NAC May Have Helped My Hearing Loss, Although It Definitely Gave Me High-Frequency Tinnitus

[TemporaryTHope]

I was dumb enough to watch Mad Max in 4K Blu-ray in my enclosed home theater using my Nakamichi Dragon with four 12" subwoofers at 50% volume.

The result was that by the end of this 117 dBA peak-generating movie (132 dBC), my hearing was muffled in my left ear, and I could hear a faint ringing.

Two days went by, and I didn't pay much attention. I've always been a bass head who loves loud music, so I thought it would eventually go away. But after three days, the ringing became louder.

Naturally, I went to ENTs, audiologists, and ear, nose, and throat doctors. None of them had much to offer except Prednisone, a steroid nasal spray, and the clear statement that the ringing was here to stay—forever.

I started researching like crazy and stumbled upon Tinnitus Talk. I read countless threads, and one thing kept coming up: NAC (N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine).

At that point, I had been taking Prednisone for two days. My doctor then switched me to Dexamethasone IM after I told him I had read that Dexamethasone was superior for noise-induced hearing loss, with fewer side effects such as hydrops. He agreed, and I swapped to 10 mg of Dexamethasone IM for the rest of the seven-day course.

I could swear the Prednisone made my tinnitus worse, although my hearing seemed to improve in both my muffled ear and my good ear. The same happened with Dexamethasone, but without the increase in tinnitus.

Side note: I had never experienced tinnitus before this initial event.

Fast forward to fifteen days after this terrible experience, I developed hyperacusis. Any sound that had previously been pleasant or comfortable (80 to 90 dBA) now triggered the worst tinnitus imaginable later that night, and it made my ears feel muffled.

Desperate, I started taking Jarrow's NAC Extended Release. At first, I felt some relief in my hearing, and by day five of taking NAC (day twenty since the event), I could swear my hearing was the best it had been since it all started.

Sadly, that didn't last long. Just three days after that improvement, I experienced the worst tinnitus imaginable. It came rushing in fast and hard, and coincidentally, this happened right after I switched from Jarrow's ER formula to Thorne's IR 500 mg capsules.

That's when I realized I was getting worse, and I believe NAC had everything to do with it.

How could something that made me feel better for five days suddenly make my tinnitus worse?

The main problem was that I had somewhat habituated to my 1,500 Hz tinnitus, but after taking NAC, a completely new, more intrusive high-frequency tone appeared, and it was hell.

I even started to miss my previous 1,500 Hz tinnitus, which was drowned out by the new 7,500 Hz tone.

For the first time, I needed masking sounds like violet noise. Unfortunately, when I woke up the next morning, the same violet noise that had helped me sleep made my ear feel muffled. This only happened in the ear facing the sound, which was playing at just 5–10% of my phone's volume on the nightstand next to me. I stopped masking after that.

It's been two weeks since I stopped taking NAC and around five weeks since the regretful Mad Max event. I've now started taking Nicotinamide Riboside, Resveratrol, Acetyl-L-Carnitine, ALCAR, and NMN. But I can say with confidence that the high-frequency tinnitus that NAC apparently caused has not gone away as I'd hoped. I'm afraid it may become chronic, which would really be awful.

I'm posting this as a cautionary story for anyone considering NAC because of all the reported success cases. Maybe the dosage or the timing had something to do with it (the first five days seemed great), or maybe it was the switch from Jarrow's to Thorne.

Just be careful. There's still so much we don't know about these supplements, tinnitus, and hearing loss. Why did NAC cause me to develop a high-frequency tinnitus tone? I don't know. What I do know is that I'm done with NAC.

TL;DR: NAC gave me new high-frequency tinnitus tones. My tinnitus bother level went from 4 to 8, and it hasn't improved after two weeks of stopping NAC.

 

[Sonia554]

Honestly, it should be considered malpractice for doctors to tell someone with new-onset tinnitus that it is permanent. In the vast majority of cases, that is not true. I do not know why this continues to be the standard line. The truth is that tinnitus caused by a one-time acoustic event has a very good chance of resolving completely, as long as you avoid further injury.

I would, however, stay away from supplements. There is no evidence that any of them are effective. They are just a waste of money. The best thing you can do is give it time and protect your ears. It is normal for tinnitus to keep changing during the initial weeks, and when you are trying different things, you may mistakenly attribute any worsening to one of them. I would not go on a "solution hunt." If anything truly worked, we would all know about it. Time, unfortunately, is the best medicine for this.

Mine took a couple of months to reach its full pitch before it started declining again. The first doctor I saw gave me a single dose of Dexamethasone. The second prescribed six doses of Prednisone, but I was too afraid to take it. I have been taking Magnesium and Ibuprofen for the swelling, but that is all.

The first six months are going to be tough. There is no way around that. They will be very, very hard. Rest, eat well, try to sleep, and keep your volumes low. What you are experiencing is typical of acoustic trauma and does not indicate permanence.

