Poll: Occasional OTC Painkiller Experiences from Tinnitus Patients

Many people with tinnitus need to occasionally use OTC painkillers, but are worried about its effect on their tinnitus. I am hoping a small poll like this can become a general consensus for the forum regarding this topic. The majority of threads on this topic seem to have conflicting information.

Please answer the below question keeping in mind that it is meant for occasional (less than one week) use within recommended dosage. Please refrain from responding if your experience is outside of this criteria. Also, please give additional information regarding your experiences.

 

Ibuprofen has been my go to all my life, so including before tinnitus. Never had any adverse effects. That's my experience.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

I have suffered all my life from headaches and for about 15 years I used Ibuprofen like every other day. First time I used it after tinnitus onset, either the pill or the anxiety spiked me, but because paracetamol does nothing for my headaches, I still take Ibuprofen occasionally, when I really cannot bear the headache, and except for the first time it's been fine.

 

I also suffer from bad headaches occasionally. I usually try to rough it out, but maybe I’ll try some OTC painkillers next time.

 

Taken Tylenol once or twice since my worsening in November. Maybe Ibuprofen aswell, I think. No changes.

 

Good to hear!

 

I've had a few periods where I took 2 Ibuprofen pills a day for about a week. Back then I only had tinnitus but it had no effect.

After getting TTTS I haven't taken any yet, only paracetamol which had no effect.

 

Just to throw in something that's probably going to strike most as something totally bizarre (coffee enemas): I've suffered very intense headaches for decades. Pain medication was a toss up as to whether it might moderately relieve some of the pain, or almost immediately send me into a "rebound" headache, where the pain became twice as bad.

I tried so many kinds of non-drug therapies, with little effect. I then discovered that coffee enemas would almost always give me literally instantaneous relief, and I could normally expect the relief to last for several hours at least. I eventually learned that coffee enemas were used in World War I by German medics out on the battlefield.

They often didn't have anesthesias available to do surgeries, and so this was a major problem. I can't vouch that this story is true, but apparently they were low on clean water one day, and couldn't give the normal pre-op enema. As a last resort, they used some left over coffee. Lo and behold, the patient was able to endure the surgery and remain relatively pain free for several hours afterwards. After this, CEs apparently became routine for pre-op enemas and post-operative pain.

I'm famililar with some of the physiological reasons why this works, with the top two apparently being coffee enemas' ability to dramatically increase the body's glutathione levels (major detoxification enzyme) by about 6 fold. Secondly, is its ability to stimulate the vagus nerve, which has a parasympathic (calming response) on the brain and nervous system. The New England Journal of Medicine also reported in 1922 that in some clinical trials, CEs were found to be very effective in treating depression.

My understanding is a normal water enema will also stimulate the vagus nerve, which is why people with heart conditions need to be aware that any enema can stimulate energy in the heart area and rapidly increase the heart rate.

 

Never knew this. Very interesting.

 

Funny @Lane - I got in the habit of drinking mine.
For what little good it did me I might just have well have ‘stuck it up my a**e!’

 

Before tinnitus I used Ibuprofen rather often for headaches (with often I mean once or twice a month a dose of 400mg). Since tinnitus I use it maybe three times a year. I sometimes try Tylenol but that does not work as good for a headache as Ibuprofen.

I never noticed any difference in my tinnitus.

 

Taken a bunch of Ibuprofen, doesn’t have any effect on tinnitus.

 

Originally voted haven't taken any, but recently took some Ibuprofen. Meds usually have a short lived effect on me but it actually made my tinnitus lower for a bit.