Could Prozac (Fluoxetine) Negatively Affect My Tinnitus and Visual Snow?

The worsening of my tinnitus last November has been the most difficult experience I've ever had. My mild, near silent tinnitus, became loud and inescapable with the exception of a loud fan or the shower. (I was also sick with the flu, which didn't help.)

My tinnitus has softened a bit since then (hoping for it to get back to the way it was before, but I'm not holding my breath.) but the stress of it all, including my new Visual Snow, made me relapse into my depression and anxiety. I think I have a bit of phonophobia as well.

I've started seeing a therapist again which has helped a bunch, but she wants me to start taking Prozac again. I took it the first time I sought treatment for my mental illness.

But since it seems that every medication under the sun give someone somewhere a spike in their tinnitus, I have my worries.

As I said, I took Prozac for awhile some years ago. It was 20 MG (as is my current prescription.) This was after I got my tinnitus for the first time, and it never effected it. If not for Prozac, to be honest, there's the very real possibility that I wouldn't be alive to write this post. Since my tinnitus has worsened, does that mean it could affect my tinnitus differently? Could it make my Visual Snow worse?

I haven't taken any yet, and I really think it would help me along.

I brought this concern up to my psychiatrist and she said it wasn't likely, but I just want to be sure.

 

@aot

Yes, Prozac could negatively affect your tinnitus, but that doesn't mean it will. Taking any drug is always a risk.

Fluoxetine (Prozac) and another drug caused my tinnitus, and it may well be making my tinnitus worse than it would be if I didn't take the drug. Therefore I am gradually tapering off of it (hopefully).

You have to make the decision on whether to take the drug or not. Personally, I feel they do more harm than good in the long run.

 

Nobody will be able to answer this question, no DR, no psychiatrist, that is because medications have different side effects on all of us. I was given an antidepressant medication 20 years ago when I first got tinnitus, it did not exacerbate my tinnitus but it caused me other unpleasant side effects several months after taking it, so I ceased it luckily without any problems.

I was given another antidepressant 9 years ago that was marketed to help with menopausal symptoms and after one week on this drug I got an extra buzzing noise in my head, I ceased the drug immediately and the extra buzzing stopped, but it was enough to scare me.

Many people take antidepressants without any trouble, but then there are plenty of people on this forum that account their tinnitus being caused by these drugs. They are powerful medications and should not be taken without knowing that there are risks involved with them.

Only you should decide if they are right for you though, psychiatrists are often quick to suggest drugs to their patients. Personally, I would try and cope without them, look into natural alternatives to boost your mood, exercise helped me a lot in this regard.

 

Updating this thread since I really need help.

Yesterday I was diagnosed with moderate PTSD, which in hindsight is rather eye opening.

Every time I there's even slightly loud and unexpected noise, like a slammed cabinet or a flushed toilet or a sound from nephew's game, I begin to damn near hyperventilate.
I snap at my family for the smallest infractions even though they're trying their best.

I can live with my tinnitus and visual snow (both have improved, aside from a recent tinnitus spike and the occasional visual snow flare up.) But my hyperacusis, TTTS, phonophobia, and general shitty attitude is actively ruining my life. As if 2020 wasn't bad enough. It's so hard to look forward to anything anymore.

I need a medication or something to help with depression/PTSD. I have been neglecting my health and I'm not sure how much longer I can do it.

Anything? I'm really struggling here.

 

I'm in a related boated in that I am desperate to treat my mental health, but find that the medications make my condition worse. I have recently started taking mirtazapine. Unfortunately, my improvements from tinnitus and hyperacusis have stalled dramatically. I am not sure if this is just from long-term damage or if the medication is playing a role. My tinnitus is definitely a little worse. However, I otherwise like the drug a lot. My sleep is much better and my depression is at least improved. The nice thing about this drug is that it can be taken in low doses. I had my doctor prescribe 7.5mg and I still cut the pills in half. I can definitely see this drug helping with PTSD. I'm sort of in and out of the PTSD phase in that, when I'm feeling better, I have PTSD, but when I'm feeling worse, I go back into "survival" mode and the PTSD is less.

 

I also take Mirtazapine, about 2 months in. I am always tempted to stop it to see what effect it would have on my tinnitus, but I honestly have no idea - it could even get worse without it. It’s hard to know.

 

Have you tried Acetyl L-Carnitine?

 

Thanks, Zug. Glad to hear that you're improving, even if only a little. Hopefully your spike is temporary. If your hyperacusis allowed it, would it be maskable at all? Also, do you have visual snow?

I have not.

 

Sorry to hear this @aot, you are one of the good guys.

First, have you got your diet dialed in, and are you doing cardio exercise? If you haven't, do so ASAP. Exercise and getting on a more healthy diet have helped me loads.

I'm with you on being hypervigilant to sounds. I've been blasted by a car alarm and a very loud unmuffled car in the last two days, and it's keeping me aware of my fragile hearing at all times. Plus, I'm around my screaming kids day in and day out. All we can do is protect, but I don't think hiding away is the answer either.

As for taking medication, if you haven't go your exercise and diet dialed in already I would hold off until you have. See how they work first. I am not anti-drug, but why take a drug if you can be helped in other ways is what I say.

