Ways to Combat Tinnitus Side Effects from COVID-19 Vaccine?

I've seen a lot of people post on here about a spike or onset of tinnitus following COVID-19 vaccine and since this is also a complication of COVID-19 itself, I thought it might be useful for us to create a discussion on ways to reduce risk of this side effect from the vaccine so we don't feel like we're just choosing the lesser of two evils and rolling the dice on our tinnitus symptoms.

So far the theories I've seen others posit about why this happens from the vaccine for some folks are:

1) increase in inflammation, and/or

2) restriction of blood flow.

Any other theories, and given these possibilities, what could be useful in mitigating these effects as the vaccine is working through the body? Any feedback would be appreciated!

 

#2 doesn't make sense to me and I think we need to consider a #3 -- some of the "inert" ingredients in some of the vaccines cause problems for some people.

You don't develop meaningful antibody titers for days to weeks after exposure. Some of the tinnitus reports follow that timeline, others began "within seconds of the injection". whatever is going on there is not an immune response, it's too fast.

Makes sense to make to take antioxidants and vitamins, but it's worth remembering that COVID-19 is thought to cause audiological complications in up to 15% of cases, and the vaccines in the US presently show audiological effects in 0.56% of people who report any side effects, which is itself a minority of people who get vaxxed.

They gave me a document listing all the inert ingredients in Pfizer. I didn't recognize a lot of it. I also didn't Google them, why? I wasn't going to cancel my appointment to go do disturbing googling, and now that I've had the shot, the stuff is already in me (in tiny amounts), so, ship sailed on that.

Also -- it's really unlikely that the vaccines are going to cause problems for any specific person, but it's also really unlikely that any stack of supplements etc would mitigate that, since we don't have the faintest clue what's going on in these cases. play "mass rollout of experimental drugs" games, win chaos prizes?

 

The lack of a common timeline is a point of confusion for me. What vaccine mechanism would cause a response within seconds for some individuals and a response days or even weeks later for others? Even inflammation is unlikely to happen immediately.

From my time on Tinnitus Talk, acoustic trauma and anxiety tend to be the two mechanisms capable of immediate effects on tinnitus. But anxiety does not cause sudden hearing loss.

I suspect the reports are a mix of coincidental tinnitus with some actual cases of vaccine side effects, and I hope someone is weeding through them looking for a potential actual cause.

As for reducing vaccine side effects, with the lack of any clear or consistent cause, I would suggest the same protocol you would take for any vaccine or virus. Don’t get vaccinated if you’re feeling unwell or recently had an ear infection. Check if any of your current health conditions or medications can cause tinnitus just so you’re aware, I was actually surprised by how many people had a pre-existing condition like that listed in the VAERS report. Get plenty of rest, stay well hydrated, and reduce anxiety.

 

Well if it has to do with those, I'd say Pentoxifylline, antioxidants and some Aspirin or Bromelain would be worth a try. That's pretty benign and would limit some clot pathways.

 

I've been wondering, if you took a group of 100 random tinnitus sufferers that have not received the COVID-19 vaccine and polled them throughout the course of a month to see how many had permanent or temporary spikes, what percentage would report having a spike of some kind throughout that time.

And if you compared that group to a group of 100 random tinnitus sufferers that have received the COVID-19 vaccine, would there be any real difference in the number reporting spikes over the course of a month vs. the non-vaccine group.

My gut says probably no. I bet lots of people having spikes after the vaccine (myself included) would have had the spikes regardless. That's kinda just the nature of tinnitus for lots of people.

 

Alexander: So your vaccine-related tinnitus spike dissipated?

 

Yes, it did. Three weeks after the jab my tinnitus had reverted to baseline. I'm not sure it ever really spiked if I'm being honest. I was just way more focused on it after getting the vaccine.

 

Hey Alex, thank you for posting this. For some reason I can’t find enough responses for those who have had a somewhat indifferent experience with the vaccine. I am not vaxxed yet, and I have to admit some of the claims on Tinnitus Talk about spikes from the vaccine are discouraging.

