What Antidepressants Are Best Tolerated by Tinnitus Patients?

Hello. I have mild tinnitus due to noise damage. I have previously taken SSRIs, but they worsened my tinnitus. Now, I need to start antidepressants again.

My tinnitus is currently really quiet. Are there any antidepressants that don't worsen tinnitus?

I'm so afraid to start antidepressants again due to my previous experiences. Does anybody know anything about this subject? Thank you.

 

Don't take antidepressants if they worsen you; that is a warning sign. There's no safe antidepressant.

 

I never felt Nortriptyline (TCA antidepressant) increased my tinnitus, but I was mostly on 50 mg and never took the 100 mg therapeutic dose. Mirtazapine is another one that might not spike your tinnitus, but it can be horrible to wean off of and cause weight gain. Then there are the SNRIs like Cymbalta.

 

Can you just not take them?

All SSRIs have bad side effects. They have been underhyped by pharmaceutical industries. SSRIs may help for some time, but you will eventually be weaned off. If you can at all, try to change your lifestyle before turning to medications. Zoloft/Sertraline likely caused mine, and I regret it every day in the form of EEEEEEEE.

 

After I was struck down with sudden sensorineural hearing loss, the ENT handed me two bags of Zoloft and said to sleep with a fan. I put the drugs in the freezer wrapped in duct tape so my kids wouldn't get at it. Some months later, I disposed of the medications in the rubbish. Tinnitus is hard to treat with drugs.

Take care, and let your regrets go.

 

Keep playing with fire and get burned.

Get outside, sleep, eat, and connect with people and nature if possible. The "pill" is a fraud.

 

Nortriptyline, Amitriptyline, or Deanxit are the usual antidepressants prescribed for tinnitus. All are tricyclic antidepressants. For some tinnitus patients (1/3rd), they reduce the tinnitus.

Nortriptyline would be my choice.

 

Two pills of Amitriptyline 25 mg gave me tinnitus.

 

I believe you. However, @Finnish83 already has tinnitus, so it's different.

 

He can't live with tinnitus being his only problem; it would be a simple life. We need to give him visual snow syndrome along with various neurological issues and insomnia.

 

Yep. But there is always the risk of adopting a new tone, and people need to be aware of this.

He said his tinnitus is quiet, so I wouldn't risk it.