Prednisone for Severe Hyperacusis? Thoughts?

Hello all,

I have been experiencing severe hyperacusis for approximately one month. It started about 2 and a half months ago but it was mild then. It worsened with no further noise exposure. Right now it is so bad that I can't speak/listen above a whisper, run water, go outside, etc. I'm basically housebound.

My doctor prescribed 100 mg Prednisone which I could take over 5 days (20 mg a day). I'm afraid of the possible side effects of Prednisone and I hear that this medicine would have worked best when the injury occurred and now it is a crapshoot. However, given the severity of the situation I'm considering it.

What do you all think? Is it worth the risk in your opinion?

 

Hi @Christine2222, I don’t know if it will help, but please let us know the results if you decide to take it.

I’m so very sorry that you’re doing so poorly... and not knowing why is terrible! How did your hyperacusis start?

I’m in a similar state as you. Can’t go outside or tolerate any noise without ear protection. I’ve been housebound since this worsening two months ago after trying LLLT.

I’ve taken Prednisone before and it was a terrible experience, but I’d take it again in a heartbeat if I knew it would improve these horrendous symptoms.

 

@Marin It started from noise exposure via an MRI but got worse I think from a TMJ flare up in October.

I think I'm going to apply for assisted suicide in December. I cannot live like this.

 

Bose Hearphones might work.

 

A 5 day course of Bose Hearphones?

 

I have used Bose Hearphones daily for the past 3 years... while wearing they restore enough of my hearing to reduce and eliminate tinnitus -- while wearing. They mask tinnitus by boosting ambient noise and increasing the high end of the spectrum. They also allow me to silence the world when a truck is going by, or when I'm out running trails and get close to moving traffic. Out on trails I can hear rustling of leaves, streams running, etc., etc... So they work pretty good. I also wear them at church to quiet down the loud choir. I've noticed that the people around me just kind of get used to them... going to stores, pushing shopping carts across parking lots - I can quiet the rumbling and protect my ears. I think with tinnitus and hyperacusis, you don't want to completely eliminate noise, because it aggravates hyperacusis, but you need to protect your hearing, to prevent tinnitus from getting worse. Bose Hearphones seem to do both well - reducing hyperacusis, and protecting ears from tinnitus getting worse due to noise exposure.

 

I can absolutely relate to your pain and mental anguish. Every day is a struggle with more pain. Please try to hang on for another 6 months or a year. Things may improve enough to make life worth living given enough time. At least, that is what I am hoping, and I’ve talked to several people who have improved given enough time and rest.

 

If you're truly at this point of desperation, what's the harm in trying the prednisone?

 

That's a low dose of Prednisone, and a short period to be on that drug. You can give it a try. You don't lose much for trying..

Why were you prescribed such a low dose? The dose varies according to weight, and the symptoms of course...

 

I'm wondering, the people who wear ear plugs, does the hyperacusis go away temporarily while the earplugs are in or is there still discomfort to sound with the plugs in, but less?

Just wondering. Sorry to sound ignorant but still learning about all this.

 

This largely depends on the severity of hyperacusis. In severe cases, earmuffs/earplugs just take a small bit of the edge away (i.e. you still need to live a super modified life even with ear protection on). Really though, my brain processes sound so incorrectly that I don't think there's any volume, with or without protection, where I am symptom free.

 

With severe hyperacusis loud sound will go through earplugs + earmuffs like a knife in butter. It is like the sound goes through you.

 

I’m so severe that using ear plugs and earmuffs make literally no difference, only in a select few situations do they actually come in handy, otherwise it’s pointless.

As for the OP, I would recommend doing your course of steroids but being honest don’t expect miracles from it. I did mine when all this happened to me and it didn’t do anything. From my understanding steroids reduce inflammation, in the case of an acoustic trauma minimizing damage but they don’t actively reverse any damage that may have occurred already.

After this course is completed I would go to your Doctor and ask for Diazepam and Solpadol (Paracetamol/Codeine).

I know these aren’t exactly sweets so shouldn’t be handed out like candy but they helped me tremendously, the Diazepam works really well against hyperacusis in my experience and it brought me down from a 10/10 to a solid 5/10 which I could handle. I was ready to die, just read my old posts here and you’ll understand just what I mean. If you can’t live like this then you have to do something about it and a trip to your Doctor is your first port of call.

 

I have read some of your old posts, and I’m very happy to see that you are doing better.