 

Around 15 percent of Americans have tinnitus. Considering that many of them likely fall within the overall number vaccinated in the U.S., that is a large number of people not experiencing worsening tinnitus from vaccination.

There’s a bit of confirmation bias looking for information on tinnitus spikes on a forum of people worrying about tinnitus.

 

I saw an audiologist in London last week, and he told me that he has seen 20 patients recently who either had a tinnitus spike or developed tinnitus after getting vaccinated.

 

My tinnitus has got 3x louder in my right ear on the day after the vaccine and I now have it in my left ear which I’ve never had it in before. It’s definitely not confirmation bias as I had no idea that the vaccine could impact it and it was only days later when I started searching to try to understand why it had got so much worse that I worked it out. It’s a nightmare and really making life miserable.

 

As in WarGames, it seems the only solution is not to play.

 

Yep. Also, two people on Facebook did have COVID-19 and did not get tinnitus as a result. Then they took the vaccine and, boom, developed tinnitus.

So the theory that you WOULD HAVE gotten tinnitus or worse tinnitus from COVID-19 is just an assumption.

 

From the studies I've seen, it appears tinnitus is exacerbated in roughly 6% of COVID-19 infected individuals vs. 0.50% of vaccinated individuals. So it seems like the obvious choice here is to risk the spike with the vaccine, as the risk of spiking tinnitus appears to be much lower. Still, it's a really tough choice.

 

What if it’s not a spike and it’s permanent?

 

It seems like a permanent increase is significantly more likely from COVID-19 infection than from the vaccine, so probably worth the risk getting vaccinated unless you're living in a country with extremely low COVID-19 rates.

 

There were 2 people on Facebook who had COVID-19 and no tinnitus, but then got tinnitus from the vaccine. Just weird.

 

It's all a mess.

I got the flu shot and didn't notice anything magically getting worse...

The COVID-19 vaccine is new tech though, new everything. It just sucks I have to choose between maybe getting worse tinnitus from COVID-19 or dying, and literally volunteering to gamble on my tinnitus getting worse.

 

Out of interest, did you get the vaccine jab in the left arm? Hence tinnitus in left ear starting for the first time.

I was wondering if there is any correlation on the side tinnitus is occurring in relation to the side of the injection (even if your right ear got worse as well).

I hope things improve for you (and everyone else).

 

What about those of us who didn't have tinnitus prior to the vaccine? What's going on there? My tinnitus started about 2 days after the first dose and has been fairly continuous since then. I never suffered tinnitus prior to the vaccine.

 

I'm wondering if that could just be a coincidence. Having tinnitus start for no real reason happened pre-COVID-19, so of course it still happens now. It could very well be that it's happening randomly and being wrongly attributed to the vaccine.

 

My tinnitus has been much louder since the 2nd vaccine. I noticed a spike in my left ear on the evening of the vaccination but now it is louder in both ears, and hasn't subsided yet. I got my second shot on June 1st.

 

Thanks for quoting. I’m definitely not having the vaccine now.

 

You're not going to get it because I reported that my spike subsided completely?

 

The fact that it even spiked in the first place is not worth the risk especially for a virus that has a 99.7% full recovery rate.

 

That is the survival rate, but not the full recovery number since that would include the estimated 10 percent of covid long haulers with cardiovascular, neurological and cognitive problems. As most tinnitus sufferers can attest, quality of life and health are valuable as well.

 

If you got COVID-19, the chance of you spiking permanently is way higher.

 

How do we know this for a fact? There are a lot of sufferers who got tinnitus and other issues from the vaccines. Also, regardless being vaccinated, people are still getting COVID-19 and dying.

 

Please direct me to the reputable published studies that quote that.

 

How many studies would you like? There are at least 56 studies of COVID-19’s impact on the auditory system.

“Professor Kevin Munro and PhD researcher Ibrahim Almufarrij looked at 56 studies that linked COVID-19 to auditory problems, like loss of hearing and ringing in the ears.

They found that 7.6% of COVID patients experienced hearing loss, while 14.8% of them experienced tinnitus. A further 7.2% experienced vertigo, a loss of balance which occurs in people with ear damage.”

https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/tinnitus-covid-19-symptom/107007/