Tinnitus Caused by Tamiflu?

Hi,

I’m new to the forum and here’s my tinnitus story.

I was diagnosed with my first-ever case of the flu January 15, 2018. I took my first dose of Tamiflu that day and my ears started ringing almost immediately. They’ve never stopped ringing for more than a year. This past week, it was like a switch was flipped and the ringing sound doubled (or tripled) in volume. It stayed that way for about 24 hours and then went back to the old volume. However, that volume increase was very scary to me. I couldn’t imagine how I could have coped long-term with that noise in my head, so I went to a doctor today (an Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) specialist). The good news is that I don’t have any hearing loss. The bad news is that he said I’d probably just have to learn to live with this. He gave me LIPOFLAVONOID to try to see if it would help. It’s a vitamin supplement so I don’t see any harm in trying it. For future episodes when the sound may briefly (hopefully, very briefly) become so loud that I couldn’t cope, he gave me a prescription for Amitriptyline 25 MG (antidepressant/anti-anxiety medicine). He said, when/if necessary, to take it at bedtime, and that I’d wake up groggy, but probably with the noise level reduced. I don’t want to take the Amitriptyline and don’t plan to take it unless I’m desperate. My doctor suggested trying a low sodium diet, so I started that immediately.

My tinnitus is in the form of a high-pitch ring. It kind of sounds like a light bulb “singing” just before it burns out. Clinching my teeth changes the pitch. Otherwise, it’s a constant-pitch ring.

My ENT doubted that the Tamiflu caused my tinnitus because tinnitus isn't a common side effect of the medicine. I have no doubt that the Tamiflu caused it. I had other bad side effects from the Tamiflu. It made me feel like I wanted to run out of the house and run away from something. I’d have to tell myself over and over, “I’m in the house, on the sofa, and I’m ok.” I reported the ear ringing and panicked feelings to my general physician after 2-1/2 days, and he told me to stop taking the Tamiflu.

If any of you have gotten results from LIPOFLAVONOID or from a low sodium diet, how long did it take for you to notice a difference?

Thanks for "listening."

 

You said clenching your teeth changes the pitch?? Could you have TMJ issues going on?

 

There is a high chance that your tinnitus was not due to Tamiflu, but instead from whatever bad things were happening to your body at that time (the flu can wreak havoc in one's body). We often mistake correlation and causation.

I don't mean to sound negative, but acing a hearing test does not mean your hearing is perfect (there is such thing as "hidden hearing loss"). Still, it's better than the other way around, so you should be happy about having a good result. The point is that you could still have a faulty hearing apparatus even with a "perfect hearing test result".

It is probably not very risky indeed, but there is no evidence of it helping unfortunately.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27564443
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27681261

Did he also mention that one of the possible side effects of Amitriptyline is tinnitus?

I think he is right (reasons explained above), though... but that doesn't matter so much now that you have tinnitus.

This diet is often suggested to people who have endolymphatic hydrops or Meniere's disease. Unless you have a heavy sodium diet, I'm unsure how much it's going to help you, but there isn't much of a risk in trying either.
The typical EH diet is to cut down on caffeine, sugars, alcohol and salt... yes, I know... "what's left?"

See the clinical trial results I posted above. Don't expect miracles. Instead I suggest you go down the diagnosis path with the help of the following flowchart (you can work with your doctor(s) to navigate it): https://www.tinnitusresearch.net/index.php/for-clinicians/diagnostic-flowchart

Sorry that you are part of "the club". You should also know that your tinnitus could go away on its own. It is not always permanent.

Good luck!

 

I tried just about everything on the market. LIPO did not for me.

 

It could be ototoxicity (hearing damage from medication)

You very well could have hearing loss induced tinnitus, did they test your hearing with background noise or just tonal beeps, was it above 8 kHz?

Recent research indicates that hearing test used at most audiology clinics and ENTs are extremely inaccurate, they only test for hearing loss within the human voice range, learn more here about hidden hearing loss such as difficulty hearing speech in noise or certain music.

http://hyperacusisfocus.org/innerear/






https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378595516302507

These don't really do anything unless tinnitus is due to a lack of blood circulation in the ear.

 

That's about as bad as reading dark age medical horror stories.

Your ENT is a quack. Run away.

