinnitus has been a good bit louder lately until recently. I was way off of my sleep and exercise schedule, but since I've gotten back to my normal schedule, it's been a little better.

 

[cls]

Hi @cls I'm not really moving on, just not updating this thread unless someone has a question.

I'm in my mid 40s, so when I was a kid, we had cathode ray tube televisions ... the big clunky ones with the convex screens (computer monitors as well). When you turned them on, or powered them down, you could hear a very high pitched sound... that's the sound that I hear. I've heard it called coil whine. You could also describe it as a tea kettle whistle, but coming from another room, but it sounds like it is coming from all other rooms (omni directional). I measured the kHz of my tinnitus at one point, but I think it was a little above 12500 Hz but it might be higher. I've lost hearing above that range. It's always the same sound and pitch, and it's constant. When it first started, I could heard it above the shower, but now I can't. It doesn't change pitch, but it does sometimes waver a little in severity. Every now and then I'll get a new pitch.... like once every couple of weeks. It will last a few seconds and then fade away. Early on, I also had clicking/crackling at times, but I haven't had that in over a year and a half or so. My tinnitus has been a good bit louder lately until recently. I was way off of my sleep and exercise schedule, but since I've gotten back to my normal schedule, it's been a little better.

Thanks for the answer! I appreciate it. I've found something strange lately. I have a "core" tinnitus, which has no pattern and changes pitches every few seconds before doing this weird wavering pattern and settling into another pitch for no more than a minute at a time. But I also have this other tinnitus which I'm fairly certain is associated with my TMJ disorder or something with my neck. This one is constant and sounds like a CRT TV (seems a little similar to what you're describing except for the tea kettle next room over whistling), but it goes away if I sleep in a decent position or muscle tension/jaw isn't as bad. I'm thinking of trying to stretch it or something. Oddly enough, while I've had TMJ disorder for years now (I suspect the braces and headgear from my middle school days did it), I never had tinnitus associated with it until after the Wellbutrin. Sleep impacts it as well, but only the secondary tinnitus, not the core. Another thing that I absolutely hate is that I can feel the tinnitus pitches changing. It's very subtle but once in a while, I'll get this zap that's an extremely high pitch and I could feel something in my ear ever-so-slightly. I'm pretty sure it's not an obstruction as I had ruled that out with an ENT and my GP.

I'm so curious as to what is causing it, so I think I'm pretty disappointed that it seems like there are no explanations now. It's almost as if the auditory nerve, middle ear, or inner ear are tender and sensitive, but I have no idea. Habituating has definitely improved my life. I'm not permanently habituating (e.g have my bad days), but I noticed my good days feel good. I'm about 6.5 months in now, so I'm curious if there will be much change. At 4.5 I had a massive reduction almost instantly in the middle of a random day. Very, very strange...

 

[dnl]

@cls That's great that you've had that type of improvement. I think at 6.5 months you're still pretty early in, so there's a good chance you'll see more improvement. I think mine came more gradually than yours. I notice that when I sleep on my back with my neck supported, my tinnitus is somewhat less intense. I can also slightly increase the intensity of my tinnitus by clenching my jaw. So yeah, I'd guess there's some sort of neck/TMJ correlation with some types of tinnitus generally speaking.

 

[lefthook]

Hey everyone,

Wanted to chime in with my experience. Started on 300mg of Wellbutrin, and about two weeks in started to get a ringing in my ears. After a few days, I started to worry and after some googling I found this thread.

While I'm very grateful for you continued updates @dnl, I was filled with dread as I kept scrolling and seeing that the ringing did not subside. As someone who was already in a depression to begin with, the thought of being haunted by this ringing for the rest of my life absolutely wrecked me.

Like DNL, I was at the level of a Cathode Ray TV - I could drown it out with loud music or white noise, but trying to go to sleep was very hard, especially with the emotional effects the ringing was having on me.

I reached out to the psychiatrist that prescribed it, and she told me not to worry and to stop taking Wellbutrin cold turkey (as I had not been on it long enough to warrant a weaning period).

After a few days, the ringing subsided, and now there is no ringing. I wanted to write this because it was hard for me to not have any hope after reading this discussion, but it turns out I got lucky and there is no more ringing. So, if you're reading this and your symptoms just started, talk with your psychiatrist and do not lose all hope preemptively, as I did.