I Heard of Someone Being Cured After Taking Anti-Fungal Drug?

I read somewhere that someone was cured of tinnitus after taking anti-fungal drugs. She claimed the antibiotic she took that she thought caused her tinnitus might have destroyed the bacteria that helps keeps fungus/mold from growing in your ears. Anyone ever hear of such a thing?

 

I have heard of that, as well as a similar case of someone taking anti-virals. Given that medicine doesn't even try to rule out potential reversible causes with us, I consider both these stories to be quite plausible. One of the things learned through HIV medicine over the years was that conditions that had traditionally been sheeted home to "autoimmunity" (dermatoses particularly) had indeed turned out to have a causative organism, often fungal in origin.

 

September, 2015:

I am in my fourth month of prescription antifungals (Fluconazole) and hoping to cure my tinnitus. My tinnitus is very fluctuating, has very complex sounds, and has cyclical patterns. This second year since tinnitus onset I had additional subtle symptoms: some strange mouth taste and texture, and I was very fatigued. The ENTs and Infectious Disease doctors ignored my theories about the tinnitus and other symptoms being related to a long term low level systemic infection, so I have to medicate myself. I will know in a few more weeks, and perhaps I will have an awesome success story (or an epic failure). Wish me luck.

 

April, 2016:

Just a quick update to my previous September 15th, 2015 entry on this thread. I am still on anti-fungal treatment, now in the eleventh month. I am following a low sugar diet, probiotics, natural antifungals and still some rounds of Fluconazole. The last two months have been the best since my tinnitus ordeal started two years ago. The tinnitus cycles seems softer, and habituation has started to kick in. I still suspect that my tinnitus is not from hearing loss, and I am going to stay a few months longer on this treatment. ENTs and doctors are useless, they will not spend any time looking for root cause, either it is hearing loss or unknown.

 

Anti-fungal treatments can take a long time top complete, and even then you can be mopping up almost continuously, especially with difficult-to-reach locations.

 

June, 2016:

More progress on the right direction. I am increasing the dosage of all the natural anti-fungals. The end of my tinnitus is near. I can sense it after 28 months in hell.

 

July, 2016:

Slow progress. Keeping on probiotics, prebiotics, natural anti-fungals and no sugar/no carb diet. I found a new natural anti fungal called Kolorex that seems to be working out really well (only 10 days on it so far). I could never imagine that I will have to go through this treatment for so long, and I am still on it because really believe that my tinnitus is not from hearing loss and that the microbial overgrowth is the best explanation given the overall symptoms.

 

August, 2016:

The strangle fight continues. Am I the only one in the world battling this kind of tinnitus? There are many cases of idiopathic tinnitus. I believe that in most cases the sufferer assumes that something is broken in the auditory path or the brain, and they stop looking for any causes. Even the common sense to facilitate habituation requires to accept it as is.

More slow progress to report, the tinnitus is weaker, and the cycles softer... but they never end. I will keep on one more month with the treatment. Keeping the faith and the hope on a positive outcome.

 

August, 2016:

Huge breakthrough over the weekend. Now I am taking Kolorex every couple of hours and it is making a huge difference. This mess is starting to clear after 30 months. I wonder how many people have this kind of tinnitus and are doing nothing just because they are told there is no cure, their auditory system is broken and they should just live with it. Just like I was told! Note that my case is for people with unknown cause or very weak cause for tinnitus.

 

Interesting. I agree that while most researchers are looking at noise exposure, there are many sufferers who just got tinnitus out of the blue, or after an infection, or something diametrically opposed to hearing damage.

 

August, 2016 - Final update:

Unfortunately my tinnitus is back to previous levels. I run out of patience and this is the end of the road for this thread. I thought that it was worth the effort to try a totally different path, but it has not paid off. This is not only about the microbial overgrowth hypothesis, but also about the diet effect. I have been in nearly no sugar and very close to paleo/ketogenic diet for more than one year. Overall, no clear effect. My tinnitus is very fluctuating in loudness, sound type, tempo and frequency. This randomness still continues and sometimes I get relatively long periods of improvement that they are followed by periods of worsening.

