Nortriptlyne

[Nickolas12]

Hello, i have bad tinnitus and i feel confused, i been prescribed 10 mg nortriptlyne, I haven’t tried them yet as im afraid because i have no depression at all.Did someone have the same problem?

[kayladelarosedana]

Please! Before you take this medicine, read this article and scroll down to where it included your medicine that you were prescribed. Many times doctors do not mention the ototoxicity of the medication because it is irrelevant to them. The medicine you listed is actually listed as ototoxic and can actually CREATE tinnitus or worsen it.

Much care,

Kayla

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[Nickolas12 in reply to kayladelarosedana]

Thank you Kayladelarosedana, i will have a chat with my doctor

[Ruud1boy]

Nortriptyline is, I believe, on older style of anti-depressant, which isn't used for the purpose any more. 10mg is not an anti-depressant dose, they call this prescribing 'off label', which means they're giving you the medicine in the hope of utilising the side-effects the medication causes. In this instance, they're hoping it will just keep a lid on your emotional / mental state, calm you down a bit and get you into a better state to deal w/ the T. That's what they told me anyway, when they started me on Amitrip, which is much the same thing.

Always good to be careful about the ototoxicity thing tho', but bear in mind they have to list all potential side-effects, even the really uncommon ones. Lots of T sufferers take Amitrip / Nortrip.

[Nickolas12 in reply to Ruud1boy]

Thank you Ruud. Do you have tinnitus and loghteheadness as well, how did medicine work for you?

[Ruud1boy in reply to Nickolas12]

Never had any problems with lightheadedness. Re the Amitrip, it's hard to tell whether it had any effect to be honest. I still take it every day, usually 10mg or 20mg if I've had a bad day, but whether it actually does any good, I don't know.

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[Nickolas12 in reply to Ruud1boy]

Thank you, do you have tinnitus?What symptoms you have?

[Ruud1boy in reply to Nickolas12]

Do I have tinnitus? Oh, yes.....

I tend to hover around the boundary between the upper end of 'moderate' and the lower end of 'severe' T. I'm in a severe phase over the last couple of weeks. No physical symptoms, just my loud, constant, high-pitched whistling - c.6Khz, c.70Db MML.

[Nickolas12 in reply to Ruud1boy]

Thank you so much mate,I had no idea about all this stuff, so did Nortriptlyne improve your tinittus?

[Ruud1boy in reply to Nickolas12]

Not really TBH, but that's not what it it's intended to do. The idea as I understand it is that the medication just calms you down a bit, to put you in a position where you're better able to deal with the tinnitus yourself and work towards habituation.

[Nickolas12 in reply to Ruud1boy]

Alright mate, thank you very much 👍🏻👍🏻

[rohit71gera]

take 1 mg only . see how it feels. 10 mg is too high to start with. increase gradually. there is no maths that forces you to start with 10. ototoxicity is 1 in million.

[NicBTA Partner]

This may come as a surprise, but I agree with Ruudboy1. If you are concerned though, talk to your GP again.

Warmest wishes

Nic (BTA Communications Manager and Forum Administrator)

[Rheadster72 in reply to NicBTA]

Or pop into your local pharmacy if getting a GP appointment within a short space of time is tricky. Pharmacist could do a Medical Use Review if you're on any other meds - it's a free service

[Ruud1boy in reply to NicBTA]

Yes! I win!

[Rheadster72]

I have tinnitus and peripheral neuropathy, among other issues, but certainly no depression. Nortripytiline and its relative amitriptyline are used to treat nerve pain I.e. peripheral neuropathy. The way the work for nerve pain is based on how they work on your neurotransmitters - in this case noradrenaline and serotonin. The noradrenaline component is important which is why something like prozac (a serotonin reuptake inhibitor) is not really effective for nerve pain.

I started on amitriptyline 10mg and it took probably 3 weeks to ease the drowsiness. The advice is to take at night but I was feeling really drowsy most nights. I stopped for a bit then started again and now tolerate 20 mg quite nicely and am looking to up the dose again. The neuro consultant advised that I needed to get up to 50 mg to have start feeling the benefit of nerve pain relief. 20 mg gives me a great night's sleep.

The antidepressant dose for amitriptyline is 150 mg so you can see 10 mg is a very low dose.

Did you say what the doc had prescribed the noradrenaline for? Assume it is nerve pain you have. I found that the amitriptyline doesn't have any impact on my tinnitus which comes and goes whether I am on the meds or not

Hope that helps.

[Nickolas12 in reply to Rheadster72]

I don’t have nerve pain and im wondering why did he prescribe them for lol

[Rheadster72 in reply to Nickolas12]

There is anecdotal evidence as well as some clinical trial evidence that nortriptyline reduces the loudness of tinnitus in patients taking it for depression. I'm not convinced.

When researching what treatment might help my tinnitus the only article that sparked my interest was from some journalist who tried various things then went to see a Chinese Medicine practitioner who gave him some concoction that eventually reduced his tinnitus. Unfortunately I didn't keep the article and neither did I try any Chinese meds remedies.

Reducing salt intake and associated reduction in blood pressure can help I've heard but that would I assume be tinnitus caused by high blood pressure and not necessarily all causes of tinnitus.

If you've not got nerve pain I would suggest quizzing your doc or get a second opinion before taking nortriptyline for tinnitus.

[Nickolas12 in reply to Rheadster72]

Thanks mate, im not gonna take them as im scared 👍🏻

[Rheadster72]

I was the same about pregabalin (another, newer drug for nerve pain) and went for the amitriptyline instead. These drugs that mess about with your neurotransmitters are taken too lightly by many GPs I find and they often neglect to go through and weigh up the benefits over the risks/side effects.

The thing I actually try for the tinnitus is ambient relaxing music and yoga breathing - I practice the yoga too if the pain eased up a bit! Mindfulness can help distract and take your mind off the noise rather than focusing on it.

Good luck with it all and hope you manage to find some relief from it no matter which method/therapy you try.