Why Didn't Prednisone Help Me with My Infection-Caused Tinnitus?

From what I've learned, prednisone is supposed to help T caused by infections (could be wrong). I took it twice a day for three days and it did nothing for it. So why is that? Do I really have T caused by anxiety? I don't see how that is. Whenever I get anxiety, I just get some stomach problems and light-headedness.

 

What dosage were you given? I don't think it helped me either.

 

Twice a day for three days seems like a really short course.

When ENT's prescribe it here it is a 9 day course.
-3 days at 64 mg
-3 days at 32 mg
-3 days at 16 mg

Edit: I do not think it is very usefull, I took 3 courses of oral and intravenous corticosteroids combined with 20 sessions of HBOT within the first 2 weeks of my tinnitus onset and it did absolutely nothing for me, but I guess for some people it can actually work.

 

As far as I know there isn't really any evidence that prednisone is useful for tinnitus outside of cases of SSHL, and that even there, the data is not super compelling.

 

Is that SSHL including noise induced?

The more I read about it the more I'm convinced stress often plays a roll in the onset of tinnitus. I think this could have more to do with the brain's initial response, so even if stress was a factor in causing tinnitus, relieving it could help the symptoms but won't necessarily undo things.

You can take this with a grain of salt, but it's just my working theory.

 

No, SSHL generally refers to people randomly waking up one day with a massive drop in their hearing thresholds.

I agree with you, and I think this is one reason to be a little careful with prednisone. It can cause massive anxiety in some subset of people.

 

Yeah, it's horrible, isn't it?

If you're anything like me, you probably have more control over how that loop works than you're aware of right now. I wish I could tell you what you need to do to step out of it a little bit, but it's like riding a bike: there are suggestions and guidelines but at some point your consciousness has to figure it out yourself.

Given how distressed you probably are, I will say this: do not fall into the trap of thinking "being stressed and anxious might make my tinnitus worse, OH MY GOD, I AM STRESSED AND ANXIOUS!". Or, given that you're almost certainly already inside that trap, try to become a detached witness of those thoughts. Do you see how that works? If you're having that thought, you're already "looped" at least twice: anxiety -> toxic thoughts about anxiety -> more anxiety -> more toxic thoughts about that anxiety...

 

Prednisone is usually indicated for sudden sensorineural hearing loss with decent results if the SSHL was of auto-immune origin. It can also work if SSHL was caused by trauma if administered within a very short window of opportunity (48 hours max).

Knowing that high doses of prednisone supresses the immune system, you better make sure the infection is clear before taking it. I hope the doc made the right decision.

 

I was prescribed prednisone for 12 days after about 7 weeks of feeling congested and having tinnitus. 40 mg for 3 days, 30 mg for 3, and so on with tapering. I felt that it did really minimize the ringing almost to the point of not hearing it at all, even when my head was against my bed pillow! 4 days after taking it, it seemed like it was gone, even though I still felt a bit congested and mucus-y. About 5 days ago it has fluctuated from the head-buzzing to my left ear ringing quietly. I think that without the help of the medication my body is back to it's slow rate of recovery.

Do your ears feel any pressure, or feel plugged at all? Mine did, and still do. But I think (and I say think because I never focused on my ears until I had the T) it is not as bad as before and the clicking/popping has lessened in magnitude. I'm doing everything I can; drinking a lot of water/tea, taking hot showers and baths, and using Afrin to clear up the nasal passages (no more for another 4 days though). But it's just like my body is struggling to fight this stuff off. At least it's producing mucus, but it just runs down my throat until I have to expel it.

Your case might be similar to mine (I think we spoke on a past thread recently), and I hope we both get over this soon! I feel comfort that I am not alone, and that gives me confidence that we can both get better. Ten weeks (for me) is a very long time, but I hear this kind of thing can take very long to get over. I'm really hoping it's under 2 weeks until I feel significantly better. It's quite a process though, isn't it?

 

The ENT I saw actually said that prednisone is supposed to reduce the inflammation in the nasal passages, and would help to get rid of an infection. I am reading now that the steroid decreases the immune system, as you said. But I felt a bit better after using it...now I question why I was prescribed the medication, because I do not feel significantly better.

 

UPDATE: I went to the doctor just now and he prescribed me methylprednisolone 4mg (he thinks tinnitus is caused by ETD). Has anyone taken that? Side effects? Will it help?

 

I think I have ETD after all this hissing for a long, long time. Mucous in the Eustachian tube apparently causes hissing sound. I am not familiar with methylprednisolone. EarPopper may help you. TMJD could be my cause also but doubtful. Methylprednisolone may help inflammation in your E-tube? ENT nurse just said methylprednisolone is generic prednisone. https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-earpopper-machine.1061/#post-36217

 

That's what I thought. And that's why I'm curious how effective prednisone is for noise induced trauma. But there isn't a whole lot of data on that. I'm really kicking myself for not going to the ER right away and asking for prednisone, the care facility I did go to the next day didn't mention it. I'm just wondering if it would have made a difference.

 

No idea, but at least you have a possible cause that can be addressed.

Good luck!

 

the ENT I saw said prednisone would help with inflammation in the nasal passages, so I would imagine that medicine is similar. I have a popping in my ears so I probably have ETD as well due to the sinus infection. I wouldn't describe my T as a hiss though, it's a very high frequency ring.

 

My hiss is very, very loud, so it's probably drowning out my high pitched ringing. It is crazy loud and highly annoying.

 

Prednisone, Prednisolone, Methylprednisolone, Dexamethasone, Hydrocortisone are basically the same drug - synthetic cortisone, a hormone that occurs naturally in the body. Their only difference is their manufacturer and the fact that some of them are short acting and some of them are long acting.
Side effects range from slightly increased blood pressure to psychosis and death (for long term users, since repeated use of corticosteroids totally destroys the immune system).
Will it help? How is anyone supposed to know? This is an internet forum, your doctor knows better. For what its worth, 4mg is a very small dose, I wouldn't even bother.

 

Yeah, how are we suppose to know? Your doctor knows better??????????? Hope so.

 

It isn't, really. This is why research is being conducted on products like this:

http://www.aurismedical.com/product-candidates/am-111

 

I would probably try @engineerLA 's methods if you have ETD, but remember it may get worse before it gets better initially. That's what I'm finding out on my short trial, but #7 I wouldn't try.

 

How long are you supposed to take the 4mg dose for? It is a pretty low dose. Best practice (and countless research papers support this, it is not my opinion) is to keep the length as short as possible, whilst still delivering the anti-inflammatory benefits and the best way to achieve this is with a suitably high dose for less than a week. The exact dosage though, is for your doctor to decide.

The ENT nurse is incorrect. As the name suggests, it is methylated version of prednisolone.

Each of prednisone, prednisolone and methylprednisolone has a different chemical makeup and it is suggested that they are in increasing potency, with methylprednisolone having a slightly longer duration of action than the other 2, but not significantly. All are glucocorticosteroids and used to treat the same types of inflammatory conditions though.

 

Thanks, it's nice to know the difference.