Can Antidepressants Cause Hyperacusis?

Hey all,

I am wondering if besides tinnitus, ADs can cause also hyperacusis. Never found much about it googling for it.

I am sometimes having this continuous feeling in my right temple that is not pain, but something I can notice, something as a hotter part, or a more active part, I don't know how to explain...

Just wondering if this is due to my AD (Zoloft) or maybe even Xanax.

 

Have you talked to your doctor? It sounds like it may be something that doesn't have any connection to tinnitus or hyperacusis or your meds. Did you hit your head? or have TMJ?

 

I highly doubt anti depressants can cause hyperacusis defined as "ear pain from noise"
but if someone has pre-existing pain hyperacusis from acoustic trauma or ototoxic medicines we do not know rather it will worsen pain hyperacusis.


Once again researchers seem to imply their may be several conditions all called "hyperacusis"
and they have not yet been properly classified. That's the biggest problem we are facing.

 

This forum is literally the blind leading the blind, ENT's are useless as well, no psychiatrist is going to know jack shit about our conditions.

We obviously don't know if anti depressants will worsen pre-existing hyperacusis, or what type of hyperacusis will be worsened. Bio-medical research for hyperacusis when???

 

My psych is on vacation (and I didn't know about it before yesterday lol), so I can only talk to him after 11/21 lol... I am considering trying another psych before it but maybe this is not a wise move.

I did not hit my head... I did while I was a baby and also 14 years ago, but I don't remember about this feeling in my youth. As for TMJ, I really don't know: besides the feeling I describe here, I have this pop feeling of bones getting fit or undocked by the right side when I move my jaw, which does a internal pop sound. No pain. Is there a method for diagnosis that tells you that you have TMJ disorder with 100% accuracy?

Also, thank you, Jack Straw. You are active in my threads and is always helping me even with my flood of topics.

 

Oh well. That leads me to some ideas about testing conjectures: trying to go off my meds believing that the serotonin boost is making things too active in my brain. Considering a neuro to try some other exams. Considering a TMJ specialist to check if there is a related disorder. Thank you for the truth about the topic.

 

If you go to a dentist he will be able to help diagnose any TMJ, which could be causing muscle pain, muscle burning or other sensations caused by TMJ that you may be feeling.

I'm always happy to help!

 

Yes, they can.
Many ADs have an ototoxicity chance of 1%, some more, some less. 1% is still a high number when you consider the amount of people on them. Hyperacusis can appear just like tinnitus.

 

Oh man. I guess its time to schedule my withdrawal.

 

Are you having increasing H for seemingly no reason? Didn't you switch ADs? Could be something that came on from your last AD. What are you taking?

 

I am not even sure if it's H, I described the feeling better here:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/feeling-of-a-nerve-throbbing-above-the-ear.32336

I am with Zoloft + Xanax for more than two months now, with a dosage increase in the former after the first five weeks.

I am habituated with the T sound, but this new constant feeling is getting me really stressed and depressed, I don't know what to do.

 

I'm not sure if it's H. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about this side effect and see what they think?

 

I guess.... The only thing is that my doctor is on vacation and will return only after 10 days from today. My OCD/anxious profile makes me want to solve things ASAP. I wonder if I should go to a new psych just due to this. I've got this golden opportunity for a job starting in january and I am afraid that I might be losing time finding my correct treatment if I wait so much. But I guess this is my OCD talking.

Thank you for all your answers by the way, Red!

 

Hey, hey, it's no prob!
Does your doctor's office have a nurse or even better a nurse practitioner (or still even better a partner doctor) you could ask? They can often assist in these matters if you need some advice/peace of mind.

If your nerve throbbing isn't getting any worse/changing that could be a sign that your body's relatively stable.

 

Could you explain to us what is real hyperacusis? Thank you so much! @Contrast

 

Mirtazapine (Remeron) can cause hyperacusis... Hyperacusis is mentioned on page 13 here http://www.merck.ca/static/pdf/REMERON-PM_E.pdf

 

Remeron can also be found in this list of drugs associated with T:

http://www.ata.org/sites/default/files/Drugs Associated with Tinnitus 2013_Updated2017.pdf

The most promoted AD from T and H communities can also trigger T and H. I guess there is no safe path when big pharma is involved.

 

I personally took an anti-depressant, Mirtazapine, for 5 weeks recently and nothing happened to my ears. Reading above that this med could cause hyperacusis freaked me out! Thanks for pointing that out, 3riow! To save some time, could anyone please point out where the passage is about hyperacusis in that article linked by 3riow, that is to say someone who has already read it? I want to print it out and keep it.

Anyways these asshole psychiatrists with their "meds" and their exclusive biological orientation get on my nerves, rarely even considering the convincing evidence that emotional illnesses are mainly due to EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY and REPRESSION . See the works of Arthur Janov, Wilhelm Reich, and Alexander Lowen, all neo-Freudians. Hell, even Freud 120 year ago was more advanced than these moron "psychiatrists" of the modern age. I am so glad that I decided finally to get off these "meds" and just hope for the best. I am feeling better luckily ( see my recent thread about my stay in a psychiatric ward in October-early November, a ward run by personnel some of whom made me WORSE by their harshness)

Finally all this does NOT mean nothing will happen to others with that drug or any other anti-depressant, ant-psychotic, or tranquiliser. Good luck!

