Can Mirtazapine Affect Tinnitus?

Hi,

I have had tinnitus for many years without it bothering me at all.

I have a past history of being on Mirtazapine for some years, which was due to having a stressful job/lifestyle, and, I am glad to say that following a change of job/lifestyle the stress in my life has now gone and I came off the Mirtazapine.

The issue is that where in the past the ringing in my ears did not bother me, and I was able to ignore it for most of the time without intruding on me. However, since stopping the Mirtazapine the ringing is a lot worse to the point that after consulting my GP I am now back on it, my question is this - is it likely to go back to being at a level that I feel able to blank out the hissing in my ears?

I should also add that when I came off the Mirtazapine my sleep pattern was awful, which may have also been a contributing factor in my tolerance levels to the hissing being less perhaps?

I am also due to meet with a hypnotherapist as a means to see if this can help with "retraining" my brain to ignore / blank out the hissing?

Can anyone advise regarding the use of Mirtazapine, and whether this will settle down in time - I must add that I have only been back on the Mirtazapine for two days, so, understand that it may take some weeks to get back into my system.

I should add that I have no adverse effects of using Mirtazapine in the past, and am fit and healthy, exercise etc .

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Tim

 

Hi Tim, tinnitus is not a side effect of Mirtazapine but it is a withdrawal effect. Did you taper the dose and come off gradually or did you stop suddenly or quickly?

 

I've been on mirtazapine for 2 weeks, I was unable to sleep properly from my tinnitus.

The first thing I did when I was prescribed it was do a little Dr. Google search of tinnitus and mirtazapine and came across this story of a gentleman suffering from T (with a normal audiiogram).

https://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11040086

"Subsequently mirtazapine 15 mg/day was started and at the end of three weeks of mirtazapine therapy his tinnitus dramatically improved. Withdrawal of mirtazapine again resulted in reappearance of his tinnitus. This further improved when mirtazapine 7.5 mg was restarted. The patient has been maintained on this dose of mirtazapine for the last 6 months without re-emergence of tinnitus. An additional, marked improvement, in the quality of life was demonstrated while on treatment with mirtazapine. On three separate occasions the patient stopped taking mirtazapine with reappearance of tinnitus symptoms within four days of withdrawal of mirtazapine"

So there could be something behind what you're experiencing.

Fuuuuuu. Don't tell me that.

 

Mirtazapine is the antidepressant with one of the lowest rates of tinnitus as a side effect.
It is an excellent sleeping pill even at low doses.
It has two major side effects:
1. it creates vivid dreams.
2. and it very often leads to weight gain, so it is hardly suitable for people with obesity problems.

 

I started on Mirtazapine 15mg. I took 6 x15mg tablets. During this time my tinittus increased quite dramatically.
I decided to taper off it in the intention of stopping. I took 3x7.5mg (half a tablet) and from advice from doctor stopped it.
3 days after stopping my tinittus has gone very loud it unbearable. I am very terrified can't cope with this been permanent.

Please has anybody here got any advice or help as I am going out of my mind with worry.

Please I am desperate for help.

 

I have been taking Mirtazapine on and off without any problems, until I took 2 Paracetamol shortly before Mirtazapine. I woke up with a pure tone tinnitus spike which was the first time in 7 months of tinnitus. It went away after 10 days, while I was confident this was permanent as it was something new and never experienced before.

Your spike will likely fade. Just give it time. Tinnitus can be unpredictable.

 

I really think the variety of reactions to SSRI has to do with individual biochemistry etc... which is why I'm so damn fearful of pharmaceuticals.

 

I take it with no effect on my tinnitus. It helps with sleep though, which in turn makes the tinnitus more bearable during the say.

 

Mirtazapine had zero effect on my tinnitus when I took it.

 

I'm convinced Mirtazapine made my tinnitus worse with new tones. Plus it highly likely ruined my eyes. Horrible drug.

 

Mirtazapine saved my life from extreme suicidality due to sleep deprivation. I started taking 30 mg and have been reducing veeery slowly throughout 8 months to now taking 12.5 mg. It still works pretty good on my sleep, which in turn results in better tolerance of tinnitus during the day.

Everyone reacts differently to medication, but if you're very sleep deprived then Mirtazapine and Trazodone are two of the best old school options there are.

New drugs called Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists like Dayvigo (lemborexant) or Quviviq (daridorexant) are also good options to consider if your doctor is up to date, which is almost never the case...

 

I take 30 mg of Mirtazapine. I spoke with Dr. De Ridder who said it can improve anxiety and depression but worsen tinnitus. I don't think it has worsened mine but hey.

Dr. De Ridder does not recommend any SSRI (Mirtazapine is a SNRI) as they can worsen tinnitus. He said if medication is needed, it's never a single medication, and always a cocktail at LOW doses.

 

Mirtazapine is not an SNRI - are you thinking of Venlafaxine?

This Dr. De Ridder guy is again chatting bollocks.

 

@Paulmanlike, no, I'm thinking of Mirtazapine. However, I've checked and you are right. I thought it was. It seems to not fit into any category.

I'm not sure what to think about Dr. De Ridder. Anything in particular you tend to disagree/be sceptical about with his research, theories and treatments?

 

Mirtazapine is a tetracyclic antidepressant that directly agonists serotonin and (nor)adrenaline receptors.

At a low dose, it is mainly a strong antihistamine and is used for sleeping.

Promethazine is even better for sleeping IMO.

 

Hi @Sironketchup -- That may be the case for some people, perhaps even most people. But a single 25 mg dose of Promethazine gave me catastrophic tinnitus, along with other debilitating "side effects". If a person decides to try Promethazine, I would suggest starting out at an extremely low trial dose to see whether or not you're extremely reactive to it--as I was.

 

I am doing quite well with Mirtazapine 45 mg and my tinnitus is stable, not affected.

 

Can you tell more about the low and high doses? Does the Mirtazapine affect your mood? Do you have 24/7 loud tinnitus?

 

I'm staring at a bottle of Mirtazapine right now, wondering if I should begin taking it or not. It was prescribed by my psychiatrist. The dosage is 7.5 milligram each night for 2 weeks, and then I am to follow up with him.

I am trying to get an ADHD assessment but apparently the state won't even consider it until I have been treated for depression. I was trying to avoid antidepressants altogether.

 

Well 7.5 mg isn't going to do much of anything other than make you sleepy. I recently decided to start and am using 15 mg every night. I mostly wanted to try it because I have seen many people say it helped with their tinnitus, and it seems to have much fewer occurrences of side effects. I'm skeptical it's going to help, but I guess we'll see.

I hope you'll take your mental health seriously. I avoided doing so most of my life and I regret it.

 

Well after sharing that I hadn't had any success in the past with Wellbutrin and terrible side effects from Cymbalta (all this pre-tinnitus), then Zoloft post-tinnitus which temporarily elevated it while taking it, he wanted to try Prozac but then decided on Remeron. Firstly, he wants to get my sleep on track. Then, I guess my doseage will gradually be increased.