Wellbutrin Induced Tinnitus — Should I Take Prednisone?

Hi everyone. Last week I took two days (two doses) of Wellbutrin XL 150 mg and the second night developed insane ringing in the ears/head and pressure/ear pain (like I have two ear aches. This hasn’t gone away).

I had been on Luvox 75 mg (Fluvoxamine, SSRI) for five months and then my doctor added Wellbutrin. I’m 30F and completely healthy otherwise - not diagnosed depressed, my doctor was just trying to help sadness and motivation.

I immediately stopped both. My doctor didn’t believe it was from the Wellbutrin, neither did the ER who said tinnitus only happens with “strong cancer drugs”.

Got to ENT today who said there’s nothing I can do but that I should not stress and create a feedback loop. He prescribed Prednisone.

I haven’t slept in days - I cannot read, focus, think, or function.

I never would’ve taken this had I known and wish I could go back in time. I’m trying to stay positive.

Should I take the Prednisone? I asked my GP and no one has any advice. I don’t want to make it worse, but I also don’t want to miss any window of time I may have to help. I can only find literature on Prednisone for non-medicine induced tinnitus.

Thanks so much. Tinnitus Talk has been a godsend. My life literally changed overnight and no one understands.

 

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this? So scared to make my tinnitus worse but also scared to regret forever if I don’t try the Prednisone?

 

Prednisone rarely helps noise-induced tinnitus if you take it weeks after the incident. And even if you take it within 24 hours of the incident, it's a far cry from a guaranteed fix. I've not heard of it helping drug-induced tinnitus at all.

But it's also not likely to cause permanent worsening if you take it. Some people get temporarily worse or better while on it.

I would probably just take it so I wouldn't need to think about the what ifs.

 

Thank you so so much!

 

I’m a month in to tinnitus brought on by Wellbutrin. I’ve not been doing well. I’ll expand on this as a resource for anyone Googling in the future. I’ve read quite literally every thread on it.

Today my father screamed at me from about two feet away - I had to scream back to get him to stop before I physically ran away. My right ear has been muffled since this and my tinnitus is louder. I have deep sore ear pain in right ear too which is new. I spoke to one ENT on the phone before they left for the weekend, who said to take what he had already prescribed. Honestly, through this whole tinnitus journey, none of them have any idea what to do.

Of course it’s the weekend, I can’t see my doctor until Monday. I have Prednisone from when I first got this that I never took (scared of taking more meds when this was caused by meds and increasing ototoxicity).

Can yelling/getting yelled at cause permanent damage/acoustic trauma?

 

Hi Sam,

I’m not too familiar with the trajectory of tinnitus induced by Wellbutrin. All I know through reading the forums is that it does seem quite common among forum members.

It’s a shame others don’t understand how awful tinnitus is, only those who experience it truly understand. It’s important to try and avoid these kinds of triggers if you can.

I finished a course of Prednisone not long ago and I experienced no ill effects in regards to tinnitus. My tinnitus was heavily fluctuating due to noise exposure anyway, and I can’t say Prednisone made it any worse. I do believe it actually killed some tones off and nullified some others. I did experience some mental side effects however, my anxiety was super high and my mood was super low. I don’t regret taking the course. Prednisone is not ototoxic so there shouldn’t be any long term effects while taking it.

Yelling could cause permanent damage as can anything loud. However, in your case, I would imagine it’s very unlikely to be permanent. It should settle down in days/weeks/months.

 

Thanks so much, I appreciate your insight and response! I’m glad it worked for you. It’s so hard to bring myself to make this decision - I’m so tired of life-altering decisions every day with this condition. They told me Wellbutrin was safe too, you know? He doesn’t understand and I’ve been protecting myself everywhere, I only had earplugs off because I was in my own home.

 

I can’t make the decision for you and I wouldn’t want to influence you in anyway.

But if it was me in the situation and I had the Prednisone on hand, then I probably would take it just to eliminate the what ifs. If I didn’t already have it, then I wouldn’t bother going to source it for that incident. If you do take it, then make sure you taper it off.

I think a lot of people have reported that their tinnitus has died down significantly a few months after stopping Wellbutrin. So I’d take comfort in the fact you’re more than likely to follow the same path.

You’re doing everything right by using earplugs in loud environments, I know it’s extremely frustrating when you’re taking all the right precautions and then you’re exposed in what you see as your safe place. Unfortunately you can’t control everything all of the time and these things are going to happen on occasion. You can only do as much as you can to reduce these risks as much as possible, and it sounds like you’re doing a good job of that so don’t be too hard on yourself.

 

@hopefulsam, there is unnecessary hype on the use of steroids outside of SSHL. Wellbutrin does not cause damage to the inner ear. It has caused a chemical change in the brain, possibly dopamine, which brought on tinnitus. Taking steroids is unnecessary and of no use.

 

Has the ENT mentioned intratympanic steroids at all? Or HBOT?

 

Thanks @Nick47 - I just don't know why I had so much ear pain at onset if it wasn't ototoxicity/damage being done...? When I called the ATA for a 15 minute counseling, they said I shouldn't be having any ear pain - but I'm very much still having this and fullness/clogged feeling/popping. I've also had constant headaches since onset.

@cyberspace, no, my one ENT only gave me the Prednisone as a guess at what to do, he seems to do that for anyone with ear issues (by the way he spoke). And I tried one HBOT session after reading about it on here - I had a lot of pain/issues coming our of the pressure, so I was scared to do more.

But as of now, my entire life is ruined by this. So I might try more, and the Prednisone too. I don't know. I can't think straight because of the ringing. The regret I have over ever taking that medication is profound. It's hard to make these decisions.

 

@hopefulsam, if you are prescribed a medication, then take it. We are not medical doctors. There are 2 medical doctors on here, but both are inactive.

 

Yep, I totally get that. Thank you!

 

Hello! I developed tinnitus from taking a quarter of the lowest dose of Buspar for 3 weeks. They wanted me to take 15 mg a day and I only took 5 mg. I'm 2 months in. I'm also afraid of touching any more drugs. To each their own.

How are you doing?