Can Someone Explain to Me Why Neil Bauman Is So Influential?

I'm not even sure "influential" is the right word for him, but he seems to have quite the presence online. A quick Google search of the terms "tinnitus" (especially "ototoxic") and a page authored by him or the Center for Hearing Loss will show up.

Worst of all, he authored a pamphlet on ototoxic medications for the ATA. So who is this man and why is he so qualified? Well, he's written several books on lists of supposedly ototoxic medications and how to cope with hearing loss. His qualifications? He has a master's degree in Theology and two PhD degrees, one in forestry and the other in ancient astronomy.

If you're scratching your head and wondering why such a man has an influential voice with the ATA, then you're not alone. His biography claims he has extensive training in "hearing loss coping skills", which is NOT that same as having training in neurology, audiology, or ENT. Seriously, if his works stress you out, note them but take then with a bathtub of salt. He doesn't seem to have any real education, training, or research in tinnitus relevant areas. As such, any evidence he may cite is possible interpreted incorrectly.

Please, let's drop this guy and his wacky ideas. Anyone who isn't trained in this area and wants to sell you his books is a snake oil salesman.

 

In my opinion, Neil Baumann is a scammer. I fell for his sales pitch in my earlier days. In his books, he lists almost all medications as being ototoxic. He has no medical or scientific qualifications.

Why has the ATA worked with him?? I don't know. Maybe ATA hasn't checked his background thoroughly enough.

 

He is full of it and is not a real doctor. That is as far as you need to look into him. He is a good marketer using fear to sell books and it’s wrong.

 

The fear is real for me - I am terrified of taking any drugs now that he and the ATA have that awful list of ototoxic drugs and it's making my life hell because I can't sleep and barely eat and have lost way too much weight. How do we know the REAL list of drugs to stay away from?

 

This is the list I was using as my main go to. It’s very concerning if it’s inaccurate and a fear mongering tool.

 

The average human being is very naive, that being it makes sense most people with tinnitus will also be naive.

Characters like Neil Bauman thrive off the stupidity of us as a collective. The ATA appointed him because they are a small, not very serious organization.

Neil Bauman is full of s**t.

 

I think he is mainly interested in profits from his e-book sales. I would take what he says with a grain of salt.

 

The thing is, many drugs CAN be ototoxic, over 700 are documented that way. But ototoxicity is an adverse side effect like all other side effects. You don’t avoid medications despite the potential for other adverse side effects do you?

Though I am not a physician. I advise you talk to your doctor about ototoxicity.

Here, this might be more helpful. Chemotherapy drugs and NSAIDs are the only consistent ototoxic drugs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ototoxicity

 

How many doctors accurately know about potential ototoxicity of medications?

 

A lot are pretty woke on the subject, at least compared to Neil Bauman and random anxiety cases from the internet.

 

Wow, am I glad I found this thread. I am 1 month into my whirlwind frenzy of trying to get INFORMED and hopefully CURED of this hellish condition and, yes, I actually have that Neil Bauman's list of ototoxic drugs printed out and sitting on my table for reference. And yes, I called my GP about the meds he has me on and probably have just pissed him off with misinformation. What a frikkin' stupid complication of an already maddening situation.

 

I rarely chime in on discussion boards but would like to offer my take on Neil Bauman.

My perception is that his many degrees, while not related to the practice of medicine, have made him a skilled researcher.

Many sections in his book on tinnitus read like well researched literature reviews, all appropriately cited (tho' admittedly I haven't yet looked at his sources directly). His research experience plus his hearing loss and personal experience with tinnitus appear to motivate his web site, books, and product sales.

So far, what I've read has been helpful to me. He writes clearly and makes the science behind his research easy to understand. Yes, it is hard not to get spun up about his long list of ototoxic drugs, but the published side effects on sites like WebMD for the several meds I've checked all include ringing in the ears. Perhaps posting a question on his blog about how he came up with the list would be helpful to those who want to know more, as he seems to answer most questions.

Honestly, my audiologist and ENT have totally failed to help me with tinnitus; at this point my confidence in what I'm learning from Bauman is far higher than what I've heard from those with medical training who should know far more than they do about the topic.

 

My main contention with Neil Baumann is that his written responses to people who have tinnitus is always the same, 'focus on the loves in your life'.

