Is Prednisone Dangerous for People with Ototoxic Induced Tinnitus?

As we know, a lot us take Prednisone for acoustic trauma. My tinnitus and hyperacusis started after I took Neomycin (a very ototoxic antibiotic).

My question is the following:

For those of us with ototoxic induced tinnitus, is it safe for us to take Prednisone for acoustic traumas? Are we prone to more ototoxic damage?

 

I'm also wondering this. I got tinnitus from Neomycin x Polymyxin.

 

Whether prednisone helps or not, it is certainly safe for the ears. In fact, it's the go-to drug for acoustic trauma and rapidly progressing autoimmune inner ear disease.

There are cases of tinnitus worsening on prednisone, but this isn't from ototoxicity. It's a combination of drug side effects, increased anxiety, increased blood pressure, psychiatric side effects, etc.

As an aside, I love this forum, but the word "ototoxic" is greatly overused. If a drug temporarily increases tinnitus, that doesn't mean it's ototoxic. Most ototoxic drugs are in the antibiotic family.

 

Very Interesting point? Do you know what they consider long term? I see that long term usage has some pretty nasty effects? I'm curious as to what is "Long Term"?

 

I doubt someone taking prednisone for acoustic trauma is in any danger of long-term use. The main concerns with prednisone are for autoimmune patients, who may have to take it for months or years, leading to loads of health problems.

 

My tinnitus was also caused by antibiotics. I found prednisone to help my tinnitus.

(hope that helps)

Steph

 

Same. I had a random new tone with no known inciting cause a few weeks ago, took Prednisone and it helped substantially. My initial hearing damage and tinnitus over a year ago was caused by antibiotics.

 

I found Tinnitus Talk the same day I developed tinnitus and managed to persuade my doctor to give me prednisone. I'm so glad I did, cause like you, I'm sure it reduced my tinnitus.

What antibiotics did you have? I was on doxycycline for six months for an eye problem - however, it didn't fix my eyes and instead gave me tinnitus yay!

 

Azithromycin. I wish i took Prednisone at the onset. I'm glad you found this place when you did.

 

I got tinnitus from benzo withdrawal or Ciprofloxacin. I don't know exactly. I took one dose of Prednisone 50mg last week and I'm still spiking. Why does it spike? I thought Prednisone was supposed to help

 

A few things: a single 50mg dose of Prednisone is far less than what's usually given (usually over 60mg, for a longer period).

I'm not sure Prednisone will help in the case of Benzo withdrawal as the problem is with the GABA receptors themselves. You may need to find a doctor who specializes in Benz withdraw and in particular is familiar with the Ashton method of tapering.

There are a members here who know a lot more about Benzo withdrawal, who maybe can tell you a lot more.

It's also not clear what the mechanism of action of Ciprofloxacin induced tinnitus is but I seem to remember that improving for many people with time.

 

I have been off benzos for 1.5 years. Maybe Prednisone is not for people like me who got tinnitus from benzos. I hope this goes back to baseline. Before the Prednisone I had hissing days which were my low days, buzzing days which were my medium days, and the whistling days which were my high/bad days. Now it's all bad tonal days after one Prednisone dose.

I hope there is something I can take to reverse this.

 

Prednisone can really increase anxiety as well as blood pressure in some people which could be a factor.

Anxiety and stress gives you a less favorable glutamate/GABA profile as well as is pro-inflammatory (Literally. Severe stress causes the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as other changes).

I'm guessing this may be a factor for you because people who have had Benzo withdrawal have higher anxiety responses (can take many years to normalize). The best thing you can do is try to stay as calm as possible. Many spikes are short lived, but can sometimes last a few months. Stay as busy as possible and try to find calming company (even a pet).

Sorry you are going through this.

 

I believe Prednisone (which I took for lupus for a few months around 11 years ago) is what caused my first panic attack.

I actually thought I was having a heart attack (as I haven't had a panic attack before), borrowed cash from a neighbor and took a cab to the ER. This was a big decision by the way, as I was not insured. I was about to call an ambulance, but someone in the apartment lobby thought it seemed like a panic attack. Even after stopping Prednisone, I had some lingering panic attacks for awhile after. I had a few panic attacks a few years ago due to my grandma's passing just before I had tinnitus (not sure if they are linked). I believe Prednisone is responsible for triggering my panic attacks, otherwise I may have never known about panic attacks.

 

Extreme stress and subsequent release of cortisol/adrenaline... does exactly the opposite of this. Prednisone also would do the polar opposite of this.

Chronic stress results in cortisol apathy, then you get inflammation out of whack with your cortisol stimulating hormones. Kinda similar to diabetes when your pancreas stops producing insulin.

It's also why people on Prednisone for life are trapped and cannot come off it no matter what.

 

Prednisone is funny old stuff.

I read the side effects when I first took it for tinnitus, so I knew what I was in for. I was already feeling as low as low can be, because of developing tinnitus. When I started the course - Goodness - the suicidal thoughts and anxiety was through the roof! I was an absolute mess! I thought, I can never take that again.

However, soon after developing tinnitus, I developed a problem with my lungs, and now I’m on and off Prednisone all the time. It no longer make me anxious or unable to sleep. I guess you just get use to it.

Anyway, back to the point of this thread: My tinnitus was caused by ototoxic medication, and Prednisone never, ever, has any negative impact on my tinnitus.

 

Do I need to taper the one dose of 50mg Prednisone? I'm scared to take more

 

Physiologic "stress" effects cortisol which is anti inflammatory. However psychological stress can be pro inflammatory especially when extreme.

The impact of anxiety and catastrophizing on interleukin-6 responses to acute painful stress

I.e. coping vs uncoping stress.

 

Forgot to add this too:

Evidence for a dynorphin-mediated inner ear immune/inflammatory response and glutamate-induced neural excitotoxicity: an updated analysis

Another mechanism of stress induced cochlear inflammation is a local response starting when dynorphin release.

 

I'm glad you feel it had a positive effect. Your reaction sounds identical to mine -- I saw a lot of recommendations for taking Prednisone on this forum, and fixated on that as my only recourse. I ended up taking 60mg for a week + taper, and my condition is more or less stable now, but at the time, my head and ears were so overwrought a month ago, I couldn't really tell if it had a positive or negative effect.

I'm still pretty upset with my mild hyperacusis and dysacusis that I've developed after all this, but at least my tinnitus seems a bit better.

 

Help or get rid of it? To what percentage? Did the positive effects last?

 

It helped lower my tinnitus whilst I was taking it, but once the course is finished, the sound slowly increased again.

 

Did it help?