I have strong personal experience with prednisone (which also nearly entirely cured me of my tinnitus), but before I dive into that, we should dispel a notion right away by making it clear that there is no time-sensitive "cure" to Tinnitus. This is generally misinformation, or really, a misunderstanding of a groundbreaking study that had been conducted in the past that talked about a time-sensitive cure to hearing loss in very specific/rare circumstances.
In 1980, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary conducted a comprehensive study and found that sudden deafness could be dramatically reversed if within the first 72 hours of its onset patients were administered a 14-day regimen of prednisone (starting at 60 mg/day). This treatment was less effective after the 72 hour window had passed and whatever spontaneous process to damage the hearing organs had unfolded would become permanent. This study, and its conclusions, were limited to sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) The sudden onset of Tinnitus - - without coinciding sudden deafness - - cannot be cured by this treatment, and this treatment can, in fact, do more harm than good.
A few notes about my personal experience with prednisone:
So, as a general rule, we really need to get into the habit of telling people (one another, and new members) that there is nothing time-sensitive you can really be doing unless if you have experienced hearing loss. Most ENTs will prescribe prednisone out of an abundance of caution, and in truth, you can't really hurt yourself if you take a 14-day course of prednisone and taper it carefully. However, it's not going to cure you of Tinnitus; it might cure you of sudden deafness if taken within the 72 hour window, because this anti-inflammatory measure is preventing permanent damage to the auditory organs and nerves. Tinnitus, as a neurological artifact, exists in people who are suffering deafness as well as people who can hear totally fine. The best course of action people can take is to relax, see a couple of doctors for a thorough evaluation, and protect their hearing, as most Tinnitus resolves on its own within 180 days.
- Like other steroids, prednisone is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. It works on Tinnitus where a neuromuscular conflict is principally to blame (such as TMJ, neck/head/back pain, or misalignment). Prednisone can provide short-term relief, but once the treatment of prednisone has completed, Tinnitus will inevitably return. This was my case, when I was administered prednisone about 2 months after the onset of my tinnitus -- I was almost entirely cured for a few days, but this was short-lived.
- Prednisone cannot be taken over lengthy periods of time because it causes adrenal failure in animals, and even when taken appropriately, if it's not tapered towards the end of treatment, can precipitate an Addisonian crisis. Therefore, prednisone - while incredibly powerful and can provide considerable relief to the small subset of people whose tinnitus, like mine, is being caused by some neuromuscular problem - is not really an appropriate treatment for us.
- The recommended treatment for people who are dealing with neuromuscular problems as the cause of their Tinnitus is physical therapy that targets the principal dysfunction. In my case, my clenching of my teeth has caused muscular tension and spasming up my neck, back, and head, and this is forcing my eardrums out of alignment. This has been confirmed through numerous tests, and it's why prednisone helps me (because it calms the spasming). Physical therapy in my case is realignment treatment and wearing a orthotic device to prevent my teeth from clenching. Every person suffering from neuromuscular inflammation-induced tinnitus has a different etiology and the pathology of their Tinnitus, because it is primarily physiological (and not exclusively neurological, as is the case of those who suffer from damage to their auditory system), requires a customized treatment plan to address.
- Prednisone, and other anti-inflammatories, do nothing to help people who suffer from Tinnitus due to neurological damage to the auditory centers because the damage here usually does not have an inflammatory aggravating condition.
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