My Tinnitus Is OK Now After Dexamethasone

Ok people, just to share some info after I have done a titanic work to cope with tinnitus.

My tinnitus started on March 18 after 10 half pills of Perindopril. It was 100% drug induced after taking ototoxic drugs. It was pretty bad, so bad that I could hear it on the noisy street. I was at doctors office 72 hours after onset but he just told me to go home and wait, because my tinnitus did not register on an audiogram.

After a week of torture I checked into a hospital through an emergency. I was lucky and a young doctor ordered a high frequency audiogram where a hearing loss was registered around 14 kHz.

The default treatment started which over here is intravenous injection of dexamethasone for 7 days.

The tinnitus came significantly down but after stopping dexamethasone about 50% of it came back immediately.

It was still unbearable.

I asked my doctor for injections into ear but it is not practiced at all here.

I found a doctor who agreed to insert a ventilation tube (I must agree it is much more effective way than transtympanic injections) and I was able to administer dexamethasone through a tube myself for two-three weeks.

The tinnitus came down almost to zero in one ear, not so much in another.

So the third step what I did was order a microwick from the US and ask my doctor to insert a microwick and administer dexamethasone through it. Results were very good.

I did only one ear so far and tinnitus is almost gone now.

I still have tinnitus in another ear and I am planning to do Microwick once more for the other ear.

All in all the reduction in tinnitus is about 90%.

I hope after the last microwick it will be almost gone.

It took me about 6 months to fuck with the tinnitus.

The only technique that worked for me was microwick, as the problem is how to get medication into the inner ear. It is a technical problem and I can't see anything better than a wick.

I hope my post can be of help to someone with a drug induced tinnitus.

A word of caution dexamethasone can have some bad side effects - in my case it was pulmonary embolism.

 

Ok, just wanted to drop by and say that my tinnitus is gone now after 1,5 years of fighting. Looks like I managed to cure it. There is still slight hiss which might be some 7% higher than natural tinnitus but it is enjoyable. They key was topical application of dexamethasone to the inner ear through a Silverstein micro-wick. And on top of that vibration and sound by an electric toothbrush stem pressed to the skull. This is my know how and a gift to you. The toothbrush helps dex to penetrate the round window membrane. Enjoy! A simple but effective cure!

 

Hi @Renka -- Remarkable testimonial--thanks for sharing. And congratulations on your almost total recovery!

 

And a last update. As a last experiment I mixed c60 with dexamethasone and applied through micro wick. What was last of tinnitus came significantly down. Or maybe it was my placebo imagination hard to say because T is already low.

 

THIS!

But the BTA website says dexamethasone doesn't do anything.

I'm serious folks, this stuff could have saved many of us from hell if given early on.

 

@Renka

I’ve had tinnitus and hyperacusis for approximately 9 months from ingesting ototoxin. Are you saying it’s a good chance that using dexamethasone can get rid of my tinnitus?

 

WAIT A MINUTE. Did you really have pulmonary embolism from dexamethasone? DAMN, THAT'S CRAZY. Getting rid of tinnitus but instead becoming disabled from shortness of breath and potentially dying? I'm not sure i want to try dexamethasone after this. Can someone really confirm this shit is so dangerous?

 

Yes but so what. When you have T nothing really matters. Dex really kills you, I think it pulverizes your bones or something. My eye sight suffered irreparably as well. Nothing tragic but when I look at the white I see geometric patterns. That is why you want to apply dexamethasone topically then you need only a couple of drops a day which is nothing.

 

Geometric patterns? Does this mean you treated T, but were left with Visual Snow? Dex is really only the last resort probably.

 

@Renka what are the geometric patterns you say you have developed as a result of taking dex? please answer, is this visual snow or what? You have to give us the full info, we kindly ask you for this. It would be tragic to go and get dex and end up blind.

 

Side effects of dexamethasone are numerous. Seeing stars I think it could be called but only if you look at something white or at the sky. That’s what you get if you get involved with big pharma, you have to treat side effects of side effects of side effects...

 

Did you research the term visual snow? Sounds like you have it.

