Zantac/Ranitidine and Tinnitus?

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone else's tinnitus started from taking an H2 blocker, such as Zantac/Ranitidine...I have GERD and I was taking a PPI for 8 months.. I started transitioning off of it and my doctor recommended Zantac, 300 mg daily. I have never had tinnitus in my life, but a few days after starting the Zantac, I started waking up in the middle of the night to very loud ringing in my ears. I thought it was just a freak side effect but unfortunately, it continued.

Now, everytime I am in a quiet room, or when I lay down in bed at night, I'm bombarded by an extremely loud ringing in both of my ears. It's very unnerving...

I called my doctor and two pharmacists to ask about it and all of them said that tinnitus "isn't listed" as a side effect of Zantac and they've never heard of it.

My doctor told me to lower my dose of Zantac, so I did, but I still have the tinnitus.... I'm scared that it's permanent. Is it possible that it's a vitamin deficiency like B12? Does anyone have that?

Thank you for your help and support. This is very worrisome.

 

I have GERD - I have a lot of things wrong with me - I think my body was built on a Friday afternoon when everyone just wanted to go home.

I have taken Omeprazole for 15 years and it never seemed to have any effect on my hearing. Why are you coming off the PPI if it worked for you?

No matter what any doctor or pharmacist says, it is possible to react adversely to ANY drug/substance. Think of some of the obvious things that people have been exposed to for all of human history and some are allergic to - pollen, dust, gluten, fish, eggs (you get the idea).

Levothyroxine is also not listed, but without a shadow of a doubt it was the cause of my tinnitus. I don't know your personal circumstances and I'm not a doctor, so you will need to talk to your doctor about it, but with hindsight, my advice is to act NOW! Even if you have to take Gaviscon for a bit, or go back on the PPI - I'm assuming either Omeprazole or Lanzoprazole, then if there is a drug that is starting to affect your hearing, the sooner you remove it from your system, the better.

I continued taking Levothyroxine for 2 years after weird things started happening and my problems just got worse and worse - like you, the doctors and specialists insisted it was not connected. It was only after stopping it that things started to improve. I genuinely believe that if I had stopped at the start then I would never have found myself in such a terrible place with my hearing.

 

Hi Owen,
Thanks for your reply... to answer your question, I stopped the PPI (Aciphex) because I had an endoscopy done and there's no damage whatsoever. I don't want to stay on a PPI forever and my doctor gave me permission to go off. He said I can manage my GERD with diet/lifestyle.

In any case, I lowered the dosage of Zantac to 75 mg twice daily, but I still have the tinnitus. I guess I can start tapering it even more until I'm not on it anymore. It's weird because I don't hear the ringing unless I'm in a quiet room or I plug my ears. Is this typically how tinnitus is? Has anyone else here had tinnitus that started from taking medication?

 

Rabeprazole is a slightly unusual one - in the UK, Lansoprazole is prescribed over 50 times and Omeprazole is prescribed almost 100 times for every 1 prescription of Rabeprazole.

In many people GERD is idiopathic and the purpose of PPIs and H2 blockers is preventative. If diet and lifestyle are enough to get by, then I would suggest this is the best thing to do - but of course consult your doctor. Tinnitus from drugs can be permanent or temporary. As a suggestion, have you tried DGL?

Perhaps unfortunately, there is no "typical" tinnitus. Everyone's case is different and yes, there are loads of people on this forum that have tinnitus from medication, it just so happens that noise trauma is the most common and yet ironically, the most easily preventable.

 

@Cutea

I hate to bother you, and I know this is an older thread, but I was wondering about something, you said that you took "ranitidine" and it affected your tinnitus at the time. Did it ever reduce, or go back down later over time, like a spike?

Thank You in advance for your response.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

I foun this thread when I was curious if others had had the same reaction that I seem to have experienced.

I had a fluttering sound in my left ear around 6 months ago. At the time i was taking lots of ranitadine to combat reactions to gluten inflammation. I didn't link the two at the time. However it stopped abruptly and didn't return until two month's ago, when I restarted daily ranitidine. It got worse and worse until almost buzzing every minute for 20 seconds. Anyway I found a blog wher someone recommended magnesium oxide. I ordered immediately, and after literally taking two tablets the buzzing stopped and has not returned once many months later.
I found some links between lack of stomach acid hindering absorption of minerals such as magnesium. I take some multivitamin with magnesium daily now with some organic cider vinegar.
Anecdotally chap at work has a wife suffering from tinnitus for 20 years. Seen all specialists with no luck . she began magnesium oxide and the tinnitus has reduced massively.

Can't hurt to try.

 

I have been taking this drug 150 mg once a day in the morning for the past 5 days but it seems this is ototoxic?

Does anyone know more about this?

Edit : tinnitus and/or hearing loss is not listed as a side effect .

 

Research shows long term use of ppi drugs is quite harmful. H2 blockers are much safer. I took zantac and it does seem to make my t louder but that goes away when I stop taking them.