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Zoloft - Ringing Ears?

Posted , 9 users are following.

chris94636
chris94636

My PCP prescribed me ZOLOFT at 100mg along with Trazodone at 100mg for anxiety.

I figured out later on that I did not have anxiety and that all I had was a breathing problem of which I have already corrected.

I took it once (100mg) later on I found out that it was a high dose and the doctor did not tell me. 

Then I had to take the trazodone for about 7 days (100-50mg) then I switched over to ambien (5mg) and now I am able to sleep without any sleeping aids other than a natural melatonin pill every now and then.

So now I guess I am experiencing a withdrawal? I am experiencing all the symptoms of a withdrawal and the one the bugs me the most is the high pitched sound that feels like a million crickets are in my head.. (tinnitus?)

It stops when I drive, when I am in class, walking and exercising.. but right when I sit now for a moment or lay in bed, it comes back.

It has already been 4 weeks since the day I took the zoloft.

Anybody else experienced this "swoosh-click" sound? And does it go away?

0 likes, 16 replies

16 Replies

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  • john51151
    john51151 chris94636

    Posted

    hi it will it is just your sences adjusting it is horrible but will go away wishing you well takecare.
    • chris94636
      chris94636 john51151

      Posted

      Thanks,

      I will keep everyone updated on how my condition is in another 4 weeks.

  • james8206
    james8206 chris94636

    Posted

    Hi Chris,

    Your issues are very similar to my own. I've been keeping a log to try and figure out what's going on. My GP prescribed me sertraline back in February for mild anxiety because I was having trouble concentrating at work (from home). His plan was for me to take a 50mg tablet for the first 10 days and 100mg for the next 11 days on a three week course and then review but I never got that far. He told me it would take that length of time before the effect of the tablets would kick in and there would likely be side effects. As it turned out within 8 hours of taking the first tablet on 3rd February I felt completely restored and back to normal. Unfortunately from there it was down hill. I couldn't take the horrendous side effects having to force feed to eat, hot sweats and feeling nauseus all day long. After 5 days I woke up with a high pitched screeching noise in my head which totally freaked me out because i've never experienced it before and I didn't take another tablet after that pending a review with the doctor. 

    It was another week before I could see the doc and he told me not to go back on the sertraline because everyone was different and I appeared to be making progress anyway. I told him that I thought I had overdosed on the sertraline and indeed having stopped I had another good day on the way down as I had on day 1 of the tablets. A little research showed that quite a few people appeared to od on supposedly low dosage. Everyone is different though.

    For sure I have made a lot of progress since February on the anxiety front but it's now 12 weeks since I took a mere 5 sertraline 50mg tablets and the ringing ears has not gone away. It has become far and away the main issue.

    Sometimes it is on very low and I can easily work through it but on other occasions it is a piercing noise which causes a lot of distraction. A few beers generally reduces the volume but this is often followed by payback time the next day.

    Unfortunately for me, the long hours and work stress which caused the anxiety issues in the first instance are still in place and I can't afford to have time off work with having the mortgage to pay, getting my sons and daughter through college etc. so I'm going to have to deal with it as best I can while working through.

    It's difficult to judge accurately. I keep thinking I'm getting better with the noise low in level for an extended time only to have my hopes dashed when it returns.

    I'll never know how things would have turned out had I not taken sertraline but for sure I wish I never had!

     

    • Joey2017
      Joey2017 james8206

      Posted

      Please , I realiz this post is years old and I BEG you ...if you read his please reply as I’m loosing hope and I cry a lot and I’m trying to care for a small child.   I have ringing in my ears and I think not sure that it was caused by sertraline.

      it happened as I increased from 25 to 50 mg ..2 days on 50 mg and my ears were roaring loud.. I’ve only been off the med completely for 10 days now and no improvement ..

      please does it ever go away ...please be honest with me wether that’s good or bad .. please please reply !