The cause of my tinnitus still remains a mystery: the weekend that preceded my tinnitus onset had several loud events (ride in a convertible car, live band at a restaurant), and even a mild fall practicing yoga hitting my head against the floor (I did not have any pain). Somehow, I ended up with a high frequency loss in my left ear and that is probably where my tinnitus comes from (although my left ear was always worse than the right one because of an ear infection that I had in my teens). None of those events was remarkable, and completely forgettable on their own, but the consequences have been huge. They have changed my life and distorted my sense of reality. Healing and habituation have been way too slow.

What is ahead? Not much. I do not expect anything significant on tinnitus treatments during my lifetime. Nothing really works for entrenched chronic tinnitus, and the only way forward is playing the endless mind game with yourself that is habituation.

 

September, 2016 - Update to my previous "final" update:

In spite of my announcement of finishing the treatment and abandoning any hope that my tinnitus is coming from a long-term microbial overgrowth (most likely Candida overgrowth), I have continued the treatment for the past month following the probiotics, probiotics, no sugar/no carbohydrates diet and natural anti-fungals protocol (Kolorex, undecyclinic acid, etc...). It has been another month full of up and downs, but I have recovered the lost faith on the root cause of my tinnitus. Still crazy oscillations in the tinnitus behavior, but the peaceful moments are quieter than ever. I will try another month...

 

October, 2016:

It continues to clear up. Now that the tinnitus is almost as weak as in the early weeks of this ordeal, it feels like a smooth stream of electrical particles ebbing and flowing inside the left ear. I am still following my self-treatment with plenty of Kolorex. Silence is around the corner... 32 months and counting...

 

November, 2016:

Still chasing my ghost. Tinnitus is lighter, but I still have spikes that tend to come when I increase the anti-fungal dose (mostly Kolorex) or with the 2-3 days dominant tinnitus cycles that I have since the tinnitus got in steady state a couple of years ago. I believe that I am not chronic, but obviously this is equivalent to chronic after such a long time. I try to remain optimistic about my path in spite of the overwhelming weight of the passing time. I never thought I will be tested with a crazy riddle and crazy condition like this.

 

December, 2016:

I wish I could have better news. I am still having really good days and really bad days. The bad ones can be still somewhat related to higher anti-fungal dose or to the cyclical nature of my tinnitus, once the crisis settles down, the tinnitus is very mild. Last weekend was really awful, and made me wish not to be alive. Now, I am sitting at my desk and can barely hear the tinnitus. At this point, I am having doubts. I might not be addressing root cause or even if it is the right cause, it might be stronger than I am and has become truly chronic. It is like hitting the wall over and over again, and I am usually welcome with an orchestra of jack-hammers inside my head. As Beckett said: I can't go on. I will go on.

 

January, 2017:

Tinnitus has been predominantly moderate, with some spikes and also minutes of silence. It is still in a non-linear path, but I will say that overall is getting better. The main development is that the tinnitus is much less reactive than it used to be. Continuous noises tended to set it in motion, and that was truly annoying while driving, cooking, restaurants, etc... My tinnitus was not reactive for the first two months or so, but after that early period became painfully reactive.

The protocol is still similar to what I have been doing for 18 months: prebiotics, probiotics, sugar-free/low-carb diet and a variety of natural anti-fungals. My workhorse for the last 6 months has been Kolorex and I am taking large amounts of it. Also taking oregano oil, goldenseal, Pau D'Arco and other antifungals. As you can see, my protocol is totally different to anybody at Tinnitus Talk, but I still really think that my tinnitus root cause is relatively unusual.

 

January, 2017:

All the improvement has been erased in the last few days and I have decided to finish this long experiment. The outcome is just fluctuant chronic tinnitus.

 

February, 2017:

Still at it. I stopped the protocol/treatment for a few days, but at the end my mind told me to go back to it. Someday I will have to review my fear or flight response or my hard time to habituation. This journey is being so strange that I feel like an outsider even in the Tinnitus Talk community.

The last four weeks have had a little of everything, and the last week has been probably my best week in the three years going through this torture. It really feels like the tinnitus is getting weaker. Continuing the fight!!!

 

March, 2017:

More good days than bad days, and even the nights are not as excruciating as they used to be. I still feel in a slow, non-linear improvement. I continue with the diet, rotating natural anti-fungals with Kolorex as a foundation, and just added Gymnema. There is one change in the last month that is somehow embarrassing to tell. My poop used to have a really strong odor to the point that my girlfriend complained every time I used the bathroom. Not anymore. I interpret this change to the progressive and slow healing of my microbiota. This is after almost two years of continuous microbial overgrowth treatment. If this is going to translate to more improvement in the tinnitus is still open, but I am optimistic to the overall signs of improvement. I am also in a better mood and have more energy.

