Hyperacusis Cured/Reduced by Clomipramine

I'm now on 150 mg of Clomipramine. I even got Gabapentin. I'm on 900 mg of that. I basically said fuck it and added the Gabapentin since it's been reported that a combo of Clomipramine and Gabapentin enhance their effects. Also some people with hyperacusis have reported that Gabapentin has helped them.

Honestly I don't give a fuck. I'll try any meds. I'm in great shape overall. I work out everyday. Eat only from home. So far the only side effects are mild dry mouth, slightly lower sex drive (it's harder to ejaculate), and a drop in blood pressure when I stand up. I'm not worried about ototoxicity because I've taken a lot of pills in my life and they never gave me tinnitus or hyperacusis.

Sadly though, there have been no noticeable improvements or worsening so far. But sometimes these meds take weeks or even months to kick in though. I'm a bigger guy. 6'3, 200 pounds. So yeah...

I really think that if you have tried every other remedy or are just super impatient with your hyperacusis and it's ruining your life, you should try Clomipramine. There's just so many anecdotal reports of it resolving hyperacusis, as you can see with OP's story. Even my most recent ENT suggested a tricyclic antidepressant, Nortriptyline, based on research her hospital did into tinnitus and hyperacusis (they think it's caused by migraines, therefore a TCA can help somehow).

The key is, like I've posted many times in this forum, is to be only eating from home. No processed foods, seed oils, or excess sugar. I follow the carnivore diet. One member, @Marin, said she saw improvements on the carnivore diet along with homeopathy and CBT. If you asked me, I'd say carnivore was a huge reason why she recovered from severe hyperacusis.

I'm actually surprised carnivore hasn't healed my hyperacusis since it works so well for everything else (it reduced my chronic nerve pain, back pain, dizziness, and depression).

One guy in this thread said he got heartburn and stuff from a low dose of Clomipramine and couldn't get past 7 days on it. I'm 100 percent sure he eats a lot of seed oils and there's already a lot of daily inflammation in his gut from toxic food. Add in a strong medication, and you're going to be more vulnerable to side effects than someone who doesn't have a lot of inflammation going on.

Then make sure you're exercising everyday at least for 20 minutes. Most people with hyperacusis can't go to the gym. That's why I just work out from home. It sucks doing situps all the time on my bedroom floor but it keeps me feeling strong at least, along with all the protein that I get from the carnivore diet. To be clear -- I don't think that exercise actually helps tinnitus and hyperacusis directly. I worked out religiously for months when I had mild H and I still got worse. But it definitely helps keep the body strong overall.

If you can do that, you might not be as vulnerable to the side effects. Also you don't need to be 100 percent carnivore. Animal based is fine. The point is to get at least 100g of protein a day from animal meat (the most absorbable kind of protein for humans). So have meat with every meal.

I'm a strong believer in the carnivore diet. It changed my life when I found it in January 2022. Besides -- protein is like the #1 nutrient life needs to build upon itself. You can't heal well without protein.

Hopefully my next update will show success from 150 mg of Clomipramine and 900 mg of Gabapentin.

 

Just got 10 mg of Clomipramine from my GP. I'll hope to increase the dose over time. I will post updates if it improves my hyperacusis.

 

OK so I started Clomipramine 6 days ago. I skipped one day, so 5 doses. I absolutely hate this drug. Makes me feel like I'm sick, I feel confused and it's bad for my sleep. Tinnitus and hyperacusis are worse than they were a week a go.

Thinking about quitting, I'm only on 10 mg I don't see how I can increase the dose.

 

I tried Clomipramine back in the 90s, but I had to stop because the side effects were too severe. The side effects may have diminished over time, but it was just too much for me during the first week. It was really just an experiment to see if it would help with my obsessive/compulsive tendencies.

 

Any reports on Clomipramine improving tinnitus? I have OCD and thus would be convenient for me.

 

Unfortunately I have not seen such reports.

 

OK, after a week's break from Clomipramine, I'm going to give it one final shot. This time straight to 20 mg on the off chance there are different effects at different doses.

 

I'm now on 200 mg of Clomipramine and 2400 mg of Gabapentin.

So far, no noticeable effects on my hyperacusis. My tinnitus fluctuates a lot now though. It can be less intense at times.

But I've decided that I really don't give a fuck anymore and will take any non-narcotic medication to escape this fucked up condition.

I will add in Skelaxin (non-narcotic muscle relaxer) and Flomax (alpha blocker) if Clomipramine and Gabapentin don't work.

The reason why I'll try these is because of what the Norena paper says about TTTS and hyperacusis, seen here (I believe my hyperacusis is caused by TTTS since I don't have any noticeable hearing loss or balance issues):

An Integrative Model Accounting for the Symptom Cluster Triggered After an Acoustic Shock

I will go up to the highest possible dosages on all meds.