Ha! If it were only so simple. He never seems to offer any real advice on how to cope. For someone who developed hearing loss and tinnitus at such a young age maybe it is easier after so many years - I can tell you when tinnitus first strikes, it is not easy to 'get used to'.

 

I can tell you that I have met with two tinnitus experts (one an MD and one an Audiologist) ) who don’t put a lot of stock in what Neil Bauman has to say and find his overuse and inappropriate use of the word ototoxic infuriating. Just because someone reports ear ringing as a side effect of a medication does not make it ototoxic.

Ototoxic means it actually damages your hearing. If you look hard enough every single medication probably has one person who reported to the FDA that their ears started ringing while they were on the medication really whether the medication caused it or not. And then the FDA have to list it as a side effect.

My neurotologist said the same thing. He said almost every medication lists ear ringing as a side effect but most actually don’t cause tinnitus nor do they impact your hearing.

I think I saw one list Neil put together that listed Rogaine as ototoxic. My dermatologist got a great kick out of that one.

 

Maybe you rarely chime in because you just joined a couple of weeks ago, and this is your one and only post. A friend of Neil's, perhaps?

 

I have spoken to Neil Bauman at length. I am not a friend of his. My feelings are mixed.

I do not think he's motivated by money. He spends many hours trying to help those with tinnitus for free, including unpaid lengthy consults and extensive emails. He also actually doesn't make a lot of money on his books. And he has had severe hearing loss and tinnitus for most of his life.

He gets his info from published data on side effects. He estimates the degree of likelihood of the side effect by something like dividing the number of side effect reports by the number who experienced tinnitus.

He admits that his research is totally imperfect because the data is imperfect, in that it only includes those who have reported side effects. This could be high or it could be low, as many people have side effects from drugs that they never report.

Personally, I also check this website before taking any drugs, and the sad fact is that, for almost every drug, you can find a list of sincere sounding people on this website who say that their tinnitus got worse after taking the drugs. And my personal experience is that many (not all) drugs cause my tinnitus to get noticeably worse. So far, every spike goes back down. But a couple of times, that took months. Usually it's within a day or a few days. So I'm scared of all meds based on my personal experience.

Now whether that's technically ototoxic in that it causes actual damage to the ear -- I guess not. But it's relevant to me because any spike is terrible and I get very scared that it will not go back down.

I should say that there are some drugs that are known to be ototoxic. Obviously we should do everything possible to stay away from those. Right now, I may need an antibiotic in that class (Neomycin). And I'm basically just not taking it because it's for SIBO, with which you can live. Nothing but life or limb would be worth taking a known ototoxic drug to me.

But back to Neil Bauman. I guess my feelings are mixed because his website does scare me away from most drugs. And being honest there isn't good evidence based science behind what he's saying in most cases.

On the other hand, just like this website, on his website, you can read not just what he thinks, but what other people with tinnitus have experienced by way of their comments and questions. To me, that's relevant, because most doctors clearly don't know what I know I've experienced after taking many drugs, which is a clear spike in my tinnitus, which gets better after removing the drug.

One last thing is that he keeps records of what thousands of people have reported to him.

On balance, I think he's well-intentioned, personally experienced, caring, and knowledgeable. And focusing on "the loves of your life" is truly all we can do -- as much as that sucks.

 

I wonder if it is not more a case of a number of drugs worsening tinnitus if you already have it? But why? And are other sensory problems as widespread as side effects e.g. blurred vision, tingling sensations? Is tinnitus the equivalent of tingling limbs?

 

I agree with the comments regarding the medications. It appears that virtually all medications are ototoxic according to him.

It is my understanding that there are a very limited number of truly ototoxic drugs. People might believe that a drug is causing a worsening of their symptoms when it could be any number of other factors.

I took 2.5 mg of Lexapro for no longer than one week and developed hyperacusis. I doubt very seriously that it was caused by such a tiny dose for such a limited period of time. It is more likely the result of anxiety, significant sleep deprivation, the aging process, and playing very loud live music for decades without protection. The hyperacusis also did not go away after I stopped taking this medication.

SSRIs, however, do concern me now that I have hyperacusis and tinnitus. I take Mirtazapine during the day and it has a safer history in relation to auditory issues. There are people, however, who claim that it has adversely impacted them.

 

I think once the neural pathways of tinnitus are formed in the brain (moves from the ear to the brain), any alterations in brain chemistry will affect the tinnitus.

Many drugs I could take before tinnitus without any issue now spike it. I don't think those drugs are ototoxic, but they can alter tinnitus.

