Will You Get Vaccinated for Coronavirus (COVID-19)? Can It Make Tinnitus or Hyperacusis Worse?

The risk of acquiring tinnitus from the vaccines doesn't seem any larger than that of taking any other drug really. It's not something I'm particularly concerned about as there doesn't seem to be many reported cases.

I think we have to accept the fact that all drugs are inherently risky and that each person will react differently. I expect to see people talk about their tinnitus spiking here because we are on a tinnitus forum where people are ultimately hyper-aware of it. You might also find people reporting worsening symptoms of other conditions on other health forums.

Truly unbiased data is hard to come by.

 

My tinnitus has definitely been spiking since my first Pfizer dose a week and a half ago.

 

This is what I'm thinking, but like others, the one-and-done seems a safer bet for anxiety.

I hate to admit this, but long-term worsening of tinnitus is the number one side effect that concerns me. I'll take fever, chills, tiredness, sore arms over tinnitus any day.

The rest of my family has had the J&J. The only side effect was a little fatigue for 24 hours and a headache.

Thanks to @Tinker Bell for continuing to post stats.

 

I wholeheartedly agree. Embarrassed to admit it, but I noticed my tinnitus spike after I visited Tinnitus Talk this week.

I frequent a parenting forum. Many people participated in the trials and thousands are now vaccinated. No one has mentioned tinnitus and we discuss a wide range of weird side effects.

 

I'm not dismissing the influence and impact of hyper-focusing on tinnitus; but there are at least two distinct possible tinnitus-related vaccine reactions:

1) New tinnitus, or

2) The exacerbation of existing tinnitus. If the latter, then it would support why no one in your group has mentioned it since likely no one there had it prior to being vaccinated.

 

I don't doubt it. What's hard to extrapolate is whether it was the vaccine that caused your spike or could it have been related to your concerns about the side effects? This could have created a nocebo effect. It could also have been something else entirely.

I'm not trying to dismiss your claim; I'm saying anecdotal evidence is extremely difficult to verify. The fact that we see a lot of people experiencing problems here, but hardly anyone else away from here, speaks volumes. Data that is acquired from a tinnitus forum will be inherently biased towards tinnitus issues, and the same would be true of other health forums.

 

I understand and agree to a point. I have wondered in an earlier post if my tinnitus spike could be related to the high pollen/allergy season where I live. There are many variables and we are not in a controlled environment.

Having said that, I just got a call back from my ENT's office. I had talked with a nurse who spoke with him and she called me back to say that he said it is a known side-effect for Pfizer and that the only cure is time. He did not say how much time it would take to resolve or if I should get a second dose.

 

Is it just a known side effect of Pfizer or J&J and Moderna too?

 

What is his source that it’s a known side effect? Curious since that information is not evident in Pfizer’s data, the CDC reporting app, or even VAERS. Based on that data, it’s a potential short term response in conjunction often with elevated blood pressure, an allergic reaction, or experiencing dizziness and ear ringing before fainting. Even reading through VAERS, reporting individuals often have other conditions or medication use that could cause tinnitus.

 

It's a minefield with this condition. Allergies are another thing which can exacerbate it.

 

I've been offered the Sputnik-V. Although I would prefer the Pfizer, we don't really get to choose. We can refuse, but that's probably going to result in getting way behind in the line. I'm overweight, so I think my chances with COVID-19 are worse than with the vaccine.

We'll see. I hope it won't affect my tinnitus negatively.

 

There are people in my parenting group with tinnitus, and no one has mentioned an increase or change. Even of people in my everyday life with hearing issues and tinnitus, no one has raised a concern.

If it’s a known issue, I would think it would be more obvious given the millions of doses already administered. Especially since hearing issues and tinnitus are more common as we age, and older citizens were the initial key target for vaccination. I think I read that around 30 percent of the U.S. population has tinnitus. Already around 15 percent of adults are vaccinated, many of them were likely to have tinnitus or have experienced it at some point.

I am not saying it cannot contribute, but as @Ed209 eluded to, there are so many possible tinnitus causes. That is evident on this site. What one person feels increased their tinnitus, may be perfectly fine for 20 other site members.

I think that’s part of the frustration of tinnitus. This would be an easier condition to deal with if there was a clearer indication of what to avoid and what is 100 percent safe.

 

It was a message read verbatim from him to the nurse to me and he did not share any details. I wish I could speak with him but he's booked solid like all of them where I live and he said that I don't need to be seen since the only cure is time. So time WILL cure it, maybe? How much time? Will a second dose make it worse? I don't have the answers and they weren't provided.

 

I read you said your ears click in the other thread. Do they sound like this:

The Sound of My Eustachian Tube Opening

I have chronic allergies that I have to take steroids for. The clicking is the sound of your Eustachian tubes opening, and this can be worse if there is a lot of mucus in there. If it gets really bad, you can end up with glue ear/ETD - like I frequently get - where they don't open at all. This can lead to much louder tinnitus.

 

It doesn't sound quite like that but close, but there hasn't been any clicking in the last 24 hours. Right now it's mostly high pitched hell. I didn't have any allergies until last year. I also have some mild sinus pressure right now.

