Newcomer Questions (Steroid Shots, Headphone Use, etc.)

Hello all,

I am new to tinnitus and also this forum.

Long story short: took 5mg Lexapro for aprox 6 weeks -> 10 mg for about 4 weeks -> tinnitus starts (panic like hell) -> go to ENT (confirms it is most likely from the medication and says let's hope it goes away) -> taper Lexapro for 5 days -> first day off the medication -> tinnitus still present (no surprise here). Long story here

I would have some questions that are more or less specific to my situation, I would really appreciate if someone has time to give some input. Thank you in advance.

1) I've red somewhere (might be this forum or somewhere else, can't really find it right now) that someone who got tinnitus exactly like me, after about a month of Lexapro got some 'steroid shots' at the ENT and that helped a lot and eventually got rid of the ringing in 2 months. The question would be, does anyone know what these steroid shots are, and would it be advised to have them?

2) I find that especially at work, the only thing that keeps me sane are the headphones. I have quality on ear ones and the music volume is very low (3 out of 15). Since I am almost certain my tinnitus was not induced by noise trauma, do you think having the headphones on is a bad idea?


Thank you in advance.

 

Yes, go try the steroids immediately.

I use a little fountain in my office.

 

@JohnAdams not sure what to make of your comment... Just sarcasm because they do not work?

 

@sky_high
Absolutely no sarcasm. I have read, with no reason to doubt it, that early intervention with steroids can make you recover from hearing loss. They arent going to hurt you so it is worth a try. I did the steroids and all I know is that I had a real loud T sound in both ears and I feel like I remember my right ear going kinda back to normal and the overall loudness I was experiencing decreased. Now that may be all confirmation bias as I was bouncing back a little naturally, I just dont know. If I were you I'd at least try.

 

@JohnAdams ok, thank you . Could you please describe the procedure and what exactly to ask for? I have found this article about it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4630945/.

Intratympanic injection sounds scary... plus I do not have hearing loss (as far as I can tell) and the study keeps mentioning tinnitus after sudden SNHL (Sensorineural hearing loss).

 

Yeah I dont know then. Mine started after loud noise exposure while on aspirin. I would honestly go to my PCP immediately, tell them what is going on. I did oral steroids. I didnt ask for them he went and looked on webMD or something and recommended them. I didnt think I had hearing loss either, but after 4 months I know I do. Theres a Mozart concert I've been listening to for 7 years, I know it backwards and forwards, I listened to it about a month ago and theres a part where a piano key is played very low and I could not hear it. Upon meditating on it I realized that the pitch of that key matched one of my to tinnitus tones pretty well.

 

Got it, oral steroids sounds better. I will suggest my PCP and see what she thinks. Thanks again

 

The bad news is that many people on this forum are convinced that headphones made their T louder (I am not sure whether any of them had T as a result of taking an ototoxic drug, but it might not matter).

The good news is that many of the people with T due to an ototoxic drug eventually (6-12 months) recover.

 

I've asked many doctors about headphones. They all, without exception, told me I could keep using them as long as I kept the volume at reasonable levels.
That's what I've been doing (since onset 2+ years ago) and haven't had any issues (I'm a musician and play drums through my headphones).

However, I have read some people claiming headphones made their T worse even at low level, so if you feel something is off, discontinue.
To be fair, whatever you can think of will have a corresponding claim in here by someone who believes it made their T worse (water? air? haircuts? colors? lifting arms? wearing hats? walking dogs?), so take these testimonies with a grain of salt, and remember that most people giving advice in here are not doctors (including myself), so add more grains of salt to your interpretation.

Good luck.

 

I hope I can confirms this at some point

 

Were you using headphones regularly or attending clubs and other places where loud noise is present? I asked this because the most common cause of tinnitus is exposure to loud noise/sounds. If you were not using headphones on a regular basis and did not frequent venues where loud music is played, it's fairly safe to say your tinnitus wasn't caused by noise trauma.

I do not normally recommend the use of headphones in fact I am rigorously against their use for anyone that has "noise induced tinnitus". If your tinnitus was caused by medication It may be alright to use headphone but I advise you not to use them for too long duration without taking breaks and keep the volume as low as possible. If I were you though, I would not use them and instead use a small sound machine and wait until your tinnitus goes completely away before using headphones.

I believe headphones cause nothing but trouble when used by someone with noise induced tinnitus and it's always risky for those without.

All the best
Michael

 

@Michael Leigh I am not 100% sure what caused my tinnitus, I can only assume. I haven't been to a music club in more than 4 years but I do wear headphones on a regular basis while listening to music at a very 'decent' volume. I know about tinnitus from a DJ friend and for some reason I was always afraid I might get it some day, because I genuinely suffer with health anxiety (the reason I was put on Lexapro was because I was scared of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis). Now you can imagine how hard this makes it for me to 'just ignore the noise in my head'.

Why I am so sure my tinnitus was induced by medicine:

- it had a very sudden onset while being 4 weeks on the therapeutic dose of lexapro which is confirmed by other people with the same problem (tinnitus appeared after 4 to 8 weeks after being on the therapeutic dose)
- the ENT doctor was aware about this side effect of Lexapro since he has seen other patients with the same problem
- I do not recall any special activity on the days prior to the onset, other than a bike ride on a windy day. It was no hurricane or tornado, just a bit windy. Maybe this was the trigger along with the medication... who knows

thanks for you reply. all the best

 

Thank you for the additional information @sky_high

Some medications can cause tinnitus and in your case this seems to be the reason. However, when listening to music through headphones, a lot of people think the volume is moderate or at a decent level when actually this is not the case. If I were, I would still not use headphones until the tinnitus goes away and you have a change of medicine. I hope you don't mind me saying the following for it is based on many years experience with noise induced tinnitus. Whenever people contact me that they have developed tinnitus and I am told they listen to music through headphones or play computer games using a headset or attend concerts, clubbing etc. 90% of the time this is the cause of the tinnitus. It for this reason I advise you to refrain from headphone use until you have a change of medicine to be absolutely sure it caused the tinnitus onset. Be under no illusion, when tinnitus becomes severe it can be a extremely difficult to cope with.

Sorry to sound so sobering.
I wish you well.

Michael

 

@Michael Leigh I have already tapered down the medication and been Lexapro free for 2 days (no withdrawal effects so far, but also no reduction in my ringing level). Some people say it might take up to 12 months until drug induced tinnitus goes away. I can only hope and cope until then...

I understand your opinion on headphones, but do you have any tips on how to cope with the ringing while at work? I work as a programmer in a pretty quite office which is both a blessing and a curse (there's nothing to make my tinnitus worse, but also nothing to mask it).

 

Consider, also, what one might be using headphones for. I am one of those individuals whose tinnitus was caused by headphones and was subsequently worsened by continued headphone use. It's very easy to make a mistake, fiddling with your headphones, not getting any sound out of it so you turn up the volume... That's a great way to kill your ears. If the sounds you are listening to are rather predictable then I could see it being manageable. Though even if you're just listening to music at a low volume, it's natural for songs to have peaks and valleys in their sound volume.

You shouldn't be using your headphones to stream any type a video, in my opinion. You should not be using headphones to talk to people on the internet where to play multiplayer games with. You can't trust people to control their volume. That is how my tinnitus worsened by someone screaming into their mic at the top of their lungs.