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Developed pulsatile tinnitus after coming off seroxat

Posted , 4 users are following.

seroxatbegone
seroxatbegone

Thought I'd reach out to the community for help please as I have developed constant pulsatile tinnitus along with intermittent dizziness 2 months ago since I lowered my dose of seroxat to almost negligible. Is there a link with tinnitus and coming off anti depressants?

This is such an awful condition everyday for the past 2 months I have this very loud wooshing sound in my left ear it is my pulse I've timed it. It's my blood pressure I can hear loudly in my ear, worse at night but constant!

My Dr prescribed steroid nasal spray this has done nothing!

I need an ENT appointment because something is wrong.

I can't sleep easily due to this incessant loud wooshing woosh cracke cracke x I often get so dizzy it's awful. I cry and feel frightened because this just won't go away.

The only thing that makes the wooshing sound stop is if I clench my teeth making my jaw stick out this physically stops the sound but I can't maintain that expression for long!

Please can anybody give me some advice as to what could be causing this and whether there is in fact a link with seroxat withdrawal and Pulsatile tinnitus or any tinnitus? I'd so appreciate some advice and help 

Thank you 

1 like, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • terrie27149
    terrie27149 seroxatbegone

    Posted

    So, so sorry you are going thru this. Iv had tinnitis, at times pulsatile, for well over a yr. Can't be real sure what caused mine. Stress, catscan dye, who knows. My ears stop up and crackle at times. My ENT told me to hold my nose and blow bout 20x a day. Iv averaged 3. This past week severe dizzy..so I do understand...I just take one day at a time and tell myself it's all good. I do have good days, praise the Lord..I sure hope u can find some answers. If not, we are here for you..trust me, it does get bettr. You will learn to rise above it and sometimes you won't be able to even hear it..it does feel in the head like something isn't right..but ya learn that's all part of it..take care..

    • seroxatbegone
      seroxatbegone terrie27149

      Posted

      Hi Terrie,

      Thank you so much for replying. I'm so sad to hear you are suffering too! It's interesting you say your ENT told you to hold your nose and blow, well mine is the exact reverse! I have to keep sniffing to get the pressure in my ears back to normal! I have had that since a child.

      They pop then everything goes all loud so I sniff they pop again and the pressure is ok until the next time I swallow which causes them to pop so everything goes all loud, sniff repeat!! Weird huh!?

      If I held my nose and blew out it would cause me much pain and feel like my ear drums are going to explode so sniffing (sucking the air back in) does help throughout the day, but that has nothing to do with my pulsatile tinnitus this is a new thing that is so invasive and loud each night say 4pm it comes on all the way through until the morning. Sometimes I get it in the day too.

      I have prayed and prayed and still have faith that one day this will go. I pray yours goes too.Thank you for your reply so many best wishes.

  • tanney
    tanney seroxatbegone

    Posted

    ENT doctor will help diagnose the problem.  You should choose an ENT that specialize in inner/middle ear problems.  Most ENT are rather generic ear/nose/throat doctors.  Are you in the US?  If so, I suggest you contact the nearest University and ask them to recommend the right ENT.  Also....allergies could be cause of your problem.  How long have you been taking the steroid nasal spray?  It often takes a few weeks to be effective.

    Regarding antidepressants....did you slowly wean off seroxat or did you just stop quickly?  If you did it quickly it may have caused the pulsatile tinnitus.  The ENT should be able to help you solve the problem.  GOOD LUCK!

    Please let us know what you find out....

    • seroxatbegone
      seroxatbegone tanney

      Posted

      Hi Tanney,

      Thank you so much for your reply. My Dr wrote it down as Eustachian tube dysfunction!? The steroids were taken for 1.5 months and he says to take them for another 2 weeks but this is not stopping the awful loud pulse wooshing and crackling mainly in left ear!

      I will go back and ask him to please make me an ENT appointment! Why didn't he do this in the first place? I guess he was trying to help without the need for ENT but it would've saved so much time to wait for the appointment at ENT.

      Yes, I came off seroxat very quickly after many many years of being on it (only a low dose) then it started, so I am pinning it on that, it's the only thing I can think has caused this as I've never experienced pulsatile tinnitus ever.

      Saying that since a child I have had inner ear troubles where the fluid didn't drain during a virus and everything was amplified loud in my head and gromets were inserted on 2 different ocassions these didn't work so they inserted T tubes, these helped perforate the ear drum by making a tiny hole (so I was told) the problem did ease for a good 6 years. 

      I have suffered with this weird thing since a kid where my ears pop and all goes loud so I sniff to get the pressure right so I can hear normal again.

      When I swallow like have a drink they pop, so I sniff, it's fine again until I swallow, sniff repeat! Blowing out whilst holding nose would hurt and feel like the pressure is going to explode so sniffing like sucking the air back in helps. This is not related to this new pulsatile tinnitus though. This is a separate thing. Any ideas on what why sniffing helps equalise the pressure?

      I will carry on and hope to see the ENT quite quickly. I wonder what they will find? Something is physically making me hear my pulse (blood rushing) in left ear. It is definitely a physical thing because doing this certain facial movement that involves grimacing which moves certain neck muscles stops the noise but this is hard to walk around with a face like a scary mask all the time!

      Thank you so much for your reply. I will update hopefully sooner rather than later xx

    • terrie27149
      terrie27149 tanney

      Posted

      I also have like the ears clogging and I sniff to open thm as well. I have never looked at that symptom b4 u mentioned it as any kind if a link. I do get the crackling in my ears as well. Lately tho when ears feel clogged the sniffing doesn't help like b4. ENT told me to do the nose holding and blow when I told him I was hearing strange sounds and like a door slamming sometimes. He said sometimes the eustation tube gets stopped up and will cause that and for me to do tht exercise 20x day..when I do it tho, while I'm doing it, the T gets much louder and as soon as I stop it goes back dwn to just a nuisance. I also have deviated septum which I have to sniff alit to open the nostrils to breath...oh the mess we are in huh?

    • Jilly40730
      Jilly40730 seroxatbegone

      Posted

      Hey!

      I have suffered terribly with my Eustachian tubes. I suffer hearing loss and have had grommets 3 times. My bones in my ears are damaged and my ear drums are badly scarred from previous operations so I have to live with the issue.

      I only need to swallow or yawn for my ears to pop and I am able to un pop them without pinching my nose and blowing. I’ve had to learn to not swallow so hard to avoid popping. It is a nightmare when I have the slightest cold and can be left in agony when unpopping my ears.

      I suffer tinnitus since I was young and am so used to it, I wish it would stop especially when it can start randomly at work and I’m making more noise to mask it

      I used to blow a balloon through my nose and help open the Eustachian tubes but I was left feeling dizzy - so I now accept it and put up with it.

      Grommets were useless, I now use hearing aids As I was born with terrible hearing loss - took them 15 years to give them to me!

      Let me know how you get on, I’m weaning off Paroxetine and not noticed anything worse with my hearing.

      All the best

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