Any Positive Experiences with Sertraline (Zoloft) and Tinnitus?

So... I'm six months into an almighty tinnitus spike and I've lost my resilience. I had to go and get what help I could which is woefully inadequate for tinnitus sufferers but I don't want to die so this is my only recourse.

I was prescribed a 50mg of Sertraline by my empathetic GP but of course, it's an ototoxic medication! Has anyone had a positive response to Sertraline?

SSRIs are a gamble, I know.

 

I'm in the same boat, struggling day to day and my GP prescribed 20mg Prozac. I haven't tried it, seems to be a big gamble.

 

I've taken one and I cannot discern if it's louder or simply a remnant of yesterday's anxiety spike. I've read wonder stories about SSRIs and people incapacitated with the adverse effects.

 

Let me know how you get along. I really don't want to cave in but I'm past the point of pulling myself out of this depression.

 

I took it for a week and it gave me a spike.. .it's been two weeks and still spiked! UGH!!!

 

Update: I've been taking Sertraline for three weeks and I'm tentatively optimistic! I believe it is attenuating my tinnitus that was amplified by anxiety. There is no silence or complete elimination of sounds but it is less strident. There are periods of time I can forget my tinnitus which isn't a cure but the relief after six months of relentless cacophony to the point I contemplated something sinister is something I'm grateful for.

My emotional response has completely changed. I'm gone from despair to being annoyed and this third week I've found indifference. It's still loud but I can now concentrate on conversations and the TV without my tinnitus interspersed.

Sleeping... is still difficult but I've gone from 2-4 hours a night to 6-7. I don't obscure the sounds as I've got to habituate to their presence.

So, not a miracle cure, possibly only a palliative but it's an improvement. And dear god, I needed the hope.

 

Another update:

This might be prematurely optimistic I'm just so damned relieved! For the first time in 7 months, my tinnitus has returned to its baseline of 2/10 and my musical ear syndrome has completely abated. It's gone!

No more auditory hallucinations and only my usually gentle tinkle for the past two days. Obviously, tinnitus is a capricious beast, it could be back to my wailing cacophony tomorrow but I am grateful, so grateful for the peace of today.

I'm attributing the reduction to Sertraline after months and months of vitamins, sound therapy, CBT, etc. Nothing has attenuated the sounds like this.

I'd never advocate anyone consuming SSRIs for tinnitus but thank goodness I found this before I lost my mind.

 

@Sybelle I'm so glad to hear it's helping you! I thought reactive tinnitus was bad, then last year the musical nonsense started and I've just about had it with the combo of hissing, music and occasional tones. So thanks for posting a positive experience and I do hope you'll continue to post updates. I'd do anything for a 2 out of 10 and no stupid music.

 

Hi BuzzyBee

I haven't seen many people with both musical and reactive tinnitus. I have it too. I also have loudness hyperacusis (no pain). I'm really tired of the high pitch electric in both my ears / head. Not sure how long I can endure this mess. I had baby tinnitus for 5 years then graduated month ago. I'm sorry to see you have both these, like you said in a different post, no one understands what it's like... Ugh.

 

@Capstan Does your tinnitus fluctuate a lot? What keeps me going is a couple of bad days are usually followed some good days. Today's a bad day (loud static), so it's almost comforting knowing that most likely tomorrow or the next day will be okay. After tracking this for four years I'm pretty familiar with the pattern, though I can't figure out what to do to "fix" the bad days.

 

It does. Mine seems to be related to how much noise I've absorbed the previous days. Last night I took Hydroxyzine for congestion and today was more quiet than normal. It might just be an anomaly though. My static is very annoying as it isn't constant. It is a bit like high pitch bells going up and down like tune.

My MES will copy lots of external sounds not just music, it likes beeps and bells. It once copied a snippet of a John Meyer song that had some bells in it. It will copy the buzz of florescent lights. Very frustrating. I'm on Xanax, so I've wondered if there's a side effect. The best part though is by also being reactive, my T will copy the highest pitch tones and match their loudness. When that happens, its just like kill me now. I don't do well with audiogram beeps and frequency sweep apps.

Do you have any weird phenoma too?

 

I empathise with you both. My T used to replicate the beeps from a hearing test I had four months ago, I had church bells, a thousand birds tweeting in a cave, a trumpet, and sirens. The worst moment was when I'd been to the cinema and got into my car and I could still hear the jingle from the adverts. I had a peculiar radio sound as well with the intonation of human voices that's disconcerted me so much I rushed to the doctors and I was informed that tinnitus can encompass many sounds not just buzzing or ringing. Sinister whisper like sounds at night...I demanded rigorous psychological assessments, how could I not? I was hearing music with no external stimuli!

No, I was reassured that as lucid as I was and with my history of hearing loss that it was tinnitus. I pored over anecdotes over the internet for people with a similar condition and found a small portion of posts on this forum alluding to musical tinnitus.

I had a MRI scan two months ago. No brain tumour but now I had the whirling of the machine...I had to go get some help for my anxiety. That lead me to Sertraline.

Today is still a quiet, music free day so I'm happy but a little trepidatious...it may come back.

 

Sorry about your John Mayer tinnitus. If it's any consolation, I have Bruno Mars tinnitus. No lyrics, just one verse over and over. And then there are a few other melodies I've yet to identify,

I've had the mimicking and pretty much everything you've mentioned, but luckily the terrifying tones aren't as frequent and the mimicking has lessened over the years. If on occasion I have to take a Xanax, I'll sometimes get weird tones when it wears off, but they don't last too long. Sometimes it seems like static is lower the day after a Xanax, but I haven't taken it enough times to really test the theory.

 

Are you still using Zoloft? Is it helping still? I’m noticing it seems to be increasing my tinnitus which, of course, is extremely distressing on top of my severe anxiety, OCD and depression. Just what I needed - a huge increase in tinnitus.

 

I am also keen to hear an update because I'm desperate. I was very close to being locked up in a mental health ward yesterday. If I said what I was really thinking they would have but I told them what they wanted to hear so I could leave.

 

Thanks for being here... Asking for virtual hugs...