I understand there have been comments on this forum about the side effects of drugs. But honestly I'm not sure what could be much worse than being unable to participate in 99 percent of social activities lol.

 

Just wanted to add to this thread.

I actually had a psychotic episode from mixing too many meds. I was on close to 3,000mg of Clomipramine, Gabapentin, and Lyrica. I think I went into serotonin syndrome.

It was actually fun for about 36 hours. But the come down was rough. Plus I was scared a lot during the trip. I didn't sleep much for 3 days. I even went to the ER out of an abundance of caution. I ended up taking 3mg of Ativan to help me come down.

Long story short -- it was stupid to mix so many meds. I thought "more is better". But sometimes less is more lol. I am now back on only Clomipramine. I may stay here for a while.

I definitely didn't get worse from the mixing of meds, which is good. Overall, it was definitely stupid to do what I did. I don't recommend it lol.

I am now spending way more time in silence. It's day 7 of near silence for me. I'm wearing muffs 24/7 in my room. I'm hoping a combination of just Clomipiramine and silence will heal my noxacusis.

BE CAREFUL WITH MEDS, PEOPLE! Lol.

 

I used to take 25 mg Amitriptyline and it helped my delayed burning pain slightly.

Today I bought Clomipramine from one pharmacy (luckily they don't ask for prescription). I will start tonight, then report about my progress after at least 6, maybe even 8 weeks.

I used to have some good improvement in my hyperacusis last year, I was even able to visit bars a few times but unfortunately at New Year's celebrations a firecracker exploded near me and I didn't have ear protection. Now I'm at severe level so I will try Clomipramine.

I just hope it won't make my tinnitus worse because I already have spike after taking Sildenafil. It used to be 2/10, now it's 5-6/10.

 

Good luck. I'm dry fasting now for my hyperacusis. it's helping I think.

 

Hey, how much did your tinnitus worsen from the first day you got tinnitus, til before the COVID-19 increase?

Was it a minor increase over the 20 years?

 

Hey. I could only hear one tone in complete silence around bedtime when my tinnitus started.

I think that in the first few years (probably about 5 years) noisy events led to tiny increases, though I wasn’t even totally sure if my tinnitus was worsening. But later I started to notice that it was getting exponentially worse. The same noisy events were causing more and more damage (much louder tinnitus) which eventually also led to new tones.

The last 10 years I tried to protect my ears as much as possible. I pretty much had to stop attending loud events as earplugs didn’t help much in my case.

I heard 2-3 tones most of the day before my COVID-19 shot.

 

Hello. Any updates/success stories with Clomipramine?

I've had tinnitus for 8 months, loudness hyperacusis for 6 months, and now I am having increasingly more frequent signs of pain hyperacusis/noxacusis onset. Burning feeling inside the ear canal, appearing with a delay after an increased period of exposure to sound. I am going to further limit exposure to sounds (without overprotecting, which I have not been doing anyway), but I am wondering if I should try Clomipramine to stop this bullshit from getting worse.

 

I started Clomipramine 45 days ago after seeing this post here (and lurking long enough to make myself freak out over antidepressants when they can actually help).

I started with 25 mg/day and am now on 100 mg/day.

My hyperacusis disappeared from my right ear and I am now 70% recovered on the left ear. I can do everything at home without protection. I also go to the gym again and I do that without any protection (avg 60-65 dB, not so loud). My tinnitus faded about 40% during this period, which was the best bonus ever. I believe this is because some aspects of my tinnitus were amplified by the hyperacusis.

I really recommend it. I got my life back and I am forever grateful for that. There's quite a few bothersome side effects, especially in the first three weeks. But now I can cope with all of them. Dry mouth & constipation are the only things I have to deal with nowadays. Sex drive is normal again, but it was an issue early on.

The depression also got kicked in the ass and I enjoy my days so much now. I really appreciate every new step I take into this new life. Hoping I can be completely free from this nightmare soon!

If you have questions, I'd be more than happy to answer.

 

Thank you @wiektor. Was/is your hyperacusis loudness or pain, or both?

 

I had severe loudness hyperacusis. Never felt real pain. The phone speakers used to give me this piercing feeling though. But that's all.

I was homebound for almost 2 months and showering with earmuffs. Couldn't talk for a month. It was that bad!

 

Thank you, @wiektor. How did you get it? Noise? Acoustic trauma? Do you have tinnitus? Bad? Any changes in it? Thank you!

 

At first I thought it was Mirtazapine, because my tinnitus came "out of the blue" and that was the only new thing in my life. Then I remembered hammering a metal shelf together 4 days before the onset (metal against metal). And a lifetime of adventures around the globe with several 3-day festivals, concerts, and loud nightclubs in my early 20s. I don't know how I didn't get tinnitus before, really.

