I've joined hoping to get some advice and support as a wife of someone suffering with tinnitus. He's had it since February 2024. It's put him in to a terrible depression and every antidepressants the GP has prescribed has made the tinnitus rage.Two days ago he started on a low dose of Amitriptyline but already the noise had increased, which makes him more depressed...
We've tried meditation, relaxation, mindfulness, dietary changes etc but to no avail.
Has anyone ever found an antidepressant which doesn't aggrevate their tinnitus?
Thank you x
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MrsSmithdog
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the way people react to antidepressants does vary. Several people on here have said sertraline has helped. I seem to remember amitriptaline was helpful too.
Have you looked at the website of Tinnitus UK, the charity? You might find something there that resonates.
It looks as though the doctor (unlike some) has been helpful: some docs are very dismissive as they know there’s no “cure” at all. On which note, don’t believe anyone trying to sell you something unless recommended here or by health professionals or Tinnitus UK.
But basically it’s a question of time, relaxation, maybe cognitive behaviour therapy which helps people to look at problems in a different way.
Sorry to hear about you husbands challenges with Tinnitus but you have come to the right place.
I think it might be worth exploring if it is actually the medication making the Tinnitus worse or the over monitoring/increased anxiety that's happening as a result of taking the medication. I speak from personal experience when I say this. Antidepressants themselves shouldn't really impact on Tinnitus directly and although listed as a side effect for some antidepressants its very very rare from what I remember. Maybe seeking this reassurance from a GP may help?
Antidepressants played a role in me getting better but only a small role and I think its really important that expectations are managed. Disappointment weeks after taking medication may aggregate anxiety which in turn will weaken our ability to manage our Tinnitus.
Often taking medication like antidepressants can cause side effects which makes us anxious too.
Managing anxiety is so important to living well with Tinnitus. I made a list of all of the things making me anxious and started tackling them one by one.
We are all so different so what will work for one person wont always work for another but what we can say with certainty is that if you can manage the anxiety then wellness can follow
Timing in my journey was very important. I was so fearful of medication in the early months that it would have been counterproductive for me to try them - It would have just made my Tinnitus management worse.
It was only when I realised that my depression was starting to get in the way of me being able to think objectively about what was really happening to me and when I started to understand more about the condition that I realised that antidepressants could potentially help.
To manage my fear I spent the weeks leading up to taking medication recording all the times something happened which I may have blamed on the medication. This helped me in the early weeks of taking the new medication as I could identify that actually that had happened without the medication and quickly dismiss it as nothing to do with the meds.
I've had Tinnitus since 1993 after severe head injury. A couple of years after that I started a long series of surgeries (19 all together) which ran from 1996 to 2011. I had major financial difficulties from being unable to work, chronic pain and the depression that the two previous problems caused. The doctors tried probably every combination of antidepressants under the sun and none of them worked for the depression or the tinnitus. The only thing that helps when it gets really loud and distracting, normally at night, is a long running soundtrack of mild ocean surf or a forest stream running at low volume, just enough to hear but not keep me awake or distracted from something else I may be doing like right now on the computer. Don't know if it will help you or not. Some I know find instrumental music down low helpful but nothing with vocals so far as I have heard.
I'm really sorry this has happened to your husband - and of course, to you, because Tinnitus affects everyone involved. My "T" journey started in April this year when i sustained a cervical injury to my neck and hearing. I have had severe hissing and clicking T since then. It comes and goes - it doesn't seem to have any cues or patterns - weather affects it I think, in particular what the Barometer is doing, and of course; stress and fatigue. but it is what it is. When I first had it I thought it was going to drive me insane; I simply could not see myself living with this but, here I am, more than 7 months later still here.
The tools, methods tips and tricks and meds that we apply to our T are different for all of us because our T has minor differences to each others. This is the place we come and brainstorm ideas and share managemant techniques so, well done! for getting yourself to this place.
On the subject of AD's - I'm on Sertraline - a fairly low dose now -25mg - at the height of my woes a few months ago I was on 150mg - I'm afraid I couldn't tell you if the T was worse or better on those two doses but what i can say is on the lower dose now I have less noise and generally quieter days. I still get Spikes (days when the T just gets it's head and charges up the richter scale) On those days it becomes simply about managing my stress and depression and using CN Shocking (an example being; feet in bucket of really hot water for a minute then plunge them in to freezing water.) Shocks that basically destract the nervous system away from the T.
These days I'm okay - I still struggle but I'm okay. Your husband will be too. It takes time to develop what's right for you (him) what drugs, exercises and regime changes best keep the T under control.
One thing - and this is about you - you are probably having some simply awful moments on your own where you wonder what on Earth had happened to him and whether things can ever be the same again. Well, they can and they will.
T is a pain in the rectum it might not be cureable - but it is manageable. I'll repeat that - it is manageable. Once you collect the management bits and pieces together and make them second nature - the T will fade back in to the background and life can continue on.
I’ve been taking Amitriptiline for almost 3 months. I feel much better. The T hasn’t vanished. But my brain accepts them . I’ve taken back my way of living.
During all this time, I’ve had spikes due to the following causes:
1. rise of BP
2. low BP
3. Weather changes
4. headaches due to cervical spondilosis. I started doing exercises for it.