Can I ask if you take the Valium daily to keep your hyperacusis down? Klonopin works great for me, but I’m worried about taking it daily long term. I also wonder if I’m making myself suffer unnecessarily by not taking it as often as I could.

Also, do you feel like the meds help prevent setbacks while you are taking them? Like you, I feel like my hyperacusis is 10/10, and I can’t call what I’m doing at the moment living. I’m relieved to have survived another day.

 

Hi, yes, I take it everyday, twice daily, slightly more if needs be.

I was a severe 10/10 case, so bad that I was living in a cupboard with earmuffs on waiting to die. I had severe reactive tinnitus, noxacusis that was unbearable and ridiculous hearing distortion, my breathing sounded like a robot.

When I went onto Valium it made a massive difference, my pain reduced greatly to a manageable level and my tinnitus for the few first few weeks completely disappeared and then came back as a soft bearable hiss.

Oddly enough my hearing distortion disappeared too and I still don’t know why Valium had an effect on that. I could also deal with sound in general a lot better but bear in mind I wasn’t exactly living an exciting life. I stayed at home 99% of the time spending most of my time playing video games and socializing that way which helped with the lack of social interaction, when people would call to my house I wouldn’t even go say hello because in most instances they were too loud and I would just rather avoid it.

When I did leave the house it was to see my grandmother or run errands locally and I didn’t use earplugs or earmuffs, they literally don’t help me at all and believe me I’ve bought them all, everything from Peltors to expensive custom molded earplugs and for reasons unknown to me they increased my pain and tinnitus as opposed to not wearing them whilst in a local quite store. I think it’s because of the occlusion effect. Not to say they weren’t useful for certain things around the house but for example if I drove my car with earmuffs on I was in more pain than not wearing them. It’s bizarre but I do encourage you to wear them if they help you.

And that was how I lived my life for the last 4 years and I did improve greatly overtime, as of this year my life basically consisted of gaming with friends, driving my mother to appointments and to bring her to do the shopping for us and our grandmother who is isolated at home thanks to COVID-19 and occasionally going to see friends in the immediate area and doing things around the garden. These things would or could come with pain but a small amount if I’m careful, and would settle down rather quickly.

I was extremely cautious over the last four/five years whilst trying to live something resembling a life to keep my mental state balanced which, as you can probably see, wasn’t very good last time I was here, essentially I was trying to keep myself occupied or busy but in a way that suited me.

Setbacks did occur, probably about 3 or 4 over the last four years and the meds do nothing to help nor prevent that. That’s up to you to try and prevent but sadly it’s a guessing game and I’m currently in a bad setback as of right now.

For example, I remember getting a bad setback a few years back from a bottle hissing loudly when I opened it, another was from someone laughing loud next to me but then I would have something similar happen and get no setback. For me it was always the sudden noises that caught you off guard that would start a setback like the one I’m in now which I think started because my little Jack Russell barked next to me when I totally wasn’t expecting and in came the reactive tinnitus and ear symptoms again.

When I’ve been next to him barking in the garden over the last four years, I have not had any issue, his bark isn’t even that loud, like 80 dB according to my decibel meter so I’m hoping it settles down in time again.

So yes, if you’re in a bad way then take meds that can help you get through another day. And keep yourself busy. My mindset is to keep myself occupied until something comes along that can really help us. 5 years have passed in a flash and coming back here to see all this research is honestly heartwarming but being cautiously optimistic as of right now, as we say over here, stare at a wall for a minute and it will feel like an hour, stare at a painting for an hour and it will feel like a minute.

 

@bill 112 Thank you so much for the thorough response! While quiet, you are living a lot more of a life than I am right now. I’m sorry to hear that you’re in a setback, but I hope that you can improve since you’ve done it before.

Like you, I am hopeful for regenerative treatments. Just trying to survive each day is tough.

May I ask, how much Valium do you normally take in a day? I have 2 mg pills, but they don’t do anything for my hyperacusis. I’m wondering if Valium is a better long term solution since I think it has a longer half life than Klonopin.

 

Hey @Christine2222, how are you doing? Did you end up taking the Prednisone?

 

No, I decided against it. It seems it doesn't work for most people with hyperacusis and I didn't want to deal with any potentially severe side effects when I'm already in such bad shape.

How are you doing?

 

Hi @Christine2222, understandable. I’ve had very unpleasant reactions to Prednisone myself. My hyperacusis is still very severe and painful. I hope that we can both improve with time.