Tinnitus, Vision Loss, Swallowing Issues, and Tendon Rupture After Taking Doxycycline

Greetings all. I was harmed after I was prescribed Doxycycline and after a few days on this awful poison I woke up with horrific tinnitus, along with vision loss, swallowing issues, and tendon rupture on my hip. I had an MRI and it depicted cranial nerve damage.

Has anyone else been harmed by this poison Doxycycline?

I am looking to see if there is anything I can do to possibly reverse the drug induced tinnitus? It is absolutely BRUTAL…

 

How long ago was this? If it’s been less than a month you could try prednisone. As well as maybe taking NAC supplement.

 

This occurred on June 11th. I do have NAC but not sure how much of this to take. This is truly unbearable as I am not able to work. Any help is appreciated....

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions for mitigating / reversing drug induced tinnitus? Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Has anyone had any experience with Liam Boehm's approach program?

 

Hi,

the last weeks (after having taken Doxycycline myself the third time in my life already) I have had some very interesting experiences I would like to share with you.

Note that this is my personal experience and that I would, nevertheless, not take Doxycycline again - unless it would be the only option to save my life or that like.

I took this drug so often since different doctors repeatedly told me that it is not dangerous for the inner ear. I trusted them (I didn't know it better, and it was also a matter of convenience to be honest).

I took Doxycycline three times in my life (2012 - tick bite, 2016 - Salmonella, 2020 - tick bite again) and never expected that my symptoms were related until I took it the third time.

The last time I took it was in June of this year, because of a tick bite. I took 400 mg split into two doses per day for 10 days, as this is pretty much the recommended dose in the Middle-Europe nowadays. My symptoms started after the fourth day, which I afterwards found out is even typical and can even be found in the literature. Maybe this is due to accumulation of the substance in the cochlea.

Now, I can say that I pretty much know what I am talking about - at the very least for my body.

So here is what I found out:

The Bad News:
Doxycycline significantly worsens hearing and produces/worsens tinnitus.
Furthermore, I got depressive every time I took it - not only from the tinnitus, but also in general only from the substance. Unfortunately, my experience is that these effects last for many months.

The Good News:
My personal experience with Doxycycline is that its ototoxic effects are fully reversible, meaning that once the substance has been cleared from the body, the symptoms disappear/go back to the level before taking Doxycycline.

Federspil 1983 actually proved my assumption years before: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-68199-8_1

The reason why these effects last for many months is that the body needs a very long time to get rid of the drug. Especially in the fine tissue, which we also have in the inner ear.
Without any help, it took my body almost 8 months to detox it by itself (age 26, relatively sporty, not overweight).

You can, however accelerate detoxification significantly by taking detox medication:

-Nettle Tea, healing earth (Bentonite), and all those mild medications and herbs help a bit
-Biologo Detox and such medications help a lot more, but are significantly more expensive
-I have no experience with DMSO and such stuff but if you have, please tell me. I am curious!

I wish you all the best and if you have questions, just ask

 

Hi erhfried and all,

I very much appreciate the information and what your experiences have been. I am looking up Biologo Detox and see that it appears to be only obtainable in Germany it seems. Has anyone had first hand experience with this product or knows how to get it here in the US?

My tinnitus is brutal as I had it VERY bad from Doxycycline so I went to a brain specialist, a neurologist, and he ordered an MRI WITH contrast which made my tinnitus much much worse, which is nearly unbearable to tolerate. Whatever happened to the doctors' creed of "DO NO HARM"!

I am definitely interested in doing everything possible to rid myself of these awful toxins.

 

I was able to find nettles, in both tea and tincture but no luck on the Biologo Detox. I contacted the company and they do not sell to the USA. I was wondering if there might be an equivalent alternative to use?

erhfried and others, has anyone with drug induced tinnitus had any experience with LLLT?

Besides the tinnitus what other symptoms have people experienced from Doxycycline? I had an MRI and it shows quite substantial cranial nerve damage.

 

Do you think that the cranial nerve damage is caused by Doxycycline?

My other symptoms: I became depressive as I said in the previous post, and I felt very un-relaxed and aggressive from the substance, plus I gained approximately 2 kg of weight, which resulted in a little fat on my belly. As I said, it takes months until the symptoms disappear.

I am sorry that they do not ship to the USA, I'm pretty sure that there are other substances for detoxification on the market, however.

 

I forgot to answer this question!

Yes, I went to LLLT again after this Doxycycline "accident" and the result also provides evidence to my assumption:

LLLT accelerates metabolism very much, which means that you have a temporary time window in which Doxycycline leaves your inner ear. You can see it in the hearing test, which improves significantly after LLLT, and worsens again afterwards because Doxycycline is transported from the blood into the inner ear again.

Well I wouldn't be too afraid of Doxycycline, especially if you know something about detoxification, then it's not that much of a problem.