 

Tinnitus, as a phantom perception, has been compared to the phantom limb phenomenon.

 

@Juan - you are right, it is a phantom sound. But perhaps tingling is a phantom sensation...

 

Very insightful, kingsfan:

Prior to the onset of tinnitus I could take the antibiotic Azithromycin with no side effects.

I had bronchitis, and after telling the Doctor to please not prescribe anything that would aggravate my tinnitus, she prescribed this and my tinnitus was so spiked that I had to pull my car over while driving because I nearly lost control.

 

Yes, I can barely take any medications I took in the past. I can't even take something as simple as Flonase.

 

I agree. I notice this more than most because my tinnitus is unilateral. If the drugs were truly ototoxic, then they would damage both ears. I had that happen once, with Metronidazole. With the Metronidazole, my existing tinnitus in left ear was worse, but I also developed mild tinnitus in my previously silent right ear. Thankfully both ears recovered after maybe 8 weeks. But with most medications -- my left tinnitus ear gets much worse, and my right ear stays silent.

Not being able to take any medications without fear (and / or worsening tinnitus if you try) is a really terrible thing, especially when it comes to antibiotics because infections absolutely can kill you.

 

Yea these drugs may be acting on neurons that help with frontostriatal gating or something. So, while they aren't damaging hair cell/synapses they are opening the gates to allow your already existent tinnitus to flow through at an even greater rate.

 

If even one person reports tinnitus as a result of taking a medication or they perceive it as a result of taking a medication it has to be listed as a potential side effect.

I know there isn’t a lot of respect and love for ENTs on the site, but I can tell you that my ENT and my otologist have confirmed that very few medications are truly ototoxic.
I don’t think Neil Bauman does a very good job of distinguishing that. He lists every medication under the sun. Even topical Rogaine. My otologist had a good laugh over that one.

I think his intentions are good. As I understand it I think he’s a tinnitus sufferer himself. But his PhDs are not in any related medical field. I think one is in astronomy or something like that. I think he’s just done a lot of research and compiles information that I don’t think he vets for the medical community. I have met a few audiologists and other hearing specialists who are aware of him and they don’t consider him a credible source.

I would stick to what your physician recommends. I am very careful with medication myself although there are certain medication I do take. And I absolutely agree that the most doctors do not know what medication can aggravate tinnitus. I always check everything out with my ENT and I always ask other specialists to review medications for side effects (tinnitus) before prescribing.

 

I'm debating lately if spikes are actually caused by some of the medications or if it is my own anxiety creating the spike. I believe Dr. Nagler may be right and he has addressed this on here, that the amount you would have to take of some of these drugs to have an effect is exorbitant.

I'm currently on Amoxicillin for a purported bacterial infection and so far so good, mind you amoxicillin is not on the list. I do try to watch what I take, but it is getting to be overkill.

I also think the same could be said for "noisy" situations. I should not be getting a spike from a 77 dB restaurant. My own anxiety is causing issues.

Anyway, this Neil Bauman is a joker - his website says I can't get rid of my tinnitus because it makes me special and I don't want to get rid of the thing that makes me special. So it will never go away. Yeah okay.

 

Neil Bauman is a fool and complete twat. He feeds off the paranoia of tinnitus sufferers. He is not a medical professional.

Extermination is appropriate!

 

Hello @Nick47, I’ve had tinnitus for nearly 30 years and it was sooooooo loud at the beginning. It did take time, but I habituated and got better.

However, Neil Bauman has been a great help to me and I bought his books on hyperacusis and I found them excellent. He helps those that are struggling and he is a Christian like myself.

Can I say that I find you an insulting tw—t?

And I can’t be arsed with your negativity. And to those that are new to this forum, your posts are horrific. YOU are also no medical professional.

I have no time for your nonsense.

 

@Eleanor89, you are welcome to your opinion and so am I. I have not personally attacked you or anyone else for that matter here. I'm realistic and don't like to see people scammed, let down or misled. You will see I was over the moon with the trials from Michigan University and positive it will help a lot of people because there is EVIDENCE it will work. Why being a Christian, rather than any other religion or none, has any relevance, I'm not sure.

What I don't like is being preached to, whether by you or Neil Bauman. The latter is causing paranoia about 'ototoxic' drugs that people may need to take for other conditions, when there is no evidence they are ototoxic.

As for helping you, well, he may have.