Posted by JohnL on August 4, 2001, at 5:06:52
In reply to Long term effects of AD's? Ringing in head?, posted by bcms on August 3, 2001, at 20:59:42
> My father suffers from terrible ringing in head. He also suffers from anxiety/depression through out his life, and has taken different AD's in the past. I read somewhere at one time when I was researching this for him that the "ringing" is caused from AD's. I do not want to suffer from this later in life. He is 57, and is miserable. Anyone know anything about this? Worth finding out. THanks
I too suffer from ringing in the head, what they call tinnitus. In my own personal experience, drugs of all kinds can cause or worsen tinnitus. Others can quiet it down. Only trial and error can identify the good ones from the bad ones, since it is different from person to person.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can now see that the drugs that did not work for my depression were also the same drugs that worsened my tinnitus. If I experienced louder tinnitus from the first day on a new drug trial, that was a clear indication it was the wrong drug. There is no formal procedure that I am aware of that uses tinnitus as a screening tool, but on an anecdotal basis I think it makes sense. Increased tinnitus merely indicates to me that the drug is doing the wrong stuff, or is affecting the wrong chemistries.
All of the SSRIs worsened my tinnitus except one. That one is Prozac. Prozac also turned out to be the only one that was helpful for my dysthymia. There are clinical studies that discuss anecdotal side observations that Prozac quieted tinnitus in some patients.
The antipsychotics Zyprexa or Amisulpride also quiet down my tinnitus. Both of them also coincidentally happen to work very well on my dysthymia. In clinical studies Nortriptyline has shown some use as well, though for me it was only somewhat helpful.
Other psychiatric drugs that have been shown in clinical trials to help quiet tinnitus are the benzos, such as Xanax, Klonopin, or Valium. Also, in clinical studies, the mood stabilizers such as Depakote or Tegretol have been used for treating tinnitus. The quietest I ever experienced was on the anticonvulsant Lamictal. It just wasn't helpful for my depression, so I discontinued.
For someone suffering from stubborn depression and tinnitus simultaneously, the patient could try a combination of Prozac 20mg + Zyprexa 2.5mg to 5mg. One could try the benzos if the other drugs were not helpful. Prozac+Xanax, or Prozac+Klonopin, etc. Some people have found relief with antihistimine type drugs.
Drugs such as Wellbutrin, Buspar, Pindolol, tricylcic antidepressants, and others all worsened my tinnitus. And like I mentioned, if they worsened my tinnitus immediately it was a good indicator that the drug would not be helpful for my depression. Whatever the particular drug was doing, it was doing the wrong stuff for me.
Unfortunately there is no straight forward way to treat ringing in the head. Drugs can either worsen it or help quiet it down. Trial and error is the only way to tell. Prozac+Zyprexa quiet down my tinnitus so much that I hardly ever even notice it any more. On the other hand, I remember when I was on Wellbutrin and Remeron, the ringing was so loud it was actually louder than the road noise and the radio while driving 65 MPH with the windows down. Geez, that was loud!
Since the patient is miserable, I wouldn't fool around. You could go straight to Prozac+Zyprexa. In my opinion, that could combination holds the highest potential of killing two birds with one stone as quickly as possible. If not helpful however, other drugs include the benzos, Depakote, Tegretol, Lamictal, Neurontin, antihistimines.
John
poster:JohnL
thread:73442
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010804/msgs/73466.html