Steroids: Prednisone / Dexamethasone / Others (Oral and Injections)

Just to add: I’m in week 7 of symptoms and just nearing the end of Prednisone treatment. I’ve had no changes to my conditions. Some days worse, most days unchanged.

 

@Gav, forgot to ask, but did your tinnitus improve after your course of prednisolone? I'm glad you tolerated it well.

I went to the ENT on Tuesday (about 3.5 days after the dishwashing incident) and my hearing was the same, excellent, she wasn't surprised that I am hypersensitive to sounds/loud noises because my hearing is so good. (I have mild hyperacusis, which makes me think I have some hearing loss that isn't picked up on the tests.)

She hasn't had success treating people with steroids after loud concerts or explosions, but she has with SSNHL. I forgot to ask her for an Rx just for backup, but realize i would also need to check with my PCP to make sure it doesn't mess with some conditions I have.

Thanks again for your response and happy easter.

 

@racedy, my tinnitus spikes usually pop straight away at full volume after any audio trauma, e.g. plate smash, for a week and then subside.

This spike though continued growing for the period before I took the Prednisolone (9 days), then continued at the same level for five days and then started to subside to baseline - this could have been due to the Prednisolone, or it could have been the natural course of the spike... who knows. Either way, I'm glad I took it.

Anyway... I was going to post this update, but then my daughter dropped her knife on our tiled kitchen floor a few days ago and bam... my spike was up it was again. Still up now.

Good to hear about your hearing test though. I have often wondered what my hearing is actually like under the artificial layer of sound my tinnitus adds. It definitely distorts my results I think.

 

I would like to add that this time around taking steroids, I have had very minimal side effects.

Before I was instructed to take it 20 mg for breakfast, 10 mg at lunch, 10 mg at dinner, and 20 mg before bed. This time I decided to take all the doses at once during the morning with breakfast and it has been night and day difference. The first time around where I followed the taking it throughout the day method, I had every possible side effect, now I can barely feel anything.

I'm on day 3 of my 60 mg dose and there has been no change to my tinnitus spike.

 

I saw a new GP yesterday. She was good and very thorough. She wants to put me on 25 mg Prednisone daily for 2 weeks to see if my tinnitus improves. My inflammatory markers are now normal (elevated at time of onset) but she said sometimes inflammation can hide.

I am reluctant to start the Prednisone. Have others started steroids so late after onset and found any improvement (or worsening) of tinnitus and hyperacusis?

What was your steroid dose if you don't mind me asking?

Details for my reason asking 2 posts up. Thank you.

Similar to me. I have pulsatile and somatic tinnitus on my left side. Mine is a largish area in the temporal lobe that whirls static with my pulse 24/7. It is loud and forceful and I feel it too. The noise coming from the same area of my brain is also somatic so e.g. bending over, chewing, head movement etc it revs 10/10. Is this similar to how you experience things?

Now that it has been some weeks, how did you find taking the Prednisone in hindsight? I'm debating whether or not to take it.

 

I've been taking Prednisolone for a couple of days.

60 mg, 60 mg, 50 mg, 40 mg, 30 mg. Every time I take it, my tinnitus goes very soft and I can live a normal life for 24 hours. Yesterday this happened even at the lowest dose of 30 mg. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

My tinnitus got worse from COVID-19.

 

I'm glad it's helping! My ENT said viral infections can affect tinnitus (via inflammation, I'm guessing) and she had mentioned she would prescribe steroids if I developed any tinnity/hearing issues from a viral infection.

COVID-19 causes a lot of inflammation, which is why one of the only effective drugs to treat it (the inflammation, not the actual viral infection) is a steroid, Dexamethasone. (Dexamethasone can also be injected into the ear at onset of SSNHL.) So it's no surprise to me that Prednisolone is helping with your COVID-19-related tinnitus spike. I am glad you are recovering!

 

Prednisone is just giving me relief for the moment. As it wears off, I'm back to baseline

 

@Emiris, I'm glad you are getting relief, even if it is temporary. And who knows, maybe the baseline will shift to a quieter volume? If not, then Jay Leno owes you some money! (Just noticed that on your profile...)

 

I’ve had tinnitus for two years. It was caused from an ototoxic reaction from five days of taking the drug Effexor. I had finally been at the point where I could barely hear it, life was good and I’m feeling great again all around.

Last weekend I went to a friend’s (very small, all vaccinated) wedding, drank for the first time in over a year and a half, woke up with a horrible hangover, took 3 Ibuprofens thinking they were 100 mg when in fact they were 500 mg. Now I have a new ringing in my left ear and the hissing is back to terrible levels.

It’s been a week, my hissing is still high and and I can hear the new faint ringing noise in quiet settings.

I just started Prednisone 2 hours ago and WOW my tinnitus is through the roof.

Does anybody have any experience with this? Is a spike normal during this period of taking Prednisone?

This forum has been a godsend for me over the past few years. Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

@Chris Goodman, I occasionally have to take slow release Ibuprofen (Brufen Retard) for my arthritis flares - 1600 mg per day, and have hit 2400 mg at times (max dose the doctor allowed). My tinnitus always increases when I take it, but it always returns to baseline when I stop. All NSAIDs will do that - it's the reason I don't take Diclofenac... now that makes my tinnitus go properly crazy.

If there was noise at the wedding party - music, lots of conversation etc. then you could just be having a regular, temporary tinnitus spike from that. That's where I'd put my money anyway. Not sure you need to be taking Prednisone for an Ibuprofen spike though... I wouldn't anyway.

 

What is the dosage of Prednisone you are taking? Personally, I found when taking my daily dose of steroids at once in the morning with breakfast reduced my side effects to almost 0. So instead of taking it throughout day, only take in the morning. Although it is worth noting everyone is different so YMMV.

