Could the Combo of Two Antidepressants, Venlafaxine and Mirtazapine, Make My Tinnitus Worse?

Hi all,

I've been taking Venlafaxine for about 3 years, even prior to my spike 3 months ago, on a low dose of 35mg in the morning.

I think Venlafaxine is called Effexor in the US.

I got symptoms of MdBS in 2015 and this drug stopped it and I found coming off it brought the symptoms back, hence why I stayed on it.

Anyway... since my spike started I developed poor sleeping/insomnia so my doctor suggested 15mg Mirtazapine which I can take at the same time as the Venlafaxine, except Venlafaxine in the morning and Mirtazapine at night.

Now I've taken Mirtazapine before with no side effects to my tinnitus. Only side effect was it made me stupid and aggressive.

This time around I'm noticing I'm not getting the same knock out punch in terms of sleep, nor the aggressive/stupid effects but since starting I've noticed my 'new' tinnitus is more piercing and at night I get a sudden new piercing noise - almost as if it's a neuron that's part of the noise has been suppressed and, as the Mirtazapine wears off, it's suddenly unleashed like a madman.

Then it's time to pop a pill again and hope I sleep.

Mirtazapine doesn't list tinnitus as a side effect, so my GP says. I think Venlafaxine does but I never noticed any change.

But... could the combination of the two be a cause?

Prior to starting Mirtazapine I did get the occasional day of relative silence and at one point I had 5 days in a row where it was there but very much in the background.

Since doing Venlafaxine & Mirtazapine together I've not had one day since.

Going to give the Mirtazapine a miss tonight and see what happens.

Anyone any experience please?

 

Mirtazapine afffected my tinnitus and unfortunately made it worse. I think one of the reasons for me is is because it affects the H1 (histamine) receptor. Any antihistamine that I have ever taken made my tinnitus worse after two or three days.

It also may be because it works on serotonin. The reason I say that is because I noticed that two different medications that worked on serotonin gave me brief mild hyperacusis.

I doubt that most people would be affected by these drugs like I am but I figured I would respond. I hope your tinnitus goes down soon and you are able to figure out what the problem is.

 

only way to find out is to try it.

 

Allan for how long you’ve been on Mirtazapine before you noticed change in your tinnitus?

What dosage are you on?

I suspect Mirtazapine being the reason for my tinnitus through the roof. I started beginning of September last year and since beginning of December I’ve been in absolute hell!

Wish I never took this poison.

Now have to try get off it. If tinnitus doesn’t settle I’ll be a “goner” very soon!

 

Has it improved since you stopped? For how long were you on it?

 

I actually slept from 11 pm until 6 am... which is unheard of for me. Will see how my tinnitus is today.

 

15mg a night. I pretty much noticed it straight away. Hard to say if it increased, more the case that it stopped me getting any quiet time which I was getting beforehand but it always felt suppressed.

However I expect when this Mirtazapine gets out my system the tinnitus will be intense when it's intense and quiet when it's quiet, if you can get your head around the stupidity of that comment.

Stuck between having it constantly albeit quiet then gets ramped up as the day goes on and periods of some peace followed by savage return with a vengeance.

 

Oh yeah....when I stopped the Mirtazapine, the "increase" went away. I can't remember how long it lasted after the final dose but I don't think it was too long. I was on it around maybe late summer, early fall of 2013. I didn't take it for long...maybe a few weeks or so. When the increase happened, I was hoping it would go away but after a couple of weeks it didn't.

 

Slept like shit last night due to my bastard of a brain going into panic overdrive at midnight.

But today my tinnitus has been not bad. I await the return with a vengeance soon.

Went to the gym this morning to burn off that pesky adrenaline. Going again tomorrow, no matter what happens.