You will not have to live with this forever.

There are several companies in Europe and America working on technology that will heal the inner ear and coming at it from different approaches. There is something called Neuromodulation that *might* make tinnitus go away and that'll be available very soon. I just had 72 injections of secret sauce into my eardrums and I'm waiting to see if that works. So something is either already here or coming soon for you. You will not have to live with this forever. Tell your ENT that he has no business being in his profession because he's obviously inept.

 

Thanks to all of you for the quick responses! I’ll do my best to answer some of your questions.

- I don’t have TMJ. I was just trying different things to see if they made the tone change and noticed that clinching my teeth made the tone change.

- I don’t take any medications on a regular basis. In the past, some antibiotics have made my ears ring, but the ringing always stopped when I stopped taking the medicine. Antihistamines made my ears ring, but I haven’t taken any antihistamines in the past 20 years. Antihistamines and caffeine both make me faint (dead out on the floor). I was tested for various things and the problem turned out to be antihistamines and caffeine. Just 1/2 cup of regular coffee will make me faint. I don’t drink any alcohol.

- The ENT did mention the side effects of Amitriptyline. He said he would not expect me to take it very often, if ever, but if I had an episode where the volume increased a lot and stayed that way for so long that I couldn’t cope in any other way, it would make me sleep and I’d probably see an improvement after sleeping. So far, in the year I’ve been dealing with this, the volume has only increased dramatically just one time, last week. I felt frantic when it happened. By the way, my ENT has tinnitus. He suggested this forum to me.

- As for salt, the night that the volume increased drastically, I had eaten Mexican food for dinner. When the ENT mentioned sodium, I wondered if there was a correlation between all those salty chips and the change in noise level. I don’t have any other reason to try a low sodium diet. My blood pressure is normally about 98/65 so I definitely don’t need to do it for blood pressure.

- I don’t know the highest frequency used during my hearing test. The test consisted of tonal sounds, me repeating words that the tester said, repeating words with static-type background noise, repeating words with tonal background noise, repeating words as the spoken volume decreased until I could no longer hear the words, ear pressure check, and something about the bones in my ears. As an engineer, I found it to be very interesting.

- The ENT did express hope for treatments coming in the future. He said another doctor in our town developed severe tinnitus. He was cured by a bizarre procedure. His heart was stopped and then restarted, and the tinnitus was gone. The ENT said he would continue to cope with his tinnitus instead of trying that.

- I don’t have trouble hearing in noisy environments like restaurants or crowds. I don’t have to turn the volume up on the TV. Even on the day when the noise level increased so much, it seemed that I could still hear well through the noise.

Sorry to write so much. Since I’m new to this, I’m hoping the more you know about me, the more suggestions you might have. Thanks so much for your responses. I’m going to settle in and read a lot of the info available via the forum. I do plan to see another doctor to get a second opinion. Would you suggest I see another ENT or a different type of doctor?

 

The only doctor you should see for tinnitus is an Otologist/NeuroOtologist

 

In my little tinnitus world, a blood test showed that my thyroid and kidney functions are normal so I've crossed thyroid issues off my list of possible causes. I've seen my dentist to have a mouth guard made to keep me from clinching my teeth. He warned me that this might do absolutely nothing to lessen my tinnitus, but after thinking about it, he said that in the two years he's been using a mouth guard to stop his teeth clinching, his tinnitus has lessened even though that wasn't his reason for using the mouth guard. He also offered to give me a prescription for physical therapy and said one of the local therapists has a good reputation for massage therapy that seems to help tinnitus; however, he reminded me that there's no proof that it would help. I plan to look into that. Still eating less sodium and taking Lipo Flavonoids. Fingers crossed that something will help.

 

I have taken Tamiflu twice after I had tinnitus and it never gave me a spike.
The flu is what probably gave you tinnitus. MHO.

Try not to stress, the anxiety is what makes tinnitus worst.
I hope you find ways to help you cope with tinnitus.


https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...e-we-wait-for-a-cure.33816/page-2#post-419350

Once

 

Hi,

It's distressing hearing your story. My T seems to be louder lately. It has always been constant for a couple of years. I tried the Lipo and it made my eyes twitch. Really weird and scary. I spotted taking it and the twitching stopped.