Persistent Tinnitus at 24 Triggered by Post-Surgical Medications (Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Gabapentin, and Oxycodone)

[stephenz]

Hello everyone. I am a 24-year-old male who recently developed, or began to notice a worsening of, non-somatic tinnitus in mid-October after months of taking many ototoxic painkillers such as Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Gabapentin, and Oxycodone due to a chest surgery. Within two weeks of noticing the persistent ringing and sudden ear pain, I went to an ENT doctor and had my hearing checked. They told me that my hearing is within the normal range. I attached the results in the files.

My tinnitus has not decreased, even though I have stopped all NSAIDs since mid-October and now only take Gabapentin and Valium for pain control. I have since learned that the standard hearing test only measures up to 8 kHz and can miss hearing loss at higher ranges. By checking with my own headphones, I found that I could not hear anything above 15 kHz. So I am fully aware that my hearing test is not especially useful for diagnosing the cause of my tinnitus.

I have also read about the Susan Shore device and the research from Harvard Medical School on inner hair cell regrowth in laboratory mice. However, I cannot help feeling discouraged by the slow progress of these research efforts and treatments, especially since the first mention of the Susan Shore device on this forum was in 2013, and here we are in 2025 with no clear release date or confirmed effectiveness for people with non-somatic tinnitus.

I would like to hear what the prospects may be for someone my age who has persistent tinnitus. I would also like to hear from others in a similar age group. For example, has your baseline decreased over the years?

It feels very unfortunate to end up with this condition because I was trying to treat my chest issue at such a young age. Still, I am old enough to understand that life will, at times, unfold in difficult ways.

 

[Nick47]

@stephenz, sorry to read about your worsening. Of all the medications you listed, only Ibuprofen can cause hearing damage, and even that is usually temporary. Many patients think that because a medication can cause tinnitus, it must have damaged the inner ear. This is not true at all. It may affect the brain in a way that makes tinnitus worse.

There is no point in having a higher frequency hearing test, since everyone over the age of eighteen loses hearing in that range. There are also no hearing aids that are effective above eight thousand hertz, nor are there other treatments that target this area. If you can convince me otherwise, I am all ears.

Regarding Susan Shore's device, realistically it will be around 2029 to 2030 before it becomes available and completes the larger trial. It will certainly not be effective for forty to fifty percent of patients. There will need to be many treatments, each tailored to the individual.

Tinnitus Quest is a new organisation focused on treatments, and it is something you may want to get involved with or support.

I encourage you to read the thread and visit the website.

Nick

 

[FellowSufferer]

Hey mate, sorry to hear you are going through this. It can be horrible in the beginning when you realize the tinnitus will not fade after a few hours or days. The ear pain, which is hyperacusis, is nasty as well.

The good news is that your tinnitus is largely caused by medications. If you look around the forum, this is one of the types of tinnitus that is most likely to eventually go away completely or settle into a very soft hiss, which is essentially the same thing.

Do you think you have exposed your ears to loud music or other loud sounds? That type takes longer to improve. I am twenty three, and I have had tinnitus since I was nineteen from headphone use and stress. Things have improved this year, but I could have recovered much faster if I had reduced stress and started a program of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy earlier.

Anyway, good luck.

 

[stephenz]

Hey mate, sorry to hear you are going through this. It can be horrible in the beginning when you realize the tinnitus will not fade after a few hours or days. The ear pain, which is hyperacusis, is nasty as well.

The good news is that your tinnitus is largely caused by medications. If you look around the forum, this is one of the types of tinnitus that is most likely to eventually go away completely or settle into a very soft hiss, which is essentially the same thing.

Do you think you have exposed your ears to loud music or other loud sounds? That type takes longer to improve. I am twenty three, and I have had tinnitus since I was nineteen from headphone use and stress. Things have improved this year, but I could have recovered much faster if I had reduced stress and started a program of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy earlier.

Anyway, good luck.

Interesting. What I read from a Google search was that medication-induced tinnitus is usually permanent because it reduces blood flow to the inner ear and permanently kills the hair cells there.

I have always had a little bit of hiss in my head, but it was only there if I wore noise-cancelling headphones in a completely silent room. Even then, it was a very low-level sound. Even after going to concerts, nightclubs, riding motorcycles, and going to Formula One races, it never changed in loudness by more than maybe ten percent compared to my baseline.

But the recent ringing was something so loud I could hear it over the television. That was when I truly learned that I had tinnitus. What especially led me to believe it was medication-induced was that it happened during a time when I was fully on bed rest, inside around the clock, to recover from major and painful surgery. It occurred after a month and a half of continuous use of high-dose medications that I had never taken before.

In any case, I really hope this gets better. It is difficult, and I am already quite depressed from the chronic pain that came from the surgery.