Tinnitus from SSRIs or Stress? I Also Have ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

Hello,

I am from London, UK and have been taking antidepressants for many (20 or so) years now for anxiety. I started with Paroxetine and then went on to Sertraline and then Venlafaxine, trying a few others in between.

About 6 or 7 years ago, I started taking Escitalopram. I tolerated it well with few side effects. I also, will add, have ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) which developed after a bout of glandular fever years back. Around 2 years ago I moved to a new house with my wife. I have been funny about noise since getting the ME/CFS - one of the symptoms is sensitivity to light and to sound. Given that I need to get as much sleep as possible to be able to work (and think straight) I am sensitive about my sleep and about noise levels/disruption.

Ever since moving into the house, I have had problems with the noise: the doors were thin (with some cracks - we have had them changed); the flooring was creaky with no false ceiling below where the bedroom is (we had one put in) etc.

Anyway, whilst I was fixating on noise at the start of last year I started looking at noise reducing headphones and even a headband with built-in earphones to sleep with at night. Not long after I started looking at these/buying some, I started to hear a faint noise in the bedroom at night before going to bed. It was a bit like a radiator heating up in the morning (air moving through a metal tube). It annoyed me and made it hard for me to relax and be able to fall asleep. I searched around for the source but could not find it. My wife said she could not hear anything. I used the headband with earphones in and played some background noises from apps on my phone for a while to help out. I then used a fan in the bedroom. Into summer, I used the fan and also added the air conditioning (I live in France in the South, so hot summers). I was not bothered by the noise during the day except perhaps a few times in the living room - but this was more of a vibrating sound now, which I had started to hear faintly with the fan on at night moving into the autumn (I think it was then - I am sure it was before the next stage below when I started taking Agomelatine in December 2020).

Just before summer, I saw a GP here and asked to change my medication as I thought it was tinnitus and that my medication could be causing/have caused it. I then went through a nice journey of trying to work whilst changing medication and the accompanying lows of doing so. I tried Duloxetine - and developed urinary problems (though my wife thought I was having the start of urinary issues before, whilst still on the Escitalopram); I then saw a psychiatrist here who tried me on anti-psychotics for the first time, but they knocked me out or were not well tolerated (Aripiprazole and Olanzapine).

In December, I called a psychiatrist in the UK who suggested Agomelatine as an antidepressant that might work. I was okay on this until day 13 when I woke up in the night with a whistling in my ear. It disturbed me much that I was kept up most of the night with it. I stopped taking it soon after.

I am now trying Vortioxetine but have had high anxiety for the last month to 6 weeks and have not looked seriously for a new job since my last role finished mid-December (I work as a consultant). I feel like I had tinnitus and that I got worse when I took the Agomelatine. I have been looking at this site, doing meditation, taking Ginkgo Biloba, doing acupuncture etc. I saw an ENT probably 6-7 months ago and my hearing is fine. I think the tinnitus from the Agomelatine is a bit better now - and one night a few days ago I was sure that it had gone away. I got up the next day and did some meditating - and redid a technique I saw on YouTube (Austin Goh - there is a thread on it on this site). But it seemed to have come back a bit int he evening/next day (I blamed myself for ruining the recovery by doing that technique).

Today it has been a bit worse.

What I am wondering is whether anyone else here has developed tinnitus after having taken an antidepressant for such a long time (6-7 years). My acupuncturist thinks it comes from stress - I hope he is right.

Nice to meet you all and best wishes,
Adam

 

If one has taken SSRIs for a long time and then quits cold turkey without proper tapering plan, it can cause tinnitus, but often only temporarily.

Escitalopram is usually well tolerated.

You've been on a lot of medications though, who knows what they've all done to you. Is there any way for you to stop all the meds for a month or two and see how you would do without medications?

 

Hi ajc and thanks for your post. I did not quit Escitalopram cold turkey. I did, however, find it very hard coming off of it and trying other medications (Duloxetine, Aripiprazole and Olanzapine).

I am now trying Vortioxetine, but do not find it has done much. I would like to stop it but do not know if I will be okay without anything as I try to work with the tinnitus.

I was just curious if anyone else had had effects from long term treatment with an SSRI. I might have seen one post on here detailing someone who took one for a few years before tinnitus onset. I will have to look further.