      thanks , Joey 

    • Zyllac
      Zyllac Joey2017

      Posted

      I am on 100mg of zolof. I am trying to get off it myself. The weird ringing in my head as I move my eyes from left to right and nightsweats its a pain, so I emphasize with you. Let me give you some hope. I was on 600mg of OTC sleeping pills in a course of five years. Because Ambin just gave me mayor memory loss if I wake up in the middle of the night. How did my chest was shaved when all I remembered was taking a pill and shaving my face then by the time I got in the shower to go to sleep the pills already had kicked in. A careless mystery but I digress. So I tried quiting the sleeping pills and the withdrawals were debilitating. Nausea to body feeling not rested. I mean nausea to the point of not being able to do anything. How was I supposed to stop this? I have been buying 50mg of 1000 pills because of fear that I run out of money and pills. The withdrawals effect started on the second day. I then thought about ginger pills. Ginger extract pills took the nausea feeling away as I cut down the meds. The ginger didn't last long but it help when at the worse. Three to five month on the cut down from 600mg to 400mg to 300mg and the bad nausea to the point that the ginger didn't work. Then back up a little for a week then back down to 300mg. My body didn't like anything below 300mg so I went down to 275mg, 250mg and so on until it was all but at one 50mg. I then took every other day and stopped. I waiting about a month and took only one and I was knocked out. I did that test to see if 50mg puts me to sleep and if it did then I lost all tolerance to it which means no withdrawals. I now am coming off the zolof in the same matter but it's not the same. As long as I can feed the withdrawals with less and less the pills I should be off it with no ringing or just minor. My advice is that the prescribed amount until the ringing stops then use that as a meter. Take half or 3/4 of it and wait until the ringing starts. If it starts see how tolerable it can be. If so then keep that amount until the ringing stops if not then got to a bit higher then what you've taken and adjust until you feel you can live with it. Now don't go over your prescribed amount in hoping to stop the ringing. You need a little bit of ringing so you can know when it stops at the lower mg amount. Then go lower and check the ringing level. Make that your meter. If you can life with the ringing then that is your starting point until it is gone and you can go lower on your next dose. Take your time, everybody is different. Good luck and keep me posted. Lets do this together cause I am at 50mg from 100mg of zolof and the ringing is not bad.

    • corzet72816
      corzet72816 Joey2017

      Posted

      Hi. I've been on 100mg. of Zoloft for about 5 years now. I have a VERY LOUD RINGING in my ears that never goes away. Since Zoloft works best for my Anxiety, I've learned to adjust to the ringing over the years. However, this morning while laying down, it seemed louder than usual. At this point, I guess I'd rather deal with the ringing vs my debilitating anxiety😕?

  • james8206
    james8206 chris94636

    Posted

    Another interesting point which I neglected to mention in my earlier post.

    When I saw the doc last I told him that the tinnitus was bugging me more than the anxiety and he gave me some 10mg propanolol beta blockers to experiment with to see if they could alleviate the noise. I'd had a bad time with them before so needed to be careful. Took one on the morning of the first day (7th April) and one in the afternoon with no discernable difference to an already low-volume ringing.The next day I woke up in the night and the ringing was completely OFF (yippee) but having gone back to sleep it was back when it was time to get up for work. Disappointing but promising. I didn't take any tablets because things seemed to be improving without them. Next day the ringing was back and searing. I took two beta blockers and although there was no anxiety, the noise continued all day and all the following night which it had never done before. That was the end of my experiment with beta blockers. The noise eventually died down but it seemed like the beta blockers had perpetuated the ringing noise rather than alleviated it. I haven't been back to the doctor since but based on that evidence a trial of a beta-agonist wouldn't be amiss. I don't think he will go for it though.

    • chris94636
      chris94636 james8206

      Posted

      Interesting. 

      I did some research and I found out that high blood pressure is is one of the causes of the tinnitus. And that is it the zoloft along with its withdrawal effects that causes high blood pressure which then leads to tinnitus.

      So I went out to the local pharmacy and had my blood pressure checked, and I found out that I currently have prehypertension (blood pressure that is above normal, but not high) due to the zoloft withdrawal (before I did not have any high blood pressure), and I believe that is what is causing the tinnitus.

      So I started exercising everyday (walking) for 45-60 minutes every night before I go to bed along with taking in about 20-30 minutes of sunlight every day, and it seems to be helping with the blood pressure along with lowering the noise. 

      I am still in the withdrawal period of which I heard is about 6-8 weeks, and I am still hearing the noise, but not as much as I did in the beginning. so I can not come to any verified conclusions.

      What I do know is that increasing serotonin naturally can elevate mood, blood pressure and your nerves. So exercising and taking natural supplements could help. 

      With that being said..