Are you working? What do you do with your time?

 

I had some improvement in mood and general well being on 1200mg ALCAR. Not like night and day, but if you want to give supplements a shot before meds I’d say it’s worth a try.

I can’t take AD’s without skyrocketing tinnitus so they aren’t an option for me.

 

My hyperacusis is so severe (can't whisper, take off earmuffs, be around any sound at all) that it overrides my tinnitus suffering. My life is so reduced that I don't even know how intrusive the tinnitus alone would be otherwise. I have very reactive tinnitus, but again, my hyperacusis is so bad that I have to avoid like 30+ dB noises so it's hard to tell how bad it really is under normal circumstances. All evidence says that if I lived normally, my tinnitus and hyperacusis would go bananas and I would have setbacks that would last for months. Months ago, I did an experiment where I played 40 dB music for a couple hours just to see what would happen. It made my hyperacusis 100x worse and I still haven't recovered from it.

Fortunately, I do not have visual snow.

None of this is to minimize tinnitus, as I have it severe enough to picture a life of hell with only tinnitus and no hyperacusis. But damn, severe hyperacusis -- when LDLs creep into like the 10-20 dB range -- is something I wouldn't wish upon an enemy.

 

Wow. Makes me feel so silly that I'm complaining. So sorry to hear of your struggles.

I take NAC in the mornings without food (as recommended on the bottle) and Magnesium Citrate at night. I might stop taking NAC though as I think might be making me sick.

Do you know of any supplements that help with mood and irritability?

Dude, my diet is absolute trash. I'll have to get better with that. As for exercise, I walk quite a bit.

I do have a part time job at Walmart as a personal shopper. I protect whilst there, excluding my breaks. Aside from that I read, watch TV, play video games.

I want to socliaze more, but COVID-19 aside, my phonophobia makes that difficult. My hyperacusis is mild, especially in comparison to others on here. Seriously, if someone like @Zugzug could experience my hyperacusis, they would be 100% justified in punching me in the throat for being so whiny.

If my tinnitus, hyperacusis, and visual snow would stay at this level, never improving or worsening for the rest of my life, I would be content. But that they can get worse, perhaps even permanently so, is the biggest factor in my torment.

 

I tried Paroxetine for a while and it helped with my mood and anxiety derived from extreme hyperacusis. But it will not solve hyperacusis or tinnitus, just they way you look at it, your attitude about it.

 

I don't think you (or others) are whiny at all. I've had severe hyperacusis brewing for 15 months now. At the beginning, my LDL's were in the 70 range. I cried nonstop and was frightened beyond belief. It's sickening, but I have adapted to it so much. Now I don't cry nearly as often.

Hyperacusis of any kind is extremely torturous. Even people with LDL's in the 60's have a severe disability.

 

Sorry, no I don’t have experience with any others. But ALCAR has been studied in relation to depression.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5795963/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3607061/

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-n...o-low-blood-levels-of-acetyl-l-carnitine.html

I actually tried it off @mrbrightside614 making a comment that it’s a “Swiss army knife” of a supplement.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/l-carnitine#brain-health

How long have you been taking the magnesium supplement? I’m certainly not in the majority, but magnesium seems to aggravate my hyperacusis quite a bit. Maybe see if laying off the magnesium helps with the hyperacusis.

 

Have you ever heard of Chloe Sohl? I appreciate it is tangential but I remember reading about a case of autoimmune induced tinnitus which was greatly helped via the use of intravenous stem cells. I believe she is mentioned on here, which is a website of a former user who used stem cells / Trobalt to improve his condition.

 

I've read so much over the past year, but I don't believe I've seen this. Thank you. I will probably look more into this if all else fails. Wasn't Trobalt discontinued in June, 2017?

 

@GBB:

To add to my last post, Dr. Thanos Tzounopoulos, from the University of Pittsburgh, received a massive endowment to continue researching a drug that is an improved, tinnitus-specific modification of Retagabine. Tinnitus Talk has a podcast on it here.

There's a lot of hype of FX-322, and rightfully so. I think this research could be a dark horse (although, judging by the endowment, perhaps not so much of a dark horse) game changer.

 

Ya, I only know the details of her case superficially but I think she had auto immune induced hearing loss and stem cells helped - the Trobalt was used by someone else (not auto immune induced) and I just mentioned it for context.

 

I forgot to include the thread link with others mentioning magnesium as possibly aggravating their hyperacusis.

Magnesium Supplements = Making Hyperacusis Worse?

 

Well get your diet sorted. I feel way better eating cleaner and getting plenty of omega 3s. That said, when things are bad I tend to eat trash as comfort food, but I'm trying to cut it out. Even if you eat clean 4-5 days a week it's a start.

You're not being whiny! This thing affects people in different ways. But try not to take it out on your elderly parents too much. Your parents probably have enough stress in life, and seeing their son all stressed out won't help. But don't bottle it up, and instead come on here to let it all out.

I'm the same: it's the anxiety of knowing it could all get much worse. But hey, you could drop dead tomorrow in a car crash. Somehow though we can put that thought to the back of our mind as we know it's unlikely, but with tinnitus already being present, it's a constant reminder of how things could get worse.