Finally Joined After Making It Worse (By Med)

Hello people of the Tinnitustalk forum. I'm finally joining this forum after looking around for a couple weeks, and it seems like this place is pretty active.

It's a long story of bizzare symptoms to how I ended up with tinnitus and the doctors don't seem to have a clue of what is causing them including my tinnitus. But one thing is for sure: An SSRI called Escitalopram(Lexapro) tripled the loudness of my tinnitus and has persisted ever since. It used to be mask-able with a fan on, but now, it's so loud I can hear it even when I am taking a shower.

Here is a long timeline of what has happened to me so far:
(skip to the "In a Nutshell" section if you don't want to read)

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April 2015 (no tinnitus, but odd symptoms):
- Used Calcium Bentonote Clay + Apple Cider Vinegar as a facial acne treatment:
After 20 minutes of that stuff on my face, I felt light-headed and started hearing faint white noise in my ears.
- Next day morning:
1. Extreme brain fog (i couldn't even read)
2. Detatchment from reality (as if i was drunk)
3. Poor sense of balance
4. Migraine and confusion
5. Blurry/Tunnel Vision
6. Sensitivity to light

It just didn't make sense that a simple home remedy caused all of this stuff. I just assumed it was the low dose adderall I tried the week before because the symptoms were similar to what I experienced at the time.

- 3 days later, no improvement:
Went to university health center: A blood tests -> slightly over-active liver -> "you're fine, go see a psychiatrist"(a.k.a. I don't know what's wrong with you)

May 2015 (I HAVE TINNITUS?!?!?!)
- Took a 12 hour plane ride home to figure out what's wrong with me.
Went to my room. It was quiet... I noticed something.... I HAVE TINNITUS?!?!?!
It was a pretty faint high-pitched screech, and I could only hear it when it was quiet. But to describe it, it's the exact same kind of tinnitus sound you hear in movies and video games after gun fires.
(clip from TV series, Archer. warning: high pitch noise)

Archer deaf

- Went to ENT doctor: Hearing test & head MRI -> no hearing loss and MRI was clean -> gave me valium, ginko tablets, and digestive enzymes. Took them for 2 weeks. No help at all. But whatever. I was concerned about my other symptoms.

- Went to acupuncturist: "Your symptoms are similar to a patient I had. He woke up from a coma caused by carbon monoxide poisoning and had delayed neurological symptoms and brain fog. Maybe the gas you inhaled from the vinegar+bentonite clay poisoned you?" (this made kinda sense because i breathed through my nose only during that time and you could see bubbles coming out from the mixture. i know bentonite clay is made from volcanic ash, so maybe it was sulfur dioxide?).
-> he gave me detox pellets made of (ironically) sulfur and some other stuff -> no improvement over 2 week.

June 2015 (tinnitus worsened by med. FREAK OUT)
- Went to neurologist: "I don't think it's a neurological problem. Just take it easy for a couple months and you should be fine. Here is a good psychiatrist I know" (are you kidding me?)

- Went to psychiatrist: Filled out some personality examination form -> "It seems to me that you have depression & anxiety"(no shit sherlock. how would you feel if you had all these symptoms?) -> he gave me a low dose lexapro and I hesitated; I knew he had it backwards. My depressive mood isn't causing my symptoms. I'm feeling depressed BECAUSE OF the symptoms. But I've already hit rock bottom so it can't get worse right?
WRONG!!!!
I tried one dose that afternoon and took a nap and woke up to the loudest, most excruciating tinnitus ever. It basically amplified my tinnitus by x3. Not only that, but I also had hyperacusis and had jaw pain from teeth clenching from the med side-effect. I couldn't sleep properly for days and had thoughts of suicide because of the constant high pitched noise. I had to get sedated by my ENT doctor to get some sleep. Holy hell was it a nightmare. All my other problems became menial compared to my tinnitus at this point.

- Went back to psychiatrist: "Oh, it's probably not the lexapro. Let's try another SSRI med" -> I gave him the middle finger and left for good. Thank you for making my life even worse.

July 2015 (looking for tinnitus treatment)
- Went to another acupuncturist: "It seems that you have fatigue" -> therapy by acupuncture near ears and herbal medicine for 3 weeks -> No improvement at all

- Went to another ENT doctor: Same stuff as my last ENT doctor but gave an SSRI instead of benzo. Forget it. No way I'm taking one of those again.

- Went to back to neurologist: Gave 2 EEG tests and both came out normal -> "I think you should go back to the psychiatry department" (Christ... really? I'm not going back)

- Got tested for Lyme Disease: negative

Aug 2015 (to this day)
- My light sensitivity is 90% gone and my concentration level has somewhat recovered (slow reading). But my tinnitus and hyperacusis are still the same since I took lexapro. I've habituated a bit, but it's still hard not to think about it because it's so loud and high-pitched.

- Considering participation in AM-101 test and.... ARGH....... I dunno what to do. I never realized that modern medicine is still in the dark when it comes to the human brain and neurology.

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Wow.. I sure had a lot going on for the past couple months.. Didn't plan on writing this much.


In a Nutshell
- Not sure what caused my initially tinnitus but I think it was either apple cider vinegar + bentonite clay, adderal, or just stress.
- It was a very mild but high-pitched screech. I barely heard it. Constant morning to night.
- No hearing loss.
- Volume tripled when I took Lexapro(an SSRI med). Has not gotten better ever since.
- Occasional spikes in one side of ear (as if a fly was flying past my ear)
- Went to ENT, Neurologist, Accupuncturist. No improvements

Anyway, I hope to learn something from this forum and would gladly share any information I come across deeming to be useful to other users. Thank you for reading this unexpectedly long post.

 

I'm really sorry you're going through this and I agree that tinnitus makes all other problems shrink and seem like mild nuisances in comparison. I don't know why some meds make tinnitus worse but I would strongly suggest you go through the alt treatments thread - as many have tried drugs only to have severe spikes and I think that reading through it would help you find what to avoid.
I don't have anything I can say that will help you but I hope more experienced and knowledgable people on this website can share more insight, medically speaking.