by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
© December, 2012
Numbers of people have asked me if I know of any drugs that are not ototoxic that can help them with their depression and anxiety. If you are one of them, I trust this article will help you.
Here’s a shocking statistic. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 35% of the entire population of the United States are taking antidepressant drugs. Millions more are taking anti-anxiety drugs. It bothers me that so many people, especially hard of hearing people, are hooked on these drugs. Because they are taking drugs, they suffer from ototoxic (and