Marco

 

Good that nothing happened to you either ^^ Glad to be of help, didn't mean to scare you straight though lol

I dunno what do you mean about pointing out? I took a screenshot of the site, is this what you mean ?


It's also mentioned on drugs.com (https://www.drugs.com/sfx/mirtazapine-side-effects.html) with the probability of it:



Like 0.01% to 0.1% doesn't seem that odd to me? Like 1 in 10 000 or 1 in 1000?

 

0.01%, it also comes with hearing loss at the same rare probability.

 

3riOw:

Thanks for sending me the specific info about possible hyperacusis side effects of Remeron. God, when I think that it did not even occur to me to check about this when I took this drug earlier this year and just recently! And also to think that my elderly father's tinnitus got so much worse after he took a drug (not Remeron) for something a year ago!

What I meant by "pointing out" was you bringing these facts about Remeron to our attention, which again is greatly appreciato. What a screenshot is I dunno, sounds like one of them multiple computer words that I do not understand, like "cookies" "software" etc..

Marco

 

And the T didn't come down after he stopped the drug?

Ah now I understand We'll go over those words next time

 

3riOw:
My father's tinnitus, which he already had, got much worse, and only went down a bit since taking the drug. And he is 93 with all sorts of other ailments. What a drag! Poor guy!

Marco

 

Danggg sucks big time for a man that old to have to usffer from T!

 

I started Lexapro/Cipralex 5mg on January this year.

I took 3 days and the 4th morning i started hearing really disturbing high-pitched tinnitus.

And also my right ear felt blocked for months. Sometimes it went away and came back.
The doctor said everything looks fine, she looked into both of my ears and also

I have had Hyperacusis for years and also mild Tinnitus. But i think that went worse also on january.

I'm 100% sure i have TMJ and ETD.

 

Codeflowd and others: 3riOw, thanks for thinking of my father...Poor guy, he's got bad back aches also..all sorts of ailments

Codeflowd: Sorry to hear what happenned to you. Agh, there are so many meds on the market , all with these side effects. What ever happenned to NATURAL healing!? You know , healing WITHOUT side effects? Only leaving a scar or something like after a cut?

REGARDING NATURAL HEALING: I' m reading a book now about the natural healing of cancer called ''The Cancer Biopathy'' by Wilhelm Reich which first came out in the mid 1940s. It seems that many cancers are PSYCHOSOMATIC, in other words due to emotional instability. There are many case studies in the book of tumors dissapearing, and people having lived longer. Unfortunately, when a tumor appears it is often too late (even with this therapy) , because the damage started way earlier with no overt symptoms. That earlier damage is due to a holistic chronic emotional resignation of the person manifested everywhere in the body Fortunately this doctor and psychotherapist devised a blood test to determine the onset of cancer before it manifests as a tumor (the tumor is ONLY one symptom of the cancer; the cancer is actually present subtily throughout the body system . Anyways, my point here is not to further discuss cancer but to point out the medical system in many aspects is way off mark...and disregards promising healing breakthroughs in so many domains that have LITTLE TO NO SIDE EFFECTS!!

Lastly, just had a setback 30 minutes ago. Of course , all you people with h. know about them, unless you live as a hermit. I was just at a shoemaker to have some important keys replicated. I've done this before and did not have any problems. So when he started to use the machine to replicate the keys, I thought I would be OK, but the grinding lasted longer than I thought and I started to get worried. So I told the guy I would be right back, zipped outside with my ear protectors into some traffic (more noise!) , staid away in a quiet nook, went back. But the damage had been done. It is always like that: you go into a noise situation which you previously survived, and think you should now again be OK, but it turns out NOT OK. And sometimes you just do not know if you should chance a NEW iffy situation. And sometimes you inevitably make a mistake and pay dearly for it. I have been going thru this for 23 years.

Marco

 

Misdiagnosed AF, these issues are from a damaged inner ear.

It's not ETD, when the ear is damaged, you get a perception of aural fullness.

 

English is not my native language, what actually is this aural fullness? Is it a physical feeling of ears feeling blocked or does it have something to do with how I hear sound?

 

I did not have many problems before taking Pregabalin for GAD, that's how my Tinnitus started. Withdrawal made things worse, but it seems I've been in a protracted withdrawal state for a few months now. Things got bad so I saw another psychiatrist for the intrusive thoughts and anxiety associated with tinnitus, I got a script for Lexapro. I then saw a few more psychiatrists and a neurologist to hear multiple opinions. I ended up choosing Zoloft + Xanax for the onboarding.

I knew the risks with Xanax so I didn't take it, until the third day where Zoloft 25mg (half of the smallest therapeutic dose) woke me up with a tinnitus spike. It was incredibly high pitched. I got scared and emailed my psychiatrist and read a post on here that said things get better once the SSRI starts working. I upped to 50mg on the 5th day, as per instructions and experienced even worse ringing.

It is now day 15. On Day 13 and 14 I went from 50mg to 25mg, and now am at 0mg. I feel horrible, I am experiencing much higher ringing and audio sensitivity... but I know it will pass. It's temporary, and I can't wait for this spike to go away. I don't want to use SSRIs.

Funny how we experienced similar symptoms.

 

ears blocked. My right ear felt like a hard stone for some time on and off after my acoustic injury from extremely loud noise.