Developed Acute Tinnitus Six Weeks Ago — Wondering What My Options Are. Thank You.

What's the word on dosing for prednisone? Start dose? Does it increase or decrease over time? How long?

 

My doctor told me that the rule of thumb is X mg per day, where X = your weight in kilograms = 2.2*your weight in lbs. The standard course is 14 days + tapering.

I had experienced several acoustic shocks (e.g., slamming door, etc.) As a result of scarcity of prednisone pills, I would just take 3 50 mg pills, over the course of three days. I ended up not having a spike.

 

Gotcha. Now, that's 14 days of the full dose, then a taper, or immediately begin the taper?
I will be speaking with my ENT tomorrow morning about beginning a regimen of Pred and Ami. Let's hope (A) it's not too late to help me and (B) It actually helps me.

 

After you finish taking the full dose for two weeks, begin the taper.

 

Quoting a conversation I had with my folks:
"I need a 14 day supply of 30mg of Prednisone and a taper pack!"- "You'll be fine with just a taper!"
"I need 50 mg of Ami for the first week and 100 mg per night the next five weeks!"- "Here's some mirtazapine! Take only 15 mg per day tho lol."
Part of me hopes they end up with severe tinnitus so they can understand how I feel when they drag their feet on the prescription, give me weak doses of off-brand drugs, etc.

 

Is it the case that you have a friend who can write prescriptions? Or is this just your family doctor?

 

You can try finding the research papers that describe the use of amitriptyline to treat T and show it to that person.

 

They said they will help me on the ami. But all I get for pred is a taper pack.

 

At the very least they could have given seven 50 mg prednisone pills to you...

 

At least they didn't deny prednisone to you within 48 hours of the onset of your T (when it would have a relatively high chance of helping). When you take it within two weeks of onset, it is less effective, so you haven't lost that much...

 

It's been almost eight weeks.. (they also denied me pred so I had to go through a friend on this one)

 

If you can always get some pred, then that's ok. Otherwise, consider saving this pred for the time when you are unfortunate enough to be around a loud noise...

 

I am around loud noises all the time. Today my tinnitus was set off and went from a 5/10 to a 7/10 from being near an electric saw for about 10 seconds.

 

I suggest that you change that.

It took a fraction of a second to ruin 2017 for me.

 

Does HBOT work?

 

Depends on who you ask. I'm not shelling out 3k for the procedure though.

 

I'm taking your advice seriously. I told my boss I was taking the rest of the day off and didn't know when I could come back in for work as I was dealing with medical issues. Not sure how I managed to finesse that but w/e. Not like I need the job, just had it to please my folks.

I've had good results with the medication so far. I think the prednisone has been a massive help. The Meri also seems to be helping.

Yesterday I woke up and had a remarkable 40+ minutes of little or no T. Had some after that, but it didn't come near baseline until someone decided to do some work with an electric saw as I was walking by. Even near baseline, I was able to sleep on my side again! The T now sounds more like a laser (or a computer fan noise with someone skipping their fingers off of it) and is definitely easier to ignore. Might just be wishful thinking as I've only been on the drugs two days. But it's working.

 

That's phenominal. Take a break and stay in quiet for a while. There's a very good chance you will recover I'm sure.

 

@threefirefour might have something to do with the fact that I just finished finals for the semester and might be a NEET next semester. Lots of time to relax suddenly and the brain begins to calm down. Although it doesn't fully explain why the recovery (if we can call it that yet) didn't seem to start happening at any point in the last eight weeks (and infact got worse).

 

Want to give a few updates about my treatments.

So I've weaned off the pred and the mertazapine. I can safely say there has been a significant decrease in my tinnitus and my hyperacusis as well. I can partially ignore my tinnitus until I am somewhere quiet, and it's really only bothersome because naturally I gravitate towards quiet situations. I can actually wear headphones again! I would say that if you are curious about these drugs, both are worth a try, however I took both at once, see which works better for you. For the record it has been 10 weeks since I have had moderate tinnitus (some days severe) and there was no improvement prior to medication. I would still say it is a 6.5/10, however it can come down towards 5 on certain days.

The Mert did not do its work without side effects. I began having difficulty staying awake during the day and I put on 15 lbs (mostly worked off).

Next I will be trying Gabapentin and NAC. Both will be taken on their own to see what works.

 

Consider never using headphones again, even at low volume. Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/isnt-it-ok-to-use-headphones-even-at-low-volume.25287/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/search/2011950/?q=headphones&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1

 

Please never use headphones or earbuds again.

 

i dont use headphones but aren't all of the sound therapies out there basically ipods with special headphones?

 

Got the ami today. Will start with 2 25mg tablets tonight at bed, then after the New Years 4 25 mg tablets.

 

Two days in on Gabapentin and Amitriptyline. True to form I took both at once. 50mg per night of Ami and 300 per day of GP. Will double the dose come next Tuesday as planned.

No noticeable changes in either direction. But damn, have I had some headaches in the past 48 hours. Which is odd because I haven't had any headaches in months that I can remember. Some moderately bad, some definitely worse. Current is almost migraine-tier.

 

Wow just wow.
What an incredibly informative thread!

 

try HBOT and predisone, there are the only two treatments may work, although they didnt work on me.

 

I will be trying Pred again. Both times I was given the taper pack I noticed a remarkable change. However the docs here have been reluctant to give me the full course (30 mg per day, 2 weeks, followed by taper pack) for whatever reason.

HBOT I am kind of iffy on. It isn't covered by insurance here (my understanding) and to pay with cash is prohibitively expensive.

 

The full dose is 1 mg per 1 kg of body weight...

You might try going to different ER rooms. You might get 5 pills at each ER, so you would have enough prednisone in no time. Keep in mind that it is not particularly effective if you take it long after your initial acoustic trauma.

 

So 80 mg? Holy crap, and there was a noticeable effect just on the taper pack. How am I going to convince them an 80 kg man needs 80 mg per day?