 

I took Paroxetine, which caused me to get tinnitus after 2 weeks, but my doctor ignored it and recommended me to continue it until half a year. When I withdrew it after half a year, my tinnitus did not stop and has lasted forever since 10 years.

 

Hi Barpis. So sorry to read about your experience with Paroxetine. Do you not take any antidepressants now?

 

Quetiapine (Seroquel) v Mirtazapine (Remeron)

I'm in a psych hospital and the doctor is going to discuss possible changes to meds tomorrow.

From what I have read here, Remeron could be good - especially for some sleep (though some have said it is ototoxic). Quetiapine looks like it is very heavy.

Any ideas about which one could be better for long-term use?

 

Remeron is good for tinnitus sufferers. It helps with sleep too. It can increase your appetite and make you fat though.

Quetiapine is very strong. But it can help if you are a basket case.

I would listen to your doctor though, nobody here knows better.

 

Thanks ajc. Have you tried both? How do you mean that Quetiapine is good if you are a basket case? You mean that it is used for other mental illness - or that it is very strong in working on anxiety?

 

Hi there . What did you end up trying and how did it work out for you?

 

@Sayeed, sorry, I just saw this. I ended up going back on Escitalopram - the same drug I was taking before the tinnitus. And I was given lots of Valium, which seemed to effectively get rid of the tinnitus.

 

Hi @Uklawyer, just checking in - how is it going? Shat meds are you currently on? And since the onset of the tinnitus, by comparison how is it today?


You mentioned Valium - do you think it's made you notice the tinnitus less? Or has it reduced the volume?

Sorry for all the Qs. As you know, we're all searching for answers here.

Thanks.

 

Hi @T_Almost_Gone, nice to hear from you.

I still take the Escitalopram 20 mg, which I was taking when I first got light tinnitus and before I went through a good few other ADs prior to onset of more intrusive tinnitus. I do take Valium sometimes also (see below).

The Valium definitely removed the tinnitus (i.e. loudness) when I was in the psychiatric hospital. I went up to c. 25-30 mg per day split into 4 doses and went down to about 2 mg per day and can say that over that period (5-6 weeks), I heard nothing, except a fleeting tinnitus on maybe 3 or 4 occasions (we are talking like 5 seconds tops).

When I came out of the hospital, I heard it on the first day after falling asleep in the afternoon and it seemed to come back. Hard to say if it was psychosomatic due to being back home, in the environment where I had had stress and it all happened or not, or if it was to do with weaning off the valium (remember that Valium has a long half-life, so those higher doses take a bit of time to get out of the system as you taper down).

In any event, it came back, but not as bad as it was before I went into the hospital. I continued to taper down to zero, and it stayed. Over time it changed and I was encouraged, whe hearing hissing sounds at night when in bed, but it did not go. Now I have a couple of noises; it seems to evolve.

I have since been taking c. 2 mg of Valium at night and wearing a temporary mouth guard until I can get a real one next week. That's because my mum has TMJ issues and my dad was a dentist and advised me to have this checked out and to take Valium to relax the jaw muscles, particularly when sleeping.

I think that maybe 5mg per day might take away the noise for me, but I prefer to try to get used to it, habituate or to use that as a path to recovery. My psychiatrist here thinks I should keep taking it, and at a higher dose than 2 mg in order be able to relax more and enjoy life a bit, but I don't want to just mask the issue right now. And Valium makes me a bit drowsy, and I sleep for ages, but I have ME/CFS anyway - just makes it more pronounced.

I am better than I was at the beginning, when I could not sleep and was out of control with the tinnitus. Valium undeniably helps - as different benzos do for many people. It is a question of finding the correct lowest dose at which it achieves the desired effect. With Valium, I would try at 2 mg and see what effect it has. If you look on the Rx list website, you will see that some people have taken it for years for tinnitus and Meniere's. I do not see it as a solution, but, rather, as an aid, just like ADs.

I also do meditation am looking at some brain retraining" techniques/programs.

I hope that helps. Happy to answer any further questions. And thanks a lot for your updates - they are incredibly helpful. I hope that you are not experiencing any real setback in asking me about the Valium.

 

I took Paroxetine for three days and my tinnitus went into overdrive. Horrible drug for some people!