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

Can you tell us who your doctor is in Vienna, Austria?

 

I had a full audiogram done today with ranges up to 15,000 Hz which showed some significant hearing loss in the left ear above 8,000 Hz. My hippie audiologist just said it was cool and I’ll learn to live with the multiples of tinnitus sounds that have begun the past five weeks. Not any kind of treatment even mentioned. He was knowledgeable and nice but didn’t seem to care about anything other than convincing me it’s not a big deal.

Would Prednisone potentially work in this situation? How do I get it if my audiologist refuses all treatments?

 

The man I had the first consultation with was Tilman Keck.

Find another. Google. Shop around. The approaches to treatment seem to vary a lot.

 

@mbsq, still doing better?

 

Methylprednisolone 6-day taper made me worse. Distortions + gained new tinnitus tones while on them (not sure if it’s the culprit, but likely). I’m only taking these drugs if I ever detect hearing loss. They don’t do anything for me.

 

Same story for me while on Prednisone... It gave me 4-5 new beautiful tones. I think some disappeared, while some stayed...

 

One of my biggest regrets. I wonder how things would have been if I opted out of taking steroids.

 

How soon did you take the steroids after your tinnitus onset?

 

5 weeks after onset.

 

Can I ask what was your daily dose and how many days you were on Prednisone?

Did an audiogram show you have hearing loss?

 

I wasn’t on Prednisone. I was on Methylprednisolone (Medrol) for a 6-day taper course. 24 mg, 20 mg, 16 mg, 12 mg, 8 mg, 4 mg.

Audiogram up to 8 kHz was excellent. In fact, the audiologist was blown away by how good my hearing was.

Still though I feel like something is off with my hearing. If I anything I might have hidden hearing loss which is difficult to measure I’m told.

 

I just met with an ENT in my area who seemed very intelligent, many accolades in the ENT field which is why I went.

Anyway, in response to my tinnitus that started from the 1st dose of the Pfizer vaccine, he said the only real thing to do is try Prednisone which may or may not work. I think he said he'd start at 60 mg and taper from there? That in order to reach the ear you need to have a high dosage like that.

I mentioned that I have read a number of people reporting Prednisone making their tinnitus worse and he very confidently said there isn't a connection between tinnitus and Prednisone. I am debating whether to take it or not based on some people's stories here.

He did say that anxiety is one side effect of Prednisone, so that may be what is causing people to think their tinnitus is increasing (or actually increasing due to the anxiety side effect given that anxiety can cause tinnitus).

 

It gets worse if you taper suddenly, with possibly new terrible and permanent noises. That is what I would suggest avoiding. Be very slow.

It might go away while on it.

I'd still suggest using it only if the volume tripled or you lost hearing.

 

Yeah I am hesitant. He said he thinks in my situation the tinnitus will go away on its own. I don't lose sleep over it or anything, it's usually pretty quiet (though flares up after a hot shower or hot tub for some reason for a bit after I get out) so maybe I should just let it play out. My only concern was that I heard people say that the sooner you take it, the better.

 

Take it and if nothing happens, slowly taper down right away. You should notice within a day or so. Just taper really really slowly.

I'm really an enigma who got worse. Whilst on them, the ringing was a ton better.

 

So you got worse after your Prednisone treatment? Can I ask how long/what dose were you on?

 

I’d say overall it’s better than before. But not gone. Today was a bad tinnitus day.

I also got an MRI and it showed some problems in the tissues in my neck - herniated discs and swelling in the marrow. I think this may be the root of it. I have a follow up visit in a few days to see what the treatment for these neck problems may be. Maybe cortisone injected right there?

 

I did 3 days of 60 mg followed by nothing. Hell, permanent new low frequency tinnitus sounds in right ear a few days later.

Then 21 days of 60 mg and tapering to 0 over two weeks, crazy shit whilst tapering, most vanished over time.

2 months later, 5 days of 50 mg, then a half dose, then nothing. That last one is what did me in with truly awful noises bilaterally, low frequency both ears, similar tones, and where I finally made the connection that the fast tapering was creating permanent noises in the morning... for me.

 

I'm in the US and have had 7 intratympanic injections. They work wonders when combined with NAC.

When I get them while taking NAC, it makes a huge difference.

When I get them without NAC I don't see much difference.

I had screaming tinnitus at a 8 or 9 and now it's a 3 or 4 because of intratympanic Dexamethasone. Every time it gets bad again, I have another injection and it makes it so much better. Hopefully it won't get bad anymore and I won't need injections.

These things are miracle workers and more people need to get them done.

 

Due to some complications with COVID-19 causing slight distortions in my hearing at higher frequencies, my ENT is prescribing me 20 mg of Prednisone for 5 days. I am getting a hearing test tomorrow to see if I need to get a higher dose.

He knows COVID-19 causes hearing loss and inflammation so he thinks this mild dose may help. I hate taking medications for anything, but I may have to make an exception here.

Any thoughts/advice? He didn't mention anything about tapering just some potential side effects (anxiety, restlessness, acid reflux, heart racing).

 

Take the medicine. I'm surprised 20 mg is all he's giving you. Usually it's 60 mg for 2 weeks. You don't need to taper 20 mg after 5 days.

 

I don't know much about Prednisone so I have no idea why he chose 20 mg.

 

COVID-19 gave me tinnitus, hearing loss plus distortions. Prednisone made me worse.

 

What was your dosage and how long did you take it for?

 

I was on a course of Prednisone for my asthma - 40 mg x 3 days. 20 mg x 3 days. 10 mg x 3 days.

40 mg reduced my COVID-19-induced tone significantly, but it returned on the 3rd day of 20 mg.

 

So you don't feel that Prednisone made it worse, just wore off the effectiveness?

 

Doing some research and looking at studies it seems as though 20 mg is relatively small dose. I don't really get my doctor's line of thinking.

I now debate whether it's worth the potential side effects for what seems like a pointless course of steroids.

 

Intratympanic steroid injections are better. But if it’s an oral small dose, I wouldn't take it.

 

How are you getting these injections? What doctor and where?

 

It is pointless IMO especially at that dosage. Best case scenario, you get temporary relief. Worse case, your distortions become ever more profound. Or nothing happens at all. I will say, my distortions came on while I was on methylprednisolone.

I would personally avoid, but that’s just me. Some swear by it though, but that never made much sense to me. What’s the point of taking something when it’s only going to give you temporary relief anyway? Seems like a big waste of time.