So I'm pretty sure it's noise-induced. I did discontinue Mirtazapine with a taper and it didn't revert the tinnitus, obviously.

I got my tinnitus mid April. It was 100/10 in the first 2 months, I didn't have peace a single second. Sharp, piercing high-frequency tinnitus over any sounds, completely unmaskable. I was avoiding antidepressants because I had lurked here too long and just suffered with other people's horror stories.

Month 3 I started getting a hiss in the morning, like a static noise. I'd have the piercing drill again after a couple of hours. Averaged 7/10. I was still avoiding antidepressants and help.

Month 4 is when I started getting silence for the first minutes of the day. Static for a few hours, piercing sounds for the last 5 hours of a day. Tinnitus was 6/10 here. I started Clomipramine sometime in this period after speaking and thinking of suicide 24/7: I couldn't look at knives or scissors without thinking of doing something stupid. My partner was about to take me to the psychiatric ward because I was not myself anymore. So, following my family and partner's advice (finally), I went on an antidepressant.

Month 5 (current one): I get some good hissing mornings most of the time, and my tinnitus disappears when in public or hanging out in my balcony. I'd still call it 3-5/10 in average, because at night it is very loud. But I can tell it's getting less powerful with every month, if just a bit. This was the period where I saw it change the most. Sometimes I hear it over conversations, sometimes not.

I am 90% habituated to my tinnitus now, even when it spikes. Habituation at this stage was only possible with Anafranil (Clomipramine). It helped my brain identify/tag the tinnitus as just a (loud) sound. And it put it in the background of my attention. I don't talk to my loved ones about tinnitus and hyperacusis anymore. They are not the center of my life and my friends appreciate that too. I felt like I was a broken disk that couldn't play any other repertoire to my friends. It's insane how obsessed I was with tinnitus. No wonder Clomipramine was a miracle to my mind: It's a first-line treatment for severe OCD! I'll stay on it for 1-2 years according to my psychiatrist.

Hyperacusis appeared a day after the tinnitus. The first bout of hyperacusis was bad as well but it was slowly getting better (I didn't want to protect too much) until a stupid ENT doctor did a Tympanometry test with 100 dB beeps. That made me housebound a day later, plus intolerance to any kind of digital sounds in any volume. I suffered for 1 month in complete silence, barely talking to my partner and anyone (isolated, no WhatsApp even). I had abandoned life. I spent about 2.5 months homebound.

All those issues are slowly fading, even if the tinnitus decides to stay. I pray it becomes pure static/white noise! That'd make a few things easier =)

 

@wiektor, thank you so much for a detailed reply. I'm very happy that you are feeling so much better after starting on Clomipramine.

I just got prescription for it yesterday to my surprise. I met a new doctor, explained my issues, and while Clomipramine would not be his choice, given my claims about helping with hyperacusis and the fact I am maybe OCD-like obsessed about the tinnitus, he prescribed it. He asked me to do an EKG first before starting it (he said it is a routine for these drugs).

However, just earlier today I found these very recent reports and now I am not sure I want to get started on it:

• "I decided to try Clomipramine after suffering with 6 months of loudness hyperacusis. 1 week into my 25 mg course I developed extreme noxacusis in my left ear. I can’t say for sure that the medicine caused it, but I’m not sure what else would’ve."
• "I saw people had some help using Clomipramine so I decided to do so against my doctor's advice. It proceeded to ruin my stomach (I now have IBS) and did not fix anything for my noxacusis. PLEASE do not take it unless you've exhausted all other options such as sound therapy, oval hyperacusis surgery, Turmeric/fish oils/NAC, etc."

Nearly everything seems to be noxious for our condition. It is insane it can like can virtually save lives, like in your case @wiektor (or others'), but it can make it so much worse like in the examples above.

 

My advice would be for you to make a decision based on what you're going through now. How heavy are your emotions right now? How long do you want to wait or rest your ears? Can you go on with your daily (most basic) activities?

You can also find horror stories from people who took a painkiller or an antibiotic. Actually, for anything really. Anafranil is a very old drug and still considered safe until this very day.

I for instanc took 100 mg of Prednisolone for a few days a few months ago that made me develop tremors and muscle weakness for months after the taper. It's a monstruous dosage that people usually take when they have organs recently transplanted, just so you get the idea.

I also had an intratympanic injection for Dexamethasone which made my hyperacusis on that ear 3x worse. And these are all treatments that people judge safe.

Remember: here on this website, we are a group of people who are an exception to the normal rules of life. For some it was noise injury, for others, acne medicine. Or even Curcumin in a high dose.

