Permanent Tinnitus as a Result of MRI Contrast

I wonder if others began to experience horrific shrill tinnitus as a result of the MRI contrast, as I did. It has been 5 years now since that MRI contrast injection and the screaming in my head never stops.

Tinnitus and vertigo are admitted adverse reactions of the type contrast I was given. But of course I did not know that at the time. I was told the contrast was safe and would be excreted within hours.

That did not happen and for five years I have been tormented by horrific symptoms that I have only recently learned are due to retention of the MRI contrast...basically the heavy metal called gadolinium.

The MRI was done to diagnose lower back pain which was determined to be normal age related osteoarthritis, so my "condition" did not cause this tinnitus, but the diagnostic MRI contrast did. I wonder how many others here have had a similar experience with the contrast.

 

Hi, Kate! I’m sorry about your tinnitus.
I’m, like you, a tinnitus victim induced by ototoxic drugs.
I had never let them to inject me contrast since a lady fall down death in front of me due to a bad reaction to the drug, I got tinnitus induced by other ototoxic agents, there are tons of them. I wonder how many tinnitus afflicted people on this forum have been harmed by drugs and don’t know the cause; ototoxicity sometimes doesn’t manifest right away and doctors tend to deny side effects that are not listed by the drug makers. The aggravation of my tinnitus was inducted by a anaesthetic widely used to induce sedation called Propofol. I had been sedated with it before and never had a problem, but last time, 7 months ago, a nurse injected me without a tourniquet to control the dose, I found it very rare but before I could open my mouth I was sleeping like a log. Three days after the procedure my tinnitus was screaming very loud, doctors denied that it was related to the anaesthetic. I didn't expect less from them. The dose is what makes the poison, this time the dose was too high and my kidneys possibly could not clear the drug fast enough and was in my system too long. You can bet that your dose was also too high.
What can we do to avoid the poisoning of most drugs of the modern medicine? Not much, except to refuse them when possible as the only way we have to protect ourselves. It's not easy to do, I know. More research is mandatory to get safer drugs, but this means investing lots of money, so there is no hurry in despite that the tinnitus community has grown to levels that would be a world alarm if a virus or a bacteria was involved. We are helpless and, unfortunately, is a matter of luck that any medical procedure doesn’t end up with a nasty side effect.

I wish you well.

Anima

 

I have done a few MRIs and never had it w/contract. Contrast can be a risk and I avoid it at all times.

 

I suppose(d) that the noise of MRI ist the risk and not the contrast....

 

Hi Kate
I had an MRI with contrast and now have had permanent loud tinnitus for 11 months. It’s horrible. I only went off a scan because I had a sensation that something was stuck in my throat. I’ve regretted it ever since. I was given Gadolinium. How are you getting on now? Have you had any improvement over 5 years?

 

but i suspect, not everyone ends up with tinnitus post contrast, so perhaps only those with auditory vulnerabilities may

 

I had MRI with contrast. No negative side effects.

 

My T is only in the left ear, and is very common to get MRI for unilateral cases to rule out acoustic neuroma. I went through the first part of the MRI session without trouble. For the contrast section, they started injecting the gadolinium, and I got nauseous half way. The nurse stopped injecting it; noted that I was allergic to gadolinium and she told me that I should avoid it in the future. They took the contrast MRI anyway since I have some gadolinium in my system. The MRI results were unremarkable. My T was not affected by the MRI process.

 

I had an MRI with contrast some 8 or 9 years ago. No tinnitus from that. I think it's a very rare side effect. Do you have kidney disease by any chance?

 

Perfectly healthy otherwise. No previous tinnitus. I had a hearing test and my hearing is no different now than it was 5 years ago when I last had a hearing test. I’ve since had a further MRI no contrast to check for neuroma. Nothing found. ENT said that without another identifiable cause, he would have to suspect it was the contrast, it started within 24 hours of the injection.

 

I have an MRI and I am wondering whether i should do it without the contrast.

 

My ENT said it isn’t necessary to detect a neuroma. Obviously not everyone is going to have an adverse reaction to contrast and the chances are less than 1%.

 

When I did my MRI to detect AN, it was also without contrast.

Doctors have to weight the need to "see better" vs the risk and comfort of the patient, and it behooves us patients to put a little bit of "checks and balances" around their thinking process.

I've had to argue against the timing of some tests quite a few times on behalf of my daughter along the lines of "but if this and that comes back negative, wouldn't this blood draw be unnecessary?" to which they said "yes" and so I argued "then let's wait until we know we really need to poke her for the 10th time today, because it's really traumatic, ok?" (not to mention the cost reduction from not having to perform a procedure).
The stakes are too high to shy away from questioning medical professionals. I found that if I do it diplomatically, reason generally prevails.

Setting up an IV and injecting a radioactive component into the blood stream can have serious consequences. I witnessed this myself as my wife had this done recently and they had to interrupt the MRI session due to a reaction that sent her into an anaphylactic shock which required immediate Epipen action, and an admission into ER. She was in bad shape for a few days after that.

 

i had loud tinnitus about 2 weeks after a contrast mri, does anyone know how to treat that, preferably naturally?

 

I also have screaming tinnitus from an MRI the contrast is Gadolinium. There is an awesome group on Yahoo for issues with this contrast. Doctors don’t acknowledge the possibility of a reaction however the FDA has recently mandated disclosures be required and signed. Europe stopped allowing this contrast . This is a very active group with some natural detox suggestions including sauna and enzymes. Doctor data has a 24 hour urine test which may reveal if you still have Gadolinium in your body. I have not heard of anyone’s tinnitus going away by detox though. I’ll post if it works!!

 

Took MRI with contrast, but did notice my entire head was screaming, wish I new is was that noisy. I had ear plugs paid$ 20 dollars.Did not carry it . Go there they give me a 10 cent earplugs. Think I inserted is wrong, nobody there tell you how to do it correctly. Still mad about that experience.

 

Jgp0926
did you have any other symptoms beside tinnitus?

 

No - I had a hearing test two days prior - no tinnitus. Left side tinnitus with hearing loss now.

 

I felt terrible for about four months - have been taking supplements and cleared up stomach issues. I used to take nexium for years - now I'm not bothered at all.

Has anyone on here tried Castor Oil?

 

Yowza. I had a n MRI with contrast just about the same time as my T grew worse in mid-to-end of January.

 

I had my MRI on Dec 10 and then Caloric Test/VEMP on jan 15, jan 16 everything became worse. I wonder if the MRI made it worse, but then again why so late.

 

I never heard of anything having an impact on us after two weeks. I doubt that you had been hurt by the MRI.

 

In 2010 I had an iodine tracer injected for a CT scan. Within seconds of being injected, my ears and suboccipital region became very hot.
I experienced tinnitus later the same evening, when in a quiet environment, and it hasn't stopped in the 11 years since then.
Prior to this I had experienced some episodes of mild tinnitus when I was congested or after scuba diving, but could always focus on this sound and make it disappear. The tinnitus after receiving the contrast injection is a higher frequency, and I have never been able to make it go away.

 

I have to get one of these and after a little digging found a few studies which examined gadolinium's ototoxicity. Both found nothing, and it was injected into the ear.

Long-term hearing function assessment after intratympanic application of gadolinium-based agent showed no evidence of ototoxicity

"Overall, the present evidence indicates little or no effects of intratympanic GBCA on hair cells of the inner ear. It is however not known, if all GBCAs have low ototoxicity"