Tinnitus

[burkhog]

Diagnosed with RA 11/19. Rh factor and CCP antibody were positive. Symptoms were mild hand pain and swelling, which has highly improved with drastic dietary changes and perhaps Methotrexate (MTX). I took 5 weeks of MTX but had to stop due to unbearable tinnitus, which continued for 8 weeks after off the drug. My non AP rheumatologist was willing to prescribe Minocycline at my request, rather than another DMARD. He prescribed 50 mg daily. I am 65 and weigh less than 100lbs. I’m in good health otherwise.I thought the dose was too low, but after one dose of Mino the tinnitus immediately returned. I had audiology testing and ears are fine. Hoping the ear ringing will resolve again and perhaps this time I will wait several months to try again. Is tinnitus a common problem with RA drugs?

[Maz]

Hi Burkhog,

Sorry to hear you’re suffering with tinnitus. Tinnitus has been brought up a few times on this forum over the last decade or so and wonder if you’ve run any searches (using the search box abt the top of the forum) to look for past discussions on this topic? You might find some interesting clues in what others have shared.

50mg of mino daily isn’t a low dose per Dr. Brown’s protocols. He’d use just 50mg or 100mg on just Monday, Wednesday and Friday in a Pulsed fashion (see Pulsed Protocol in Resources section of site). AP is a verrrry slow therapy and rarely results in miraculous, overnight remissions and very often people feel worse for a few months before seeing small, brief, incremental improvements.

[PhilC]

I’ve also experienced tinnitus from taking minocycline. Research told me that it would eventually go away, and that’s exactly what happened. However, it did take a long time for that to happen.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[burkhog]

Thanks for the responses. Phil, did it go away while you were taking the drug, or did you stop the drug and then it went away? 8 weeks after stopping the MTX the ringing had finally stopped, but it resumed with just 1 dose of Minocin. I currently am not being treated which makes me a bit uneasy, but the ringing makes me so irritable and I worry about hearing loss. Perhaps if my joint discomfort was severe, I would be willing to tolerate tinnitus. Thankfully I have minimal symptoms currently. I’ve gone the gluten free, no processed foods, minimal sugar, dairy free, lots of fish route along with tumeric, fish oil, and vitamin supplements with good response. Max, I did the search and found a few helpful nuggets!

[PhilC]

burkhog wrote:

Phil, did it go away while you were taking the drug, or did you stop the drug and then it went away?

I’ve never stopped taking minocycline. The tinnitus went away while I was taking it.

You may want to try switching to doxycycline. It tends to be much easier to tolerate than minocycline.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[Rose]

Burkhog, I had very bad tinnitus for years, but now it comes only maybe once a week. And I can live with that since I know it will be gone the next day. What helped me is a program they call “Tinnitus retraining” an audiologist saved me, you go through a training with them, It takes awhile but it worked for me. I live in Charlottesville VA. and lucky for me he came here three times a week. Google Tinnitus retraining and see what comes up. I have been taking minocycline for 12 years.

[Author]

Posts