Can Fluoxetine or Ambien Cause Tinnitus?

I’ve been taking fluoxetine and ambien. Has anyone experienced tinnitus with these medications?

 

AD meds can cause and spike tinnitus but settles as your brain adjusts to the medication.
Amitryptaline,Nortriptyline and Mertazepin are the best 3 I know of in helping tinnitus for some people.
Love glynis

 

I took Zolpidem (Ambien) and the most astonishing effect happened when I took it. My doctor prescribed it to me because my Tinnitus was so loud and kept me from sleeping at night. I took my prescribed dose, and instead of immediately going to sleep, I forced myself to stay awake and did some work around the house. To my amazement within 30 minutes to an hour, my Tinnitus began to fade away, and then it completely disappeared. I was shocked and amazed, so I ended up staying up most of the night, because I just wanted to enjoy this miraculous effect the Ambien had on my Tinnitus. Finally I fell asleep about 5 to 6 hours, and when I woke up the next morning my Tinnitus was still completely silent. After a few hours, I could slowly hear my Tinnitus coming back, and eventually by mid-day it was back again at full volume. The next evening I did the same thing (took my Ambien and stayed awake), and I got the exact same results. I did this for a few weeks and basically was Tinnitus free every night for a few weeks.

Well, I'm a person who hates taking medication, and honestly I didn't want to be addicted to Ambien to fall asleep, so I decided to ween off the Ambien and try my luck at Habituation. Trying habituation is the harder fix, but once you've habituated, your mind can just fall asleep anytime anywhere. And you can go days, months, years with really not hearing your Tinnitus for long periods of time (All without medications). I've been habituated from my Tinnitus for about 2 years now, and even though I cant still hear it, I can completely zone it out, and actually not hear it anymore. I'm happy I chose the habituation route then continuing taking medications. But I'm also happy I had the medications as an option to help me when I needed it.

However, something in the Zolpidem (Ambien) really worked and completely silenced my Tinnitus. I'm not a doctor and I have no idea why it worked and why it made my Tinnitus disappear, but whatever it was actually worked. Hopefully, a doctor can figure out what chemical in the Zolpidem silences the Tinnitus and develops a drug specifically for Tinnitus.

Has anyone out there experienced the same effect on Ambien? Especially, when you force yourself to stay awake?

 

Hi Bishop, you may have metioned how you initially got Tinnitus, but was it from noise or medication do you think?

 

Hi Bob:
Sorry for the late response. I believe I got my Tinnitus from taking Verapamil. A high blood pressure medication. I started taking this medication and I didn't experience any side effects, but after 1 month I suddenly got my Tinnitus. It was the craziest thing, I woke up one morning, and everything was absolutely normal, then I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and turned on the TV. As I was watching a show on TV, out of the blue I heard a loud siren like noise. It sounded like the smoke alarm went off. One second I was normal, and instantly the loud siren noise turned on. Initially, I just shrugged it off as the smoke alarm, but it was so loud, I went to the alarm to turn it off, but to my surprise the sound wasn't coming from the smoke alarm. I then went outside of my house thinking there was a fire alarm or truck outside, but nothing. It took me about 5 minutes to realize the loud siren was actually coming from within my head. Of course I was a little nervous, but I figured "oh well" this is just a temporary thing that will go away soon". Well.....after about 15 minutes I started to get a little scared, so I went on my computer and looked up "Ringing in your ears", and once I started reading that it was called Tinnitus and that there was no known cure, I started to get really concerned and frightened. From that point on I was consumed with trying to find a cure and trying to do anything that would get rid of this constant ringing. Nothing worked (except of course the Ambien), so I just kept spiraling into this constant state of monitoring the ringing and thinking about nothing but my Tinnitus. After a few months of misery, I finally met a person who had Tinnitus, and started off just like me, but over a period of time she habituated and is now living a happy, healthy and normal life. Once I knew that there were people who actually habituated from their Tinnitus everything changed for me. I had hope again. And once I had hope, no matter how big or small a chance it was, that's all I needed. In a matter of a few months I began habituating, and with each passing week I became stronger and stronger, and Tinnitus had finally lost it's grip on me. Today, I still have Tinnitus, and some days are louder than others, but I really don't think about it anymore. I just accept that my Tinnitus is just a normal part of my life now, and it is nothing big. It's just a normal insignificant thing to me. I think the key for my habituation success was getting the success stories and knowing that thousands and maybe millions of people were just like me and have habituated fully from their Tinnitus. If the first thing I read about Tinnitus was that you could habituate from it and live a normal happy life, then my entire reaction to it would've been so different, and I wouldn't have suffered in those first few months. Anyway, sorry for rambling on, and giving you more information than you probably wanted. I guess my message to everyone out there, especially those Newbies is...you can overcome your Tinnitus and you can habituate 100% from your Tinnitus, and you can get to the point where you actually stop hearing your Tinnitus. Your life can get back to being normal and happy again. If I knew this as a Newbie, I would've been so relieved and so happy, and I would've probably habituated in a month. That's awesome!

 

I've seen some reports of people who claim that taking certain antidepressants, or withdrawing from them, caused permanent tinnitus. It may not be very likely but apparently it happens, from what I understand.

 

@TuneOut ,
For some people it can.
A very slow taper should help by giving your brain time to get use to each reduction .
Sadly medication is still a risk.
Love glynis

 

I got tinnitus from Ambien, Mary. How are you doing today?