Diagnosed with Lyme Disease — Artemisinin Caused My Tinnitus and Clogged Sensation in Ears

Hi everyone.

I'm Kate and I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease this past May. Since starting a particular herb (Artemisinin), I developed a clogged sensation in my ears as well as tinnitus. I have recently stopped the herb but I'm afraid the tinnitus will never stop -- not sure that's realistic but I'm scared. It is extremely debilitating.

I went to an ENT a few weeks ago and according to the audiologist, I don't have any hearing loss and the ENT diagnosed me with Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, but I'm not sure if that's actually what's going on or not. I think the Lyme infection inflamed my middle ear and I think possibly the herb exacerbated that. In the meantime, I don't know what to do and I am extremely depressed. Lately, all I do is lay in bed and cry about this.

Thanks everyone,
Kate

 

Hi Kate,

I am so sorry this has happened to you.

I presume that you were attempting to treat babesia with the Artemisinin?

Do you have other coinfections? Are you working with a Lyme literate practitioner?

I used Artemisia twice in the start for Babesia, and experienced a subjective (temporary) increase in my tinnitus, that seemed to settle back to baseline after a few days of stopping it.

The prescriber, who was a Lyme literate naturopath was adamant that it wasn't responsible, but I did trial it twice, and replicated the same results. I haven't touched it since.

She insisted it was a 'Herx', but I disagree.

http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/herbs/artemisinin-worsened-my-tinnitus/#respond

Here, someone had written to Stephen Buhner (world renowned herbalist) about their worsening tinnitus with Artemisia. He acknowledged that Artemesia can exacerbate tinnitus, and suggested the use of SIDA ACUTA or ALCHORNEA CORDIFOLIA, or CRYPTOLEPSIS for Babesia treatment these days.

His first choice is Sida Acuta, and second, is Cryptolepsis.

Having said this, I wonder about the role of 'neuroinflammation' in your situation, as I know Lyme disease and Babesia can cross the blood brain barrier and cause havoc with our brains.

If this is the case, I wonder if you could trial some Curcumin (which is often indicated in Lyme disease anyway to offset the cytokine cascade)?

I hope you have stopped the Artemisia. As indicated above, Stephen Buhner no longer finds it as effective as other mentioned herbs anyway (which IMO, carry less risk of further exacerbating your tinnitus).

Which other infections are you treating, and what treatments are you currently doing?

Did you do an extended audiogram?

You probably know that from perusing this site, that audiograms are notoriously inaccurate, and not necessarily representative of your current hearing profile (aka: hidden hearing loss).

I know this is overwhelming and depressing.

You are dealing with two issues: Lyme disease and new onset tinnitus (which incidentally, could still resolve).

Stay connected here, and let me know how you get on. I am often here if you need ongoing support or information. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

You're not alone.

 

Hi Kate.

I'm sorry about your Lyme Disease. That seems like such a rough condition to have. My aunt has Lyme Disease but not tinnitus.

Have your doctors given you a prescription for antibiotics? If so, please be careful because antibiotics can cause tinnitus.

How have you been coping with your Lyme symptoms during quarantine? I hope that you've been holding up alright.

 

@DebInAustralia I'm not entirely sure how this site works so I hope I tagged you properly. I have actually seen that posting re: Buhner and Artemisinin and I actually asked him myself and he said that he'd heard of Artemisinin causing such issues and said it could take 2 weeks to 2 months to resolve; I hope he's right.

I was taking Artemisinin for cyst busting and a general parasite cleanse. I don't have symptoms of Babesia (occasional air hunger but nothing else so maybe that's from something else? I don't know). Anyway, the tinnitus and ear congestion started the day after (I'd taken 3 doses so = 750 mg all together).

I really hope it goes away because I feel literally debilitated like this.

 

@Rjbookworm thank you for your kind words. I have been struggling but am generally okay. <3 I hope this tinnitus issue resolves.

 

@Kmollls you're welcome. I found an article online that talks about artemisinin causing hearing loss. I'm going to link the article. I didn't know that certain herbs could cause tinnitus.

https://cen.acs.org/biological-chem...sinin-raises-hopes-fears-amid-COVID-19/98/i21

Hang in there. Sending good vibes and positivity your way.

 

Deb and others,

My tinnitus was brought on by Doxycycline. Are there any herbal remedies that anyone is aware of to help the brain and ears heal?

 

I have 2 missing otoacoustic emissions from my left ear (8 + 9 kHz); my right ear has them all intact. Audiogram/tympanogram all normal.

I also get these random bouts of long-ish fleeting tinnitus in my left ear that are extremely disconcerting (can last up to 45 minutes which is really scary for me).

Do you guys think this is related? Thanks in advance, as I get really anxious about these things.

 

Update: I’ve realized that the herbs and Lyme were unrelated!

 

?

 

My ear concerns weren’t actually from Artemisinin/Lyme in the end.