Recent change of tinnitus

[Edward22]

Six days I hurt my back. I took co codamol and ibrufen every 4 hours and then amitriptyline 20mg for two nights. From Wednesday night to Thursday night. I then stopped. I have been reading about ototoxicity in meds and the potential damage to the ear. Apparently al these meds are ototoxicite. I already am struggling with acoustic trauma tinnitus. I'm really worried that this could have made my condition worse. Lots of info saying that ototoxicite drugs can cause irreversible damage. My tinnitus has changed from a hiss to a really higher hiss register. Anyone have any advice or experience?

[perlcoder]

Hello,

The first thing I would say is that we are all different, and our T responds in ways that are seldom the same as those of other sufferers. Someone else may come along soon whose experience is unlike my own.

I have had T, increasing in severity, for more than 20 years. During that time I have been prescribed amitriptyline and I have often taken Ibuprofen for a variety of aches and pains, sometimes up to the recommended maximum for several days. Although you don't mention it, I have also been prescribed a long course of Sertraline and (briefly) Lorazepam and Valium. I have never (so far as I can recall) used co-codamol.

None of those drugs exacerbated my T. The increase in severity was never associated with taking them, in fact the Sertraline and Valium both helped rather than hindered in times of stress.

My very personal opinion, based on my own experience and reading T forums and advice over all these years is that ototoxicity is much feared but is not a common side effect of taking prescription doses of most medications for relatively short periods. There certainly are ototoxic reactions to some powerful chemotherapeutic agents and perhaps some other powerful drugs, and I would not underestimate those, but, as I said, I have not heard of cases in which the medications I have taken had that effect.

Your acoustic trauma may respond differently of course - I am not expert and my own T was not a result of trauma, but my best guess is that changes in the pitch of your T are as likely to be the kind of thing that happens naturally, or as a response to your back pain and the constant anxiety most of us have about our T worsening.

Best wishes.

[amelie123]

I have found that ibuprofen and naproxen make my tinnitus worse. I have seen two ENT Consultants who have prescribed Amitriptyline for tinnitus so wouldn’t think they would recommend it if affected it.

[rabbits65]

there is an article in The Telegraph today online. Talking about eating lots and lots of fruit, especially apples. Well you just never know !!!

[SueX in reply to rabbits65]

Ohhhhh, good to know. Even though we talk to each other on here and read the good solid scientific stuff, it is still nice to read about Tinnitus in the press.

[SueX]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I think it's difficult with ototoxicity. I took a drug for around a year that I was then told was ototoxic so I stopped it. I asked the consultant that prescribed that drug how I could ascertain if that was the cause or contributed to my tinnitus. She said there was no way of knowing other than believe that the drug MAY be the cause once scans etc had ruled out other causes. I wish there were an easier way of finding out if drugs might have caused/made worse the Tinnitus.