Nevertheless, I would definitely take another, definitely 0% ototoxic, drug next time and I recommend you to do the same. Hearing issues, depression, weight gain (although all three temporary) are just too much of unwanted side effects.

 

Hi erhfried,

I have been going to a Chiropractor and he has been using LLLT on me once a week. The second session drastically improved my close up eye sight as everything close up was blurry as of waking up one day in June. The tinnitus is still present and quite debilitating.

Have you used a store bought LLLT device? They are expensive and I am considering it if I think it would help.

I have been to a health-food store and am taking celery extract, NAC and and will also pick up Acetyl-L-Carnitine. Have been reading the forums and this combination has come up a few times.

 

Hi,
I had lyme diagnosis by LLMD and had 400 mg doxycycline in March for 15 days and again for 30 days in August and 30 days in Nov. In Nov I had 600mg rifampin for 20 days also. I am having severe hyperacusis last 2 months...I stopped all medicines and am worrying at lot. I had some some left ear pain last two years, but did not bother much. But having this severe hyperacusis, I can't work on zoom or phone calls, without a headphone. I went to ENT last week and have mild hearing loss in left ear. Feeling lost. Please help.

 

Do not worry!

You took a lot of Doxycycline, and those side effects are normal and temporary. Although it may take months until you get relief.

But remember, it's temporary! This is the most important thing here.

You can accelerate the process by taking detoxification medication.
Please refer to my previous posts for that.

 

It has been 8 months since taking the Doxycycline and the onset of the hearing issues. I have not had any lessening of the hearing symptoms but eye sight is getting better.

I do have a quick blip where the tinnitus stops for a split second usually in the evening for a second, then it goes full back on with tinnitus. I wonder if this is perhaps a good sign? It stops for only a second and then right back at full force again.

 

After studying Federspil, the article only states in general terms, that tetracycline families could be ototoxic, especially if kidney dysfunction is present, or if middle ear problems have been reported.

Unfortunately, he does not mention any improvement apart from acute poisoning and then fast clearing with dialysis or some drugs.

Fingers crossed, Vitamin B, Rheomacrodex, Trental, Cortisone might alleviate the symptoms a little, if indeed the cause was the antibiotic treatment...

 

Are there any more herbs or vitamins I can be taking to detoxify my ears from the Doxycycline?

 

Yes: full-spectrum mineral caps

Now Foods Full Spectrum Mineral (120 Tablets)

And endurance sports! Try running for 30 minutes at least. You need a high pulse where the blood flows also strongly through your ears.

Of course, don't overburden yourself! This should give you significant detox for 1 to 3 days, resulting in major (or total) relief of Doxycycline induced tinnitus.

 

Hi @ehrfried, @BILZER.

How is your tinnitus now?

I am still suffering from tinnitus and hyperacusis after toxic antibiotic dose ruined my ears.
1 year has passed and I still have loud tinnitus, hyperacusis, ears burn and clog if I drive car without earplugs or talk on phone for more than 15 minutes.

I just carried on with my life. For first six months I was on Nortriptyline, that helped a lot.

The good thing is I came off Nortriptylene after 6 months. Got back to work after 6 months, carrying on with earplugs for life outside, sound machine at night.

Will go to an audiologist next month and maybe start TRT to speed up recovery.

I take NAC, Magnesium, fish oil, multivitamins on and off.

Started breathing exercises and yoga which are helping a lot too.

Went for a movie last weekend, wore plugs for almost an hour after 2 years, got a spike. Trying to cope, hopefully it goes down soon.

Feel very depressed at times, but then again carry on with conviction. I never had any Lyme disease. Trying to forgive myself for popping that strong dose of Doxycycline.

 

Please be careful with the breathing exercises. Have a look at the Wim Hof thread. That piece of crap has ruined many people’s lives. Just be very careful with yoga-type breathing.

How did the Nortriptyline help? Did it reduce symptoms or just make you feel better about the situation? How was coming off it?

 

I've heard of instances where people who've sustained terrible injury (floxed) from taking a fluoroquinolone antibiotic have been able to improve by detoxifying with Sodium Thiosulfate. I don't know if would do the same for Doxycycline.

 

This thread is very helpful. I have tinnitus that started when taking Doxycycline, and organic loose leaf nettle tea is the only thing that helps me. It does not work instantly, but the day after I’ve drank quite a lot of it, I feel the difference.

 

Nortriptyline helped a lot in the first few months, but did not want to get dependent on it.

So, trying to heal, without its help.

If I cannot manage, I will have to go back to it.

Yes, if even 1 person can learn from my mistake, I will feel happy.

Which breathing exercises are dangerous? Please let me know.

 

Anything with breath holds or powerful breathing can cause damage to your ears.

About Nortriptyline; if you feel that you are getting better while on it, it’s worth a consideration to stay on it. Ear injuries take a very long time to heal and if the medication is helping you break the cycle of stress, inflammation, symptoms, etc. it may very well be worth staying on.