My advice: if you decide to take it, split the 25 mg pill in two or four parts. And start from there, very, very slow. Only increase the dose every 5 days or something.

This way you can be careful with your body and have more time to adapt to the medication. That's what I did until I reached the minimum dosage I was supposed to start with. And remember: only the bad cases come here to write something about it.

I never planned to create this account here either, I only did it because a guy convinced me to try.

 

I always seem to suffer from the side effects of these types of medications well before I see any benefits and will stop taking it. Your mileage may vary.

What side effects can Clomipramine cause?

Dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth, constipation, stomach upset, nausea, vomiting, changes in appetite/weight, flushing, sweating, tiredness and blurred vision may occur.

Anxiety symptoms may temporarily worsen when you first start taking Clomipramine.

Just a FYI.

 

Just wanted to report back here one more time before I take my shrink's advice for real and depart for good from here. Tinnitus Talk was helpful for helping me handle a situation the doctors didn't even know right in the beginning. But staying here with a condition that likes all the attention it can get does a lot more harm than good now.

• I am 99% recovered from hyperacusis on both ears.
• I went to a loud pub a week ago with only cotton in my ears.
• I am back to going to the office and hanging out with my colleagues in person.
• I got super wasted in an after-work thing with my favorite people at work.
• I biked without earmuffs.
• I listen to music for hours while on home office days.
• I traveled to a different country and went to 4 restaurants. 2 of them without protection.
• I took a 3-hour train ride without protection.
• I walked around the streets of my city freely (a major European capital).
• I started playing my Xbox with decent volume levels in a 5.1.2 Surround system at home. Love the bass. Starfield makes me feel like a teenager discovering a new game for the first time!

All these last improvements happened 10 days after upping the dose of Clomipramine to 100 mg. I currently only have constipation and excessive sweating as side effect from the medication.

My tinnitus is now stable and 80% of the time static/white noise. Not protecting the ears as I was doing was what helped the most with this.

I'll protect of course from anything above 85 dB, that's all I'll do from now on. Wish everyone good luck with this and take good care of your ears!

 

How long have you had hyperacusis? If you have had it less than 6 months, 99% of the time it’s not because you didn’t protect from sound; it’s natural recovery, trust me.

Starfield is fun too! I’ve been playing that a lot.

 

Hey, are you planning to take Clomipramine any time in the future?

If I don't get good results from the Carbamazepine, I will definitely consider Clomipramine if the doctor allows me to.

Not sure if it will work for more severe cases.

 

No, I’m not going to try it, I haven’t really seen any noxacusis cases improve from it, more loudness hyperacusis. If anything, I’ll get on Lyrica or Gabapentin. That stuff definitely helps nerve pain. Maybe worth a try.

 

Are you sure @Trafalgar D didn't have noxacusis?

Considering Lyrica and Gabapentin, I haven't seen much reports of them helping with noxacusis. I saw some horror stories about Lyrica, too.

 

Maybe there’s a couple, but most people didn’t have noxacusis. I have read some bad stories about all 3 drugs; that’s why I’m still trying to stick to LDN.

 

So sadly I have to go back to work in 2 weeks so I'm racing to find a regiment that will help me cope with my sound-induced pain. I'm having some good success the last few weeks with Magnesium L-Threonate off Amazon (I'll double the dosage and split it day and night) and 100-200 mg Gabapentin at night. The Magnesium is helpful for the TTTS/muscular component of this and the Gabapentin for sleep, rest, overall CNS relaxation as well as nerve pain.

The last pieces of my toolkit are:

1) I have a virtual consultation with the renowned Dr. Silverstein to chat through the details of my condition and his surgery on 10/17/23. I'm viewing this as a nuclear option in 1-2 years if I get no improvements.

2) I got fitted by an audiologist for custom fitted musician's earplugs that have 9, 25, and 32 dB filters. She said even the 9 dB filter will be super helpful for the high frequency sounds that have been causing me discomfort (mostly mechanical sounds - clicking/clanking of every day items, dog barks, silverware, car engines).

In my personal case, I think that the discomfort and burning I feel is muscular in nature. Kind of like a lactic acid burn when you work out. The tinnitus, probably not so much and indicative of some central damage, but I really can't fix that and can only hope time and habituation work in my favor.

I was exhausted and fatigued and battling another medical issue when my hyperacusis onset. I can see how I overdid it at a night club in February '23 and those middle ear muscles "broke." And unlike any other muscular injury that requires rest and a splint to keep it stable/inactive, the ears don't get a break - hence why the silence feels so good.

I'll continue to plug for the indefinite future but have to start incorporating slow exposure--work is going to force me. I don't really have an option.

I'll l keep everyone posted.

 

Yes, I felt a stabbing pain when exposed to certain sounds (besides loudness hyperacusis).