 

I hate when doctors do that. I obviously do not know your ENT, but almost feels like they are brushing you off. If he said it was not a usual side effect that would imply something else was potentially happening and that he should make time to see you.

 

It's a recording so it doesn't quite sound like how I perceive it either. If the clicking has stopped then it could be that your tubes are a bit clogged. This would make your tinnitus louder and it happens to me whenever I come down with a cold/virus, or when my allergies are particularly bad.

In your case, it's hard to say what the cause is. It could be any number of things including the vaccine.

Who here has tinnitus spikes that are completely random where there is no reason for it to happen? I can count myself in this club. My tinnitus has a mind of its own and will spike just because it wants to some days.

 

He is my second opinion ENT. The first brushed off any possibility that any of the COVID-19 vaccines could cause tinnitus, and that was when I met with her before getting my vaccine. So, yes, the brush off!

 

Here is a link to the current VAERS data with "tinnitus" selected for all vaccines. I selected to have the details included.

First, click this link:

https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/saved/D8/D142F579

Next, scroll down and click "I agree." Then click "VAERS Data Search." The saved results will process then load.

 

The US has vaccinated around 171,000,000 people. There are 314 reports of adverse effects regarding tinnitus on that search, so that represents 0.0001% of all those who received a shot.

These are also reports, so there is no way of knowing if those people would have experienced ear problems without the vaccine. What other drugs did they take, and what else were they doing prior to the vaccination? What other health conditions did they have?

There is no control other than to compare this to the rate that the unvaccinated general population are expected to encounter issues with tinnitus, and we know this is around 10%.

If you spin this on its head you could concur that almost anything can cause tinnitus. How many people got SSHL or tinnitus after wearing nylon socks instead of cotton ones? This is a bit of an extreme example, but it highlights how difficult it can be to extrapolate meaning from raw data.

 

By the way, in Spain the government has stopped vaccinating with Astrazeneca for people under 60. I suspect that many people were rejecting that particular vaccine...

 

So have Germany, and the UK have stopped using it on anyone under 30.

 

I am aware of all of this, I was simply posting so people could view and arrive at their own conclusions since people have been referencing the VAERS data. I have nothing to prove or disprove, am simply offering my experience and concerns. This will be my last post in this thread.

 

The report number drops to 253 when the query is modified to exclude reports where symptoms resolved. This leaves only reports where either symptoms did not resolve or it is unknown if the person improved.

However, just reading through the first few of those 253 reports, I immediately spotted one where the individual said symptoms were resolving. Others it’s unclear or it appears tinnitus happened in conjunction with other complaints like fever.

I was recently looking through a list of consumer reported side effects for Pfizer data in the U.K. and it caught my eye that around 30 people listed tooth pain. Is the vaccine really causing toothaches? I suspect not, it’s more likely a case of correlation rather than causation.

 

I know, and thank you for posting it. I'm not trying to be abrupt, although it may come across that way on a forum.

 

I think this was very helpful to post! It’s good to see the actual data and keep it in perspective in comparison with the millions of doses administered.

I also want to encourage anyone in the U.S. who receives a COVID-19 vaccine to use the CDC V-Safe site to record any post-vaccine symptoms. It’s a daily monitoring tool to help the CDC look out for unusual or concerning side effects. A friend of mine used it due to an odd rash and she was immediately contacted and is being daily monitored.

 

My understanding is anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 deaths are caused every year in the U.S. by prescription drugs--taken as prescribed. And yet we hear hardly a peep about those dangers. But if someone happens to die from drinking a half dozen "high energy" caffeine drinks, it makes headlines news and there's an immediate outcry to get rid of it.

Or the amino acid L-Tryptophan many years ago, where several deaths were attributed to contamination in a laboratory, not the supplement itself. And yet they banned the sale of L-Tryptophan (precursor to Serotonin) for decades. You don't suppose that ban had anything to do with the rising popularity of very lucrative SSRI antidepressants? It's a strange (and appalling) grip the conventional medical system and its counterparts in U.S. governmental regulatory agencies has on the consciousness of the public and health care policy.

 

I've said this many times in real life: some prescription drugs are worse than recreational drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, etc. It's just that one class is legalised and the other isn't. Some Drs dispense dangerous drugs like they are smarties, just because they're legal. It's a crazy world we live in. Big pharma has a significant amount of power and control over how Drs treat people.

In the UK, those big corporations used to do monthly sales pitches, where they'd essentially put on a big spread for the practices they were involved with (or not involved with) and they'd attempt to buy their loyalty. I believe this has now been stopped and no longer happens in this country.

 

As we are discussing the risk of COVID-19 vaccines, we may want to weigh that against the risk of COVID-19 and the potential longterm auditory concerns. I just saw yet another article discussing that even individuals who had mild cases of COVID-19 are complaining longterm of tinnitus, headaches and other health concerns.

Does anyone have any study data on COVID-19 and tinnitus? I recall one study placed it around almost 15 percent of COVID-19 cases complained of tinnitus, while around 40 percent of individuals who previously had tinnitus complained it worsened.

 

That's why I went ahead and got the vaccine despite all the reports here. Still doesn't change the impact it's had on my tinnitus. I'm still hoping it's all just psychological from worrying it would worsen things.