Concerned About Doctor-Prescribed Antibiotics Potentially Worsening Tinnitus After Mouth Infection Diagnosis

[mandyc]

Hi, I'm looking for some help with this. I went to the doctor yesterday for another issue, but I also asked for a mouth swab because I thought I might have thrush. I got a phone call saying I have an infection and that there's a prescription for antibiotics (two weeks' worth) waiting for me. The doctor is out of the office today, so I can't speak to him until tomorrow, but I don't want to start taking them yet. I don't feel like I have an infection, and everywhere I look it says that antibiotics can make tinnitus worse.

Has anyone here had to take antibiotics and found that it didn't make their tinnitus worse, or if it did, that the spike didn't last too long?

Thanks.

 

[Resin]

About six months ago, I had a severe arthritis flare-up and also developed sepsis. I had to stay in the hospital for five days. They gave me large doses of antibiotics, and I was prescribed a seven-day course to take after being discharged. I was very worried about my tinnitus and hyperacusis, but neither was affected. I didn't think to ask what type of antibiotics they were.

Dr. Nagler made a post on his old website about which antibiotics to avoid. The site has been taken offline recently, but you can still find it in an archived version here.

 

[Badger55]

Hello. I took Nystatin for thrush for a week, and it did not cause a spike in my tinnitus. Good luck.

 

[GregCA]

I've taken antibiotics in the past without any change to my tinnitus. There's a range of ototoxicity among antibiotics.

Aminoglycosides have been reported to cause ototoxicity (see here), so I'd avoid those if possible.

Since you had your mouth swabbed, the antibiotic was probably chosen to target the bacteria found in that sample. What antibiotic were you actually prescribed?