You are still very early in. I did not start seeing improvements until around the middle of Month 6. Now I am beginning Month 9, and it often blends into background sounds. I am hopeful that by the end of this month, it will be even better. Many recovery stories unfold over six months, one year, two years, or even three. The next few months will be unlike anything you have experienced before. They will be some of the hardest months of your life, but you will get through them.

You might be one of the lucky ones who recover quickly, or it might take a while, but most people see major improvements or full recovery within the first year. Stay here, keep talking, and let us know how you are doing. There is a whole community of people ready to offer support and guidance.

 

[TemporaryTHope]

Honestly, it should be considered malpractice for doctors to tell someone with new-onset tinnitus that it is permanent. In the vast majority of cases, that is not true. I do not know why this continues to be the standard line. The truth is that tinnitus caused by a one-time acoustic event has a very good chance of resolving completely, as long as you avoid further injury.

I would, however, stay away from supplements. There is no evidence that any of them are effective. They are just a waste of money. The best thing you can do is give it time and protect your ears. It is normal for tinnitus to keep changing during the initial weeks, and when you are trying different things, you may mistakenly attribute any worsening to one of them. I would not go on a "solution hunt." If anything truly worked, we would all know about it. Time, unfortunately, is the best medicine for this.

Mine took a couple of months to reach its full pitch before it started declining again. The first doctor I saw gave me a single dose of Dexamethasone. The second prescribed six doses of Prednisone, but I was too afraid to take it. I have been taking Magnesium and Ibuprofen for the swelling, but that is all.

The first six months are going to be tough. There is no way around that. They will be very, very hard. Rest, eat well, try to sleep, and keep your volumes low. What you are experiencing is typical of acoustic trauma and does not indicate permanence.

You are still very early in. I did not start seeing improvements until around the middle of Month 6. Now I am beginning Month 9, and it often blends into background sounds. I am hopeful that by the end of this month, it will be even better. Many recovery stories unfold over six months, one year, two years, or even three. The next few months will be unlike anything you have experienced before. They will be some of the hardest months of your life, but you will get through them.

You might be one of the lucky ones who recover quickly, or it might take a while, but most people see major improvements or full recovery within the first year. Stay here, keep talking, and let us know how you are doing. There is a whole community of people ready to offer support and guidance.

Thank you, I appreciate the support.

Hopefully, whatever the NAC did to my tinnitus will fade with time, and even more hopefully, my tinnitus will go away entirely.

This past month has been extremely difficult and depressing, but life must go on, and we have to keep enduring. The hope of it improving is the only thing that keeps me going.

I'm currently taking Quercetin Phytosome and Nicotinamide Riboside Hydrogen Malate, along with ALCAR, R-ALA, Resveratrol, CoQ10, Vitamin K, CarotenAll with Astaxanthin (Jarrow's), L-Threonate, Selenium, Thorne's B12 Complex, and Organic Camu Camu Berry powder for Vitamin C.

I know I might be going a bit hard on this, but I'll try whatever might help.

 

[object16]

Hi, as far as supplements go, unfortunately, nothing you take will really make a difference. In terms of your actual health and what might be of benefit, it's not like flipping a switch, but for the long term, I make my own natto at home. It's easy, anyone can do it, and it's loaded with a nutraceutical called isoflavone. The preparation actually makes it more bioavailable. This is strictly a theoretical approach, and you should know that natto may taste a bit unpleasant—but all good medicine tends to taste that way.

As for what you describe with the subwoofer, I did the same foolish thing maybe ten or more years ago. My first post here was something like, "I'm hoping for some natural disease to come along and finish me off quickly." That was about twelve years ago, no natural disease came along, and I've learned to cope and manage since then.

Legitimate things that help include sound therapy. Keep some low-level sound going at night. My daughter took some of my favorite Enya tracks and, using Audacity, digitally modified them to compress the dynamic range and equalize the sound pressure level for each track. You want something that's calm and repetitive, and after twelve years it does get repetitive—but how can you ever truly get tired of Enya?

My therapist once asked me to try yoga nidra or something similar. I bought a CD, but you can find that easily on YouTube as well. I just wanted to play an actual CD for the higher sound quality. Some people say high fidelity isn't needed, but I've compared MP3 versions of Enya, and the compression really adds distortion that I find unpleasant.

So, save your money on supplements. If there were any truly effective ones, we would have known long ago. However, no one has really done long-term studies on natto. At least in rodent studies (which would be unethical to replicate in humans), it seems to help prevent neurodegenerative disorders. What you want is some plasticity to occur, so I'm just sharing what's helped me through many years of experience.

I was hospitalized for tinnitus in 1992 and discharged with a bag of medications that did nothing except cause side effects. Some people find cannabis helpful. I've done plenty of experimenting myself. Some warn it makes things worse, and if you take too much, it can definitely cause a scary spike, but I find those spikes always settle quickly. Others may not have the same experience, so if you decide to try it, start very low. I make homemade cannabis brownies and weigh out one gram each night.

