Can Amlodipine Cause Tinnitus?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady asked:
Can Amlodipine cause roaring in the ears? I have only been taking it for 6 weeks. Can I stop without a problem? My doctor doesn’t think that is the cause of the roaring. I would like to stop for a period and see if the roaring stops.
Roaring in your ears is one of the many tinnitus sounds. According to the PDR, Amlodipine (Norvasc) causes tinnitus in between 1 person in 1,000 and one person in 50, so tinnitus is a relatively common side effect of this drug. Also, realize that the “official” figures are always low by their very nature, as not all tinnitus occurrences are reported, and thus included in the “official” figures.
You need to talk it over with your doctor about whether you can stop cold turkey, or need to taper down or what. Then together you can make the decision what you want to do.
If you stop taking this drug for a couple of weeks or so, and if your tinnitus goes away, that is strong circumstantial evidence that this drug is causing your tinnitus in spite of what your doctor says. (Doctors typically know little about ototoxicity.) Don’t expect the tinnitus to stop immediately after stopping the drug. It may take some days or weeks or longer.
Then, if/when your tinnitus stops, and you decide to begin taking this drug again—if the roaring comes back, that is proof that this drug is the culprit. If that happens, I’d suggest you ask your doctor for a different drug that will do the same job.
To learn which drugs are (or can be) ototoxic, see “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed“. This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs, 30 herbs and 148 chemicals.
September 15th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Severe (single side deafness) with tinnitus.
Treated by ENT with Prednisone injections to ear with no hearing improvement. MRI clear. Had been taking Norvasc ( Generic) for several months ) with some minor side effects. Suddenly severe side effects including loss of hearing. If this has been caused by the Norvasac will the ‘deafness – rated profound’ clear up? Who do I report this reaction to. I shall contact both my ENT and Family MD who prescribed the med tomorrow.
HELP!!!
September 16th, 2010 at 5:14 am
Hi Caryl:
I have never seen anything that links hearing loss to Amlodipine. The only ototoxic side effects I’ve found listed for Amlodipine are tinnitus, ataxia, dizziness, vertigo and ear pain.
So my first reaction would be that no, the Amlodipine did not cause your sudden hearing loss. As a class, the Calcium Channel blockers, which includes Amlodipine, don’t seem to cause much, if any, hearing loss.
Thus I think that some other factors likely caused your hearing loss. However, there is always the possibility that the Amlodipine triggered it. I just don’t think it is very likely–given the limited information you’ve shared.
Neil
January 24th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
I started taking amlodipine 2 months ago and developed deafness in one ear. Last weekend I forgot to take a pill and I noticed my hearing starting to come back again after a couple of days. I am nearing the end of the first days hearing and am beginning to notice that my hearing is worsening again. Is this a coincidence that my deafness skipped a day in sync with my missing a days treatment?
I am seroiusly thinking there is a connection.
Opinions anybody ???
January 25th, 2011 at 7:42 am
Hi Tony:
As I said above, I have nothing indicating that Amlodipine causes hearing loss. That is not to say it can’t, but I have not seen anything to the effect that it does.
So your experience could be a coincidence, or it may be that Amlodipine does, in fact, cause hearing loss in some people.
I’d have to know a lot more about your experience with Amlodipine in the previous months as well as this current episode in order to venture an opinion. However, at first glance, I wouldn’t have expected that missing one day of medication would let your hearing come back enough that you’d notice it. I would have expected that you’d have had to go off the medication completely for perhaps a couple of weeks.
Regards
Neil