 

If I understand correctly, the microwick has to cut through your eardrum? Isn't that risky in the sense that it can aggravate the already existing tinnitus or even give you new tones?

 

Why aren’t we looking more into this? @Renka had some bad side effects but it was from the systemic steroids and not topically applied Dexamethasone.

This all comes back to the inflammation theory. I’d be willing to do this if a doctor was willing to do it for me.

 

Seemed to help Larry:

Intratympanic Dexamethasone Injections Greatly Helped My Tinnitus

 

I posted a story a while ago where someone I met basically went into full remission by continuously taking steroids. I don’t remember where I posted it but it was a few months back. I would say intratympanic is safer than systemic and the risks are low.

 

Looks like a good option. I imagine the hard part will be to research doctors that perform this intervention with accompanying information on its effectiveness.

Is @Renka still around?

 

Doesn’t look like it.

 

Looping in @Chinmoku - I hope you are holding up ok.

Out of interest, is this something you have come across in your research? I can't seem to find much on it online, but am wondering whether any ENTs in the UK would be familiar with this procedure.

 

I think I need to ask about this.

@Markku, is there a way of seeing if @Renka is still around or could be sent a mail to see if she would be willing to provide an update? I hate not seeing people responding on here and not knowing their present state.

 

Renka, I'm not sure you are still around, I would have a question on the micro-wick, let us know if you are still on the forum.

 

Hi, just by accident dropped in here. So I just had another operation to decrease a slight hiss in my left ear - didn’t like it when going to sleep - and it was a success. Even after 3.5 years you can cure tinnitus. So how it works is quite simple but ingenious at the same time. Do a tympanostomy, insert microwick so that it rests on the round window membrane, apply dexamethadone, rest your head on something hard and apply vibration to a skull. I do it 3min vibration 3 times per hour. After that dispose of dex in your ear. Repeat 3 times per day. Improvement comes after 3 days! Eardrum heals after 2-4 weeks. I will not be coming here any more as this chapter is closed in my life.

 

Hi Renka,

Thanks for coming back and explaining. I think some people still have some questions and if you could hang around just a little bit longer it could literally save people’s lives. Is the placement of the wick difficult? Wouldn’t it move throughout the day and while walking/moving around? How long do you typically have to apply dexa to achieve the result?

By the way, did you ever have hyperacusis or other symptoms besides tinnitus? Maybe pressure in the ears?

 

Hi Renka, thank you for appearing again. Your story is indeed inspiring to many of us as it showed a lot of determination on your side and the happy ending you deserved - indeed it is the sole reason why I finally made an account after lurking around for a long time. May I ask which country you are from or which region you would recommend to find doctors who could do such a procedure. Pleas do NOT name your surgeon or their clinic directly as to protect them. But if possible it would help many others if you could tell the general scheme by which you proceeded to find a doctor who was willing to help you in such a way. In the US and many other western countries it is extremely hard to find doctors as they risk their license by doing surgeries and treatments which are not in the guide lines. Thanks

 

I second this. @Renka, we are all incredibly happy for you and wish you all the best in your future, free of tinnitus, but those of us still experiencing this are desperately looking for something that could help in any way possible. It would be invaluable to us and we would be so appreciative if you could help us understand this a little more. At the very least, perhaps you could provide one person with the details of the doctor in order to enquire further...

 

Bump for @Renka.

I wonder if anyone else has tried intratympanic Dexamethasone using the Microwick. There are research papers on it (generally in relation to treatment of Meniere's).

 

There is a video on YouTube, just search for micowick not "microwick". Show this video to a surgeon and he will do it. It is not a rocket science really. A regular ear surgeon should be able to do this.

Unfortunately because I posted on this previously, export of microwicks is banned to EU for regular folks. But hospitals still can buy them.

No, the microwick doesn't move - once it is saturated with Dexamethasone it expands and fixes itself inside the tube.

 

@Renka, did you have hyperacusis at all?

Also, how long would you leave the wick in and administer Dexa?

 

@Renka - good to see you are still here to support.

Best wishes.

 

No I had not had this hyper thing you asked about. I leave for two weeks usually. After that it heals by itself in a month or two.