I've also been experimenting with Pregnenolone, which is now sold as a dietary supplement. It's a neurosteroid, meaning it acts on the brain. I take around 700 mg each night, and if I wake up in the middle of the night, I take another dose. That amount is quite safe. There's even a research paper on using 500 mg for cocaine addicts to help with withdrawal, and I haven't seen anything adverse reported.

Each day is a struggle, that's true, but I somehow manage to get through. Even at 69, I still work full-time with overtime. It's really good to have something to look forward to every day. Tinnitus often gets somewhat better over time, though that's not guaranteed, but at least your ability to cope improves.

They say the emotional response is the hardest part. I remember crying every night for hours until there were no tears left. Crying didn't really help, but at least it released some of the emotion, and my wife could understand what I was going through—even if most others couldn't.

So I truly know what you're going through, and I hope this helps. I can sometimes get pretty negative about it all, but since we're already in a tough situation, there's no need to add more negativity on top.

 

[TemporaryTHope]

Hi, as far as supplements go, unfortunately, nothing you take will really make a difference. In terms of your actual health and what might be of benefit, it's not like flipping a switch, but for the long term, I make my own natto at home. It's easy, anyone can do it, and it's loaded with a nutraceutical called isoflavone. The preparation actually makes it more bioavailable. This is strictly a theoretical approach, and you should know that natto may taste a bit unpleasant—but all good medicine tends to taste that way.

As for what you describe with the subwoofer, I did the same foolish thing maybe ten or more years ago. My first post here was something like, "I'm hoping for some natural disease to come along and finish me off quickly." That was about twelve years ago, no natural disease came along, and I've learned to cope and manage since then.

Legitimate things that help include sound therapy. Keep some low-level sound going at night. My daughter took some of my favorite Enya tracks and, using Audacity, digitally modified them to compress the dynamic range and equalize the sound pressure level for each track. You want something that's calm and repetitive, and after twelve years it does get repetitive—but how can you ever truly get tired of Enya?

My therapist once asked me to try yoga nidra or something similar. I bought a CD, but you can find that easily on YouTube as well. I just wanted to play an actual CD for the higher sound quality. Some people say high fidelity isn't needed, but I've compared MP3 versions of Enya, and the compression really adds distortion that I find unpleasant.

So, save your money on supplements. If there were any truly effective ones, we would have known long ago. However, no one has really done long-term studies on natto. At least in rodent studies (which would be unethical to replicate in humans), it seems to help prevent neurodegenerative disorders. What you want is some plasticity to occur, so I'm just sharing what's helped me through many years of experience.

I was hospitalized for tinnitus in 1992 and discharged with a bag of medications that did nothing except cause side effects. Some people find cannabis helpful. I've done plenty of experimenting myself. Some warn it makes things worse, and if you take too much, it can definitely cause a scary spike, but I find those spikes always settle quickly. Others may not have the same experience, so if you decide to try it, start very low. I make homemade cannabis brownies and weigh out one gram each night.

I've also been experimenting with Pregnenolone, which is now sold as a dietary supplement. It's a neurosteroid, meaning it acts on the brain. I take around 700 mg each night, and if I wake up in the middle of the night, I take another dose. That amount is quite safe. There's even a research paper on using 500 mg for cocaine addicts to help with withdrawal, and I haven't seen anything adverse reported.

Each day is a struggle, that's true, but I somehow manage to get through. Even at 69, I still work full-time with overtime. It's really good to have something to look forward to every day. Tinnitus often gets somewhat better over time, though that's not guaranteed, but at least your ability to cope improves.

They say the emotional response is the hardest part. I remember crying every night for hours until there were no tears left. Crying didn't really help, but at least it released some of the emotion, and my wife could understand what I was going through—even if most others couldn't.

So I truly know what you're going through, and I hope this helps. I can sometimes get pretty negative about it all, but since we're already in a tough situation, there's no need to add more negativity on top.

Thanks for your contribution.

I haven't tried natto, but I'm following a keto diet in the hope of reducing inflammation. I'll see if I can add it to my new keto and tinnitus diet plan.

Regarding sound therapy, how many dBA would you consider "good" when playing low-level sounds?

Right now, the air conditioner and vents produce about 44 dBA. Is that level good, or too quiet? Would 65 dBA while sleeping be better for sound therapy?

So far, my hearing has been improving with each audiometry test, but for some reason, the tinnitus hasn't improved.

I use earplugs every time I go to noisy places, but I'm also slowly exposing myself to louder sounds to avoid lowering my sound tolerance (advice I got from @Michael Leigh). Unfortunately, every time I do that, I experience intense tinnitus at night. It feels like a tough ladder to climb. Maybe there's an ideal period after acoustic trauma during which loud sounds should still be avoided, and I might be exposing myself too soon. I'm not really sure.

As for supplements, I'm starting to think that Nicotinamide Riboside Hydrogen Malate and NMNH are actually helping my hearing. The improvements shown in my audiometry tests seem to align with this, so hopefully it will also lead to a better tinnitus recovery prognosis.

Once again, I greatly appreciate your input.