Tinnitus Worsened by Prednisone — Any Advice?

Hello everyone,

I would like to introduce myself. I am 26 y.o. male who had very mild tinnitus since childhood (probably after treating pneumonia with Gentamicin). I got moderate tinnitus by my own foolishness, by accident that took place in October 2022. I was cutting firewood with earmuffs (namely 3M Peltor Optime III) all day and by afternoon I went to my house to get some rest and eat dinner. When I went back to work, I realized I forgot my earmuffs. It was already going to rain, so I decided to cut the last piece of wood without hearing protection (silly me). The saw blade got stuck in the knot and that made a high-pitched sound which immediately made me almost deaf. I went to ER, where I got steroids (Prednisone...), Ginkgo biloba, Milgamma, Piracetam and some IV fluids. It helped to restore my hearing, but intrusive tinnitus was still there. I got transtympanic Dexamethasone injections as salvage therapy and that made great improvement. Tinnitus was not that intrusive, barely heard it at day, louder at night - but still bearable. It was a constant hiss with faint Morse code in the more affected (left) ear. Severe hyperacusis settled within 3-4 months.

Fast forward to May 2023. I was strolling through my city with my DSLR camera, taking some photos (this is my hobby). I stopped at the park, because I saw beautiful birds by the fountain. I took out my 3M 1100 earplugs to hear their chirp better and forgot to put them in again. A few minutes later, I went to a bus stop - that's where the hell broke loose. I was looking at previously made photos, when suddenly, out of nowhere, an ambulance with sirens on passed before me, followed by an idiot in a sports car, who shot from the muffler as he sped up. It all happened in the blink of an eye, I quickly reached to my ears trying to plug them with fingers, but it was too late. I felt something like electric current passing through my ears and I knew new damage was done. I went to ER and got the same treatment as before. Even got another round of transtympanic Dexamethasone, but to no avail. That's when I developed 5-6 tones, like: Star Wars lasers, cicadas, metallic hiss, Morse code beeping etc. My hearing was left slightly impaired too (on the extra high frequencies).

On last Tuesday I went to town hall to sign some documents. I was wearing the same 3M 1100 earplugs. Someone slammed the door (about 2 meters from me) so hard, that all people in the corridor complained. Someone even cursed badly. 30 minutes later I developed pain in my left ear, along with muffled hearing and hot feeling inside ear canal. I went to a private ENT on Thursday for a checkup and she said even though there's no significant inflammation in that ear, she recommends a short course of Prednisone (10 days, of which 5 days on 40 mg). I took 40 mg on that day and felt horrible, had some nasty side effects including heart palpitations, feeling dizzy, pain in joints and most of all: terrible insomnia. I contacted her and she said I should cease it immediately without tapering as I took only two tablets once. I remembered from Tinnitus Talk that every oral steroid course should be tapered, so I started tapering. By mistake, I took 20 mg yesterday (on Friday) and today 15 mg. My biggest concern are the new noises that Prednisone brought to me... Like drones flying in my left ear and strange beeping in the right ear, that haven't been there before. Will they go away once I taper? I need to stop taking this morbid pill as soon as it's possible, because I can't get proper sleep and got pain all over my body.

Please give me advice. My plan is to go 5 mg less by every day. Did someone have a similar experience and their extra sounds faded away? I'm afraid they will stay with me for the rest of my life. A week ago I got a new job and I'm afraid of losing it. I feel devastated by this condition and I want to live my life again.

I would like to call @Matchbox and ask for help.

Thank you very much for reading this.

 

You seriously want advice from random Internet strangers instead of what your doctor advised? OK, here's some:

Prednisone affects people differently. IMHO, it is dangerous and addictive and can have side effects worse than its intended effects. Get off it as soon as possible.

 

From everything I've seen, most people's tinnitus settles back to baseline a short time after getting off the steroids. No guarantee though.

 

Thank you very much for your words of wisdom. Any words of help would be greatly appreciated as I am in a horrible mental state. I have no one in real life who understands what I'm going through. Only a couple of Internet friends and Tinnitus Talk. My only hope is this spike will somewhat settle after discontinuing the drug.

Today I had normal sleep, but still I was woken up by drones/mosquitos flying in my left ear at 50 dB+ loudness.

I asked some other tinnitus sufferers whether they had any spikes during Prednisone and two of them reported a terrible spike. One colleague discontinued Methylprednisone after 3 days because of a terrible tinnitus spike and his tinnitus returned back to baseline in about a week. Other friend reported a spike that lasted for 3 weeks+, she had taken Prednisone for 2 weeks starting at 60 mg and tapering post one week.

Thank you.

 

@toastt, any news? I hope you're doing OK.

Prednisone is some nasty stuff, in my experience. I believe it made my tinnitus worse but it definitely ravaged my body. I lost over 20lbs (all muscle) and was only on it for 2 weeks. Heart rate was all over the place as well, never fully recovered.

 

Thank you for asking. I partially recovered from Prednisone side effects, but my tinnitus is still raging and seems like distortions it created may last for a lifetime (drones in left ear). My peripheral neuropathy that I had only in my legs is now also in my hands, which feels like hell on earth. Doctors say there's almost no chance that Prednisone caused this disease progression, but somehow I don't believe them.

 

Hi everyone.

Three years ago I had sudden hearing loss in my right ear. The loss was profound/severe, but I went to the doctor and he prescribed Prednisone. My hearing returned to normal levels, but the tinnitus remained. Over time I got used to it.

About twelve days ago, I experienced the same situation, but now in my left ear. I followed my doctor's instructions and started taking Prednisone, 60 mg for 3 days, 40 mg for 3 days, 20 mg for 2 days and 10 mg for 1 day.

My left ear returned to normal hearing levels, but halfway through the treatment, the tinnitus of my right ear became worse, which was almost imperceptible before.

I read that tinnitus caused by Prednisone can take up to 30 days to go away, but I'm not sure about that.

I would like to see some case reports.

Thank you all.