THE KEY IS 7-8 HOUR SLEEP!!! Amitriptiline has helped me with a continuous sleep.
Try to get to know your body . It will be much better if you what causes these T spikes.
Hello and thanks for getting in touch.He's only taken the Amitriptyline for two nights but he says it's making his T unbearable so he's not taking it anymore...
Hello, when my tinnitus first started (June 2023) I was climbing the walls. After a couple of weeks my gp prescribed Sertraline. I felt that this made the tinnitus worse. I then saw a locum who had spent 9 years as an ENT doctor and he switched me to Mertazapine. I think the main benefit of this drug is that I sleep well with it. The tinnitus is still there, but most of the time the associated stress and anxiety isn’t. Best of luck to you both.
Hello, just thought I would mention my tinnitus started when I took amitriptyline , I know it’s not the same for everyone as amitriptyline might help others, but not for me I stopped taking them but the tinnitus continued hope your husband feels better soon.
Hello and thanks for getting in touch.He's tried Amitriptyline twice now on two separate occasions and both times it's caused his T to reach unbearable levels so he's had to stop taking it. It obviously affects different people in different ways. X
I take Mirtazapine it just helps me sleep does nothing for my anxiety I have had to lower the dose because I thought it made me more anxious esp in mornings.
I have also hyperacusis which I find holds me back in everyday life.
Hopef the CBT will help. I need that but will have to go down the NHS route for that I had to retire early because of stress which caused the T and H
Good morning. You've had so much helpful and lengthy advice from fellow sufferers. I'll try to be brief as I agree with everything that's been said. I took amitriptyline for 6 months as my anxiety was dreadful. The side effects weren't nice, dizziness mostly but they did help with sleep and to calm the T down. If I have difficulty sleeping now, I take Phenergan.
I had an (NHS), ENT appointment and was prescribed a sound generator hearing aid (I only have T in one ear). This really helps as you are listening to a 'proper' sound rather than the horrendous sound in your head.
I'm sure your husband would benefit from trying one.
I have had tinnitus now for 7 years but didn't go on any depression tablets. Have you tried herbal tablets like Ginkgo they helped me. Hope it settles soon
If your husband has what I would call run-of-the-mill tinnitus (no complications) then I would say he should be looking to come off anti depressants. There is a needing to accept the thing is present. It took me a full 12 months for this to be, and it came through what they call here habituation. Plus auditory aids like wireless headphones to give radio relief when needed. Also, I've had success with Ginkgo (but only the way I take it). Hope this helps.
Click on my username for my posts on how to do it. Work from latest backwards. Ginkgo is not a cure, it is an alleviation. That said, I can inform that often it alleviates down to silence for a few hours. Essentially, it appears Ginkgo has to leave your system for the next dose to be recognised, so it is not taken daily.
Hi MrsSmithdog.From reading your post you could be my wife. How she has put up with me for the last three years I don't know.
I was on Amitriptyline, it was of no use whatsoever. Two years later my GP convinced me to give it a another try. I was on 50mg a day. Did nothing, neither positive or negative. I've tried every drug, steroid, behaviour therapy imaginable in the hope of ending this screaming, ringing, hissing torture.
Like your husband I've tried the relaxation, dietary changes, mindfulness (what a stupid word that is.) I've also seen private doctors, chiropractors, osteopaths, physiotherapist and an acupuncturist, all to no avail.
I've seen more doctors, ENT specialists and audiologists than you can point a stick at. I've said it before, but the ENT doctors, specialists and Professors that I've seen should drop the 'E' and stick with the 'N' and the 'T' as I've had no help whatsoever.
Some of them are clueless. My next appointment with the hospital is a telephone appointment, all they do is ask my symptoms, again, and that's it. My next telephone appointment is 10/02/26.
I have Somatic tinnitus, I had to work that out myself.
The only things that have helped me are sleeping tablets (Loprazolam) and wearing a snooze Bluetooth headband, I wear it pretty much 24hrs a day. You can download more bearable sounds that make life possible. Also there are loads of 10 hr tinnitus masking sounds on YouTube.
This condition has sent me to a dark place and I don't know where it will end.
Tell your husband to get a headband if he hasn't already got one. For me, it does give some relief and keeps me going for another day.
So sorry for your situation. I will relate my experience. I first developed my tinnitus around January, 2022. I went through the entire process: my GP, audiologists, ENTs, dentists, MRIs, etc... for the next several months just looking for answers. It was consuming my thoughts and severely affecting my sleep to the point where about 6 months later I returned to my GP who diagnosed me with insomnia and depression. He placed me on Trazodone and told me to start with 25 mg. I was able to finally get some much needed rest although it took a little while to get used to the medication. I also found a CBT therapist who has helped me a lot to deal with the stress and emotional side of tinnitus. I am still on the 25 mg trazodone, which I take about an hour before bed, and I still see my therapist. The tinnitus is still there and I have the occasional spikes in loudness but I feel like I can handle it much better now. Acceptance was a key for me. I am certainly not a Doctor and would never begin to offer medical advice but this is my experience and what I have found to help me. Best wishes.
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