Hello from Canada!

Hello everyone,

I've been a sufferer of tinnitus since 2007. At the time, I had given birth to my daughter and suffered from post-partum depression. In December 2007, my left ear started hissing slightly after a dentist appointment (it was very faint) and things went crazy. I ended up in the ER where they prescribed LUVOX to me (SSRI). And then the tinnitus started and with every dose increase, it was louder and louder.

In January 2008, after taking LUVOX for a month, I quit. It was not making me feel better at all, I was having panic attacks and my anxiety level went throught the roof. The tinnitus decrease slightly but remained there. I was also having "reactive tinnitus" where it screams louder around TV, noises, outside, etc. The "reactive tinnitus" resolved on its own when I habituated.

I saw an ENT doctor in March 2008, did an audiogram and every test possible in Montreal, where I live. It turns out that my hearing was way above average (well, on the frequencies they tested) and I was given the usual "you have to learn to live with it".

I got back to work after maternity leave and it worked! I took some magnesium for a week and the sound lowered slightly. I learned to live with it and tinnitus, althought always there, was not bothering me AT ALL. Life was back to normal and I was happy. We went on vacation and I took the plane and everything was fine!

In May 2008, I got pregnant with my 2nd daughter. The tinnitus increased slightly but while pregnant, I felt "protected" by the baby and I didn't let it bother me. I gave birth in January 2009, the tinnitus increased for a week after the birth and then went down. Life was again, back to normal!

Everything was basically fine for 6 years (except that time in 2010 when I tad to take Cytotec - misoprostol for a miscarriage and the tinnitus increased for a week... fortunately, it went back to normal). Tinnitus was still there but I was completely ignoring it, ALL the time. I might have had spikes but I never noticed. I went to bed every night with not even a masking sound. I took Cipro (ototoxic drug) with no consequences, I drank coffee and had a normal life. I went to clubs & attended concerts, went to the Monster Trucks and I was ALWAYS protecting my ears with earplugs or earmuffs, even if it looked stupid.

For 6 years, I went throught a lot. A separation, a miscarriage, then a 3rd pregnancy all by myself, raising 3 kids on my own, working full time, going back to school, financial insecurity, etc etc. But throught it all, even though my stress level was high during those times, I never "listened" to my tinnitus. So maybe it spiked but I wouldn't know.

Fast forward April 2014. My left ear feels clogged and because of that, my tinnitus seems louder!! All of a sudden!! I went to see the doctor and she said my ear looked fine and said it must be a sinusitis. She gave me Biaxin and Nasonex, which I took of course. I thought Biaxin was a derivative of penicillin which I had taken previously with no side effects.

Boy, was I wrong!! After the first dose, I went deaf on the left and my tinnitus increased to levels I had never heard before...I couldn't hear anything, I was having vertigo, I puked bile, couldn't eat anything for 2 weeks... when my kids were screaming or crying, the ears would feel "full" and I would go deaf. I was hearing distortion when listening to music...

I did a quick search online: BIAXIN = OTOTOXIC. I stopped using it after 7 days (out of 10).

The symptoms resolved, the fullness of ears, the vertigo, nausea, etc. But the tinnitus evolved, when I stopped using the medication, the tinnitus increased again to the point where nothing masks it anymore. The "reactive tinnitus" is back full force and I hear a morse code as well. The sound has changed to a waterfall to screeching and the fan no longer masks it at night.

My quality of life is gone and I feel hopeless. I was having such a good life and living normally after struggling so hard to habituate in 2008. Why now is it back? Will it increase again in the future? I'm only 31 years old and I feel my life is over. Magnesium doesn't lower it like it did in 2008.

I'm sad and I wonder if life will ever be normal again. I hate myself for not checking Google before taking Biaxin. I would have avoided so much crap.

Thanks for reading,

Anne-Marie, from Montreal, Canada

 

Hi there!

Read my posts, some of your symptoms are quite similar to mine! Be careful with noise exposure meanwhile!
Have you done a new hearing test? Does the distortion remains? Do you notice any change in speech?

 

Sorry to hear what happened to you. You have severe tinnitus now. Try not to make it worse because I found that with mine - first a fan couldn't mask it, then a tv, then a busy street, then a diesel bus engine and so on...
Tinnitus can get worse but your reaction to it can get better - that's all I can say about that.
Don't worry though, Autifony will save us

 

My spike seems to be calming down. I woke up this morning with my T back at the old level but throughout the day, it seemed to ncrease and tonight, it's loud.

I wanna go back to my old life!! The one where I had T and NEVER thought about it!!

 

Oh good news, your tinnitus might go back to what it was

 

@ampumpkin So how long had you had this spike? In the list of ototoxic drugs Biaxin is ototoxic if given intravenously and if one has insufficient kidney function...you've taken it orally, give it time it will go down again. Keep us updated!

 

Well, that's a great beginning. Your brain is going back to baseline.

You know what to do: don't listen to it; keep busy; stay positive; get plenty of sleep, etc.

I'm sure you'll be back to normal, but let your brain continue to heal. If you monitor your tinnitus, you'll give it an importance that it does not deserve. Apathy. That's what your tinnitus needs. It needs to be ignored--even when it's loud. This will retrain your brain to also ignore your noise.

 

@Petloy the spike has been going on since the the beginning of May.

I'm thinking that maybe, it is just like before except that I "listen" to it so it seems louder.

You guys are awesome. Seriously. Thank you for your kind words.

 

Hang in there.huggs!

 

Bless you, I pray for us all. Love Ruben

 

Ya, I took a massive hit from BIAXIN as well. Lesson learned, and it didn't even fix the problem. Ended up being adult whooping cough that took 3-4 months to get over. Thanks Doc's.

Mine is like putting my head next to an old school crt tv, with a pitchy sound tacked to the end of it. Hard to explain, but mine was and still is reactive. It was worse before, and has gotten better. I even notice that when I wake up its much better than when I go to sleep.

Also hello from the other side of Canada.