 

April, 2017:

A strange month. I thought that the tinnitus was improving quite a bit, but I got a kidney stone a couple of weeks ago and that kind of turned things upside down. I ended up at the emergency room with excruciating abdominal pain, and who knew that it will be a kidney stone. I had to take heavy pain killers, diuretics, etc... not fun. Also, I am convinced that the kidney stone is a result of the large amount of supplements/anti-fungals/herbal teas that I have been taking during the last two years, and that made me slow down the microbial overgrowth treatment to lower dosage. I am still convinced that the tinnitus in the left ear is the last stronghold of the overgrowth in my body. The last and most isolated location.

The tinnitus sometimes has incredibly complex sounds. Right now it is like foam, like a million of electrical particles suspended in air peacefully, almost like an inner ocean ebbing and flowing. I am going to sleep well tonight.

 

May, 2017:

Mostly positive news after the kidney stone problem back in April. Tinnitus has improved, it is still there and cycling by its multiple phases and sounds as usual, but it is definitely weaker. Life is gaining normalcy since the tinnitus symptom is quite moderate. I am keeping the diet and continuing the natural anti-fungals. My current stack: Kolorex, berberine, gymnema, olive leaf extract, oregano oil and turmeric. I keep rotating with other anti-fungals, but Kolorex has been a constant since last July. I am still optimistic after more than 3 years, silence is at the end of this long tunnel.

 

September, 2017:

Still fighting this strange disease.... This week I am in breakthrough mode and decided to share the improvement. I continue with the diet and anti-fungals. The anti-fungal stack is quite formidable now, and in the next few weeks I might order some prescription strength stuff (most likely I will try Lamisil). At the end of the day, it is all about the root cause. If it is hearing loss then I am doomed, but something deep inside tells me that this is no ordinary tinnitus, and I will keep my battle for a few more months.

 

October, 2017:

More than two weeks into Lamisil treatment, and I believe that I continue the progress, now faster with this additional help on top of what I have been doing for more than two years. This is an intolerable illness with the most misleading symptoms.

This weekend I went to see a live concert by Philip Glass playing “Koyaanisqatsi” over the actual movie. For first time in more than 3 years I did not hear my tinnitus on top of the music. It was a joyous experience in so many ways. After all this time I am slowly coming back to what I thought I have lost for good. Perhaps the translation of Koyannisqatsi: ‘unbalanced life’ summarizes my problem.

 

November, 2017:

Still making progress, and as it has been a feature of my tinnitus recovery, there are still many up and downs. Yesterday, I had an unexpected spike, and gave me great distress since it looked like a huge setback. However, today the tinnitus is very far in the background and feels further weakened. I have been taking Lamisil (Terbinafine) for 6 weeks now, and I believe that has made a great difference.

Note that I don’t think that my tinnitus is coming from acoustic trauma, and I am tackling a relatively unusual root cause.

 

December, 2017:

I stopped Terbinafine a few weeks ago. I was starting to have side effects similar to Fluconazole (mainly hair loss), and the progress seemed have slowed down or even reversed. I have added black seed oil to the natural anti-fungal stack, and dropped Kolorex. Continue the no-sugar/low carb diet, and taking prebiotics and probiotics. The main novelty is that I have started Lufenuron, which has some interesting reviews in spite of being using mostly to eliminate pet fleas. The logic behind is that is effective against yeast because attacks chitin that is one the yeast/fungi cell wall components.

How is the tinnitus? Still has some of the features that had been all long: many different sounds and cycles, but it is definitely weaker. My mood is not that great, this condition is wearing me off after so many battles in this endless war.

 

@InfiniteLoop, how are you doing now? Any update on your tinnitus?

 

I'm curious about this, but how does one even get prescribed so many anti-fungal tablets? I feel like if I approached my doctor with this she'd just think I'm crazy. They aren't really given out without a reason as far as I know.

 

My tinnitus is still going strong... This path is a dead end and a cautionary tale about what not to do.

 

One can find anything in the internet.