Would Prednisone Work for Noise-Induced Hyperacusis?

Hello, I’m new here.

I wanted to ask if anyone else in this forum has had any results or experience using steroids like Prednisone or Methylprednisolone for noise-induced sound trauma that resulted in sound sensitivity and hyperacusis? No hearing loss or real tinnitus.

I had an MRI incident in 2013 and for a year I went to a lot of ENTs and they gave me oral Prednisone. At the time it didn’t seem to really help much and I felt very anxious and couldn’t sleep well on it. I then went to a clinic up in Massachusetts that started me on TRT with sound generators. After a year I was back to normal like before the accident.

Now 4 months ago I had another noise-induced trauma from a loud stereo speaker. I’ve started to use the TRT sound generators again but 4 months later it’s not improving as fast as I would hope.

Even though I really don’t remember the steroids helping much I’m a bit desperate so was thinking of giving it another try. Just don’t want to take something that may set me back.

So has anyone had any experience with steroids and specifically it helping sound sensitivity/hyperacusis?

I would really appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

 

To be honest whenever I’m on Prednisone my hyperacusis almost goes away. I stayed on it for weeks because I felt so good. It was amazing. Then when I get off of it, my ears go back to normal. Maybe even my sensitivity gets a little wors.

I jumped on the Prednisone because I got in a car accident and really messed up my ears. You will read on here that some people take Prednisone after noise that’s not very loud. This is a big no.

It is hard to tell because 90 dB sounds appear as 130 dB for people like us, but I can tell when there’s serious damage. When you drop a plate, or something like that, it may hurt but it most likely can’t cause hearing loss.

If you re around an explosion like an airbag, gunshot, or something like that then that’s the time to get on Prednisone to mitigate some of the damage.

 

I took them acutely after a noise injury and it didn't help my sensitivity at all (very little noise still triggers pain 2 months later) but it turned down the degree of pain a lot for me and it's still nowhere near as bad as before taking them (it was on the level of severe migraine pain when I decided to take them and hasn't gotten that bad since).

 

Thank you both for the insight. I kind of felt it would be a long shot with the Prednisone but if I heard of more people having some help from it for sound sensitivity/hyperacusis I was willing to give it a shot even though I’m not a fan of some of the side effects.

I’m sticking with the sound generators and TRT as that helped the first time around when this happened. I was just hoping to maybe get a little more progress from the Prednisone.

 

Explain your sound generator experience? My hyperacusis got horribly bad and was wondering how those things work for you. I just got on Prednisone today and my hyperacusis went from a 9 to a 6.

 

Can you take Prednisone for ototoxic meds?

 

Hmmm, that is a very good question, one of the few I cannot answer. I would say it’s worth a try but I would definitely ask a reputable ENT before doing it. I know it’s best for random deafness hearing loss, can help acoustic trauma, but regarding ototoxic meds, maybe it could help. It would have to be within a week or two though.

 

Thanks. Can you tell me who told you that Prednisone needs to be taken within a week or two after onset or worsening of tinnitus? Your doctor, or a website? Can't find a straight answer!

 

Yeah, ear damage and tinnitus is an extremely hard subject to find exact answers for this kind of thing. If you look up on Google, sudden deafness Prednisone, there will be many articles coming up. Also, you have to dig for them on here, just about every knowledgeable person on here says Prednisone gets less and less effective the longer you wait. There is no guarantee but it can help.

Any reputable ENT, if you go to one presenting with tinnitus, hearing loss, sudden deafness, acoustic trauma, will prescribe 60 mg of Prednisone for 2 weeks and taper off. 3 ENTs of mine did it in Florida. My first one actually prescribed it 2 months after my trauma.