      Try getting your blood pressure checked to see if you are above normal, and if you are, try exercising. You could still be in the withdrawal period or it is the ZOLOFT that has now caused high blood pressure.

      Also, try taking 5-HTP (it is sold at vitamin stores) it is a mood relaxer and increases serotonin naturally.

      Are you experiencing any other symptoms other than the ringing?

       

    • chris94636
      chris94636

      Posted

      Exercising and taking supplements are a naturally way of lowering blood pressure (if it is confirmed that you have prehypertension), but I would recommend seeing your GP too see if you can find some more answers.

      Also, try seeing a ENT specialist to get your ears checked.

    • james8206
      james8206 chris94636

      Posted

      First thing I did on stopping the sertraline was to look at serotonin enhancing supplements. I got some 5-hydroxytryptophan with complementary B vitamins and zinc and some pure L-tryptophan from well respected suppliers. Having read about the 1980's contaminated tryptophan debacle in Japan you can't be too careful about sourcing.

      I had my ears syringed at the local gp's but the doc reckons they are sound and doesn't think it's worth referring to a specialist.

      I haven't had my blood pressure taken in a while so I will do that soon.

      The only real exercise I do apart from pressing buttons on a computer is badminton on a Thursday evening. I invariably feel better after that and the ear ringing is never prominent afterwards.

      Emis Moderator comment: I have removed product/company names as we do not allow repeated posting of these in the forums. If users wish to exchange these details please use the Private Message service.

      http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages

    • chris94636
      chris94636 james8206

      Posted

      Hope its not too late for a response..

      I have been trying to stay away from the forums as I read that one of the ways to overcome tinnitus is to not think about it along with ignoring it. 

      From what I read, tinnitus does not get worse by itself, only the mind can do it. 

      Anyways,

      I am in the 7th week of withdrawal, and it looks like there has been progress, but very small. I still hear the sound when I lay in bed. But not often whent there is other sound present when I am up and doing things during the day.

      I am still feeling the side effects of the ZOLOFT, they are minimal as well. Although I feel as if it could take a few more weeks rather than the average of 6-8 weeks. 

      I will be taking a blood test to see what kind of minerals and vitamins that I am lacking. My blood test that I have previously taken before had me at a low magnesium level. 

      Low magnesium levels can also lead to the ringing sound. It is called magnesium deficiency. 

      Try a blood test?

      Also,

      How are the supplements treating you? Is it making any progress towards the sound?

       

    • Joey2017
      Joey2017 chris94636

      Posted

      Please , I realiz this post is years old and I BEG you ...if you read his please reply as I’m loosing hope and I cry a lot and I’m trying to care for a small child.   I have ringing in my ears and I think not sure that it was caused by sertraline.

      it happened as I increased from 25 to 50 mg ..2 days on 50 mg and my ears were roaring loud.. I’ve only been off the med completely for 10 days now and no improvement ..

      please does it ever go away ...please be honest with me wether that’s good or bad .. please please reply !

      thanks , Joey 

    • ashley97405
      ashley97405 Joey2017

      Posted

      I hope your doing better#! are you in experiencing the same exact thing

  • james8206
    james8206 chris94636

    Posted

    I know it's no joke but you're way too tenacious at trying to find a solution not to listen if it's still there. biggrin Same with me.

    I haven't been for any tests since I posted last time but I'm still taking a 5HTP supplement. I have ups and downs like a roller coaster but the trend is positive with less ringing and no ringing at all more often than a few weeks ago. There was a time when the ringing was constant for days on end. I guess patience is required and lots of it!

    The main difference between your problem and mine is the underlying reason behind it. I occasionally still have low mood and breathing issues related to the anxiety I was originally prescribed sertraline for whereas yours (hopefully) is now just the tinnitus with breathing issues now under control. I thought I was over all the anxiety but it returns on brief occasions. The tinnitus as it is now I could put up with were it not for the low mood issues so I think I still have some way to go.

    I'm still trying to figure out what makes for good days and not so good days but I will look into blood tests etc. in due course. I had such a good day out on Wednesday that Thursday was almost inevitably going to see a setback (which it did) but today I'm back to where I was on Tuesday.

    Hopefully getting better slowly! smile

  • ashley97405
    ashley97405 chris94636

    Posted

    I'm experiencing the same thing are you doing any better .. is there hope??

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