Should I Stop Taking SSRIs?

A new study says that SSRI's make tinnitus worse, just google the latest news about tinnitus.

I'm considering reducing my anti depressant... I hope the studies are right.

I'm just living in a nightmare, I feel so narrow minded from my battle with tinnitus.

 

@JodieStephens I know that you are going through a difficult time at the moment and want some relief from the tinnitus. Whilst it's true that sometimes anti-depressent can make tinnitus more intrusive for some people, this is usually temporary. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be reading too much about medication and tinnitus. An antidepressant, as I've explained before can be very helpful and acts as safety net, preventing a person becoming to Down. Please do not reduce your AD without talking to your doctor. He/She is your medical professional.

I take blood pressure medication. The leaflet inside the box says it can cause ringing in the ears. I haven't noticed my tinnitus becoming worse. I prefer to take it rather than having a:stroke, kidney failure or shuttle off this mortal plane before my time.
Please consider what you're doing. Talk to your Dr.
Michael

 

@JodieStephens its a 1% chance, I've been taking antidepressants for a while now and it's never made my T worse

 

Don't just stop then abruptly because tinnitus is a withdrawal symptom of them - as well as lots of other horrible symptoms! Trust me!!

 

I was on Effexor after I got my tinnitus, it made things so much worse for me (including my hearing). I've been off for over two years, things are improving slowly, the horrendous withdrawal lasted for a long time but it was definitely worth it getting off this poison. I was always told as a kid that drugs aren't the answer, we were even preached to about the dangers of pot haha. Now the doctors hand These hard core drugs out like candy, I don't get it. It's somehow okay to get blasted on mind altering dangerous drugs daily if you aren't feeling right, how things have changed.

But, don't get me wrong if they actually worked, I would take them and be all in for the risks. The fact is they didn't help me at all, they only messed me up worse than I already was. I think this is the case for many. From what I have read many many times, is that these drugs can increase anxiety (they did in my case) and are really not any more effective than placebo. In my opinion, you are better off taking a walk or doing something healthy over getting high on these drugs daily.

Unfortunately my tinnitus has stayed the same after the slow taper, but I am better equipped to handle the hell of tinnitus without these toxins floating around my system. I look back at myself now that I'm off these drugs, I can see clearly what they were doing to me.

I still take a low dose of benzo, this is not helpful for me either. It helped me sleep for the first while, but they wear off after a couple of weeks, now I just take them so I don't go into withdrawal. Was that two weeks that they knocked me out worth becoming a drug addict, definitely not. I'm starting a taper program for this as well.

Don't take my advise though (just personal experience) talk to your doctor and maybe check out this article:

https://breggin.com/the-proven-dangers-of-antidepressants/

 

I think antidepressants made my tinnitus worse as well. How long were you on the AD for? Did you notice your tinnitus get worse on the medication or when you were tapering off? In my case I was taking a small dose of lexapro for a week and a half and then I got a ridiculous increase in my tinnitus. My hearing is fine and the increase went down a little but it's still much better worse than before.

 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319077.php

Serotonin raises neuronal activity in the DCN
Senior study author Laurence Trussell, Ph.D., of the School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, and colleagues came to their findings by analyzing the brain tissue of tinnitus mouse models in response to serotonin.

In particular, the researchers focused on the response of neurons in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) of the mice, which is the brain region involved in sensory processing, and which is affected by tinnitus.

The team found that when the mice were exposed to serotonin, fusiform cells in the DCN of the mice became hyperactive and hypersensitive to sound. "We saw that the activity of those neurons went through the roof," says Dr. Trussell.

Lead study author Zheng-Quan Tang, Ph.D., also of the School of Medicine at OHSU, notes that previous research has reported that many patients experience a worsening of tinnitus shortly after initiating SSRI use.

Based on their results and those of previous studies, the researchers speculate that the rise in serotonin that occurs with the use of SSRIs could exacerbate tinnitus.

"If you're a physician treating a patient for depression who also has hearing loss or tinnitus, you may want to be careful about prescribing a drug that compounds their feelings of anxiety. The SSRI may be enhancing the thing you're trying to fix."

Laurence Trussell, Ph.D.

In future research, the team would like to see whether they can inhibit a specific ion channel in the DCN that is activated by serotonin, as doing so may enable SSRIs to ease depression without making tinnitus worse."


Yeah, I'd stop taking SSRIs for now at least just to be on the safe side. Tricyclics are still the preferred course. If you want to drop them all together, there's Roseroot - a herb that is clinically proven effective as Zoloft. Only problem is I don't know if it acts in the same way as an SSRI - as the only real clinical study on it so far was against an SSRI.