 

Thanks so much for getting back!

Very interesting.

I took 60 mg about 8 hours ago.

Thanks so much for this. Wish I had read it before taking it today.

My doctor suggested it because he thought I inflamed my auditory nerves due to the extreme amount of Ibuprofen at once. And thus Prednisone would act as anti-inflammatory to bring it down.

That was our thinking...

 

It's weird... everytime I have a spike, I find that when I take corticosteroids that it decreases the loudness and intensity. I have still not figured out why, and still haven't found any kind of doctor knowledgeable enough, or who gives enough of a shit, to work with me to find some sort of explanation. My finger is on some kind of inflammatory process, but I just don't know.

I've read a bit about Botox injections for tinnitus, and I'll be exploring that route shortly.

 

Same here.

How many times per year do you take steroids? And what is your dosage?

Do you think that Botox could replace the Prednisone?

 

Botox paralyzes nerves. If Lidocaine worked, then maybe.

Comparing Botox to Prednisone is like comparing heroin and LSD. It makes no sense to and there's nothing to relate that it'd work.

 

My 16 year-old son began having a lot of ear problems a few months ago, including ear pain, fullness, slightly muffled hearing (despite 2 normal hearing tests), tinnitus and hyperacusis. Doctors haven't pinpointed the cause (no medications before onset or extreme noise exposure), and he's tried a few different medications including short courses of oral steroids, and the oral steroids are the only medication that has brought any relief.

Our doctor now wants to do a series of steroid injections into the eardrum.

Has anyone here experienced those? If so, what was the treatment like (my son is an anxious boy & a bit frightened of the injections), and did it help?

Thanks.

 

Steroid injections are ok. I received 8 of them and there were no complications, but it didn't help me much.

 

My very anxious 16-year-old son has been prescribed steroid injections into the eardrums and is scared. I have a few questions for those of you who have experienced this procedure:

1. Has anyone ever been able to get it done under general anesthesia? Our doctor won't do this although I've read online it's sometimes done. My son got general anesthesia for wisdom teeth removal, so I don't see why he can't get general for needles being stuck into his eardrums, especially given that he has extreme sensitivity and hyperacusis at this time. I'm considering asking for a referral for a doctor who will do it under general anesthesia.

2. Is the procedure loud when they insert the needle into the eardrum?

3. They said if we wanted they could put a topical liquid Lidocaine on top to numb the outside of the eardrum, which would then have to be suctioned out of the ear before the procedure. I'm reluctant to do this due to the dangers of suction to the ear. Plus, if the injections have to be repeated which the doctor says is likely, they probably wouldn't be able to suction the following times due to the perforation of the eardrum.

Has anyone experienced this and have any thoughts to share about the procedure?

 

The pain is not great, but the tinnitus will be a little louder as the fluid is released through the needle. The first two injections I had a little dizziness the first 2 minutes. The other 6 injections I did not.

 

Does the increased loudness only last during the injections, or also after?

 

For me only during the injection.

 

Hello.

Basically, is Prednisone worth it for tinnitus that is NOT noise-induced?

Everything I’ve searched here and in medical studies always refers to Prednisone being often successfully used for noise induced tinnitus or hearing loss, but never from other causes. Mine has a completely unknown cause: no noise trauma, no medications that could have triggered it, no infections in the ear (according to the GP I’ve consulte ), audiogram with an audiologist came up up fine (no hearing loss). The only thing I can think of is that I was in a stressful period (but I had those before and never had tinnitus because of it). And yet here I am since 2 weeks ago with excruciatingly high pitched tinnitus (I measured it around 12 kHz), sometimes so loud even trucks passing in the street aren’t loud enough to cover it.

I seem also to be developing hyperacusis specifically towards high pitched noises.

The doctor had never heard about Prednisone being used for tinnitus (but he didn’t seem to know much about tinnitus anyway), and I won’t be able to see an ENT sooner than in 2 or 3 months.

Has anyone here with a tinnitus that is NOT noise-induced benefited from Prednisone, or know of any studies suggesting it?

 

Generally Prednisone is prescribed for sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Many here have found workarounds to get their doctors to prescribe Prednisone when they have had a noise trauma they fear may make their tinnitus worse, but I don't remember any accounts where it actually reversed any tinnitus already present.

 

Prednisone is also used in Meniere's treatment, in which it initially increases tinnitus.

But hey, in order to combat the very fierce vertigo related illness you have to do something.

 

It's been a week since my tinnitus spiked. Just thought of Prednisolone now. Is it too late to take now? Does the cause of the spike matter and how long should you take it for?

 

My ENT is recommending another round of steroids. Is this something I should be considering? The first time I did it months ago wasn't very helpful.

 

Did it go away?

 

Nerve blocks with corticosteroids have been the most effective thing in reducing my tinnitus. I had long-term tinnitus that was mild and didn't bother me, and then newer tinnitus that came with the onset of migraines that was unbearable. The corticosteroid was injected more than 6 months after onset of the newer tinnitus. My tinnitus was not noise-induced. It was an occipital nerve block, and the effects were profound. When it was injected more laterally, closer to the lesser occipital nerve (which affects nerves of the ear/hearing), it was more effective. The 3rd round lasted 6 months, until I got a cold which seems to have triggered a tinnitus relapse. I've never tried oral steroids but am considering that for this relapse.

 

Unfortunately, no. I got to see finally an ENT a few weeks ago, he prescribed 7 days of 60 mg Prednisolone. It did absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile, my tinnitus seems to be just increasing to almost deafening levels. I can hear it over police sirens in the street...

I'm seeing him again next week for an in-depth audiogram of up to 18 kHz (I think), and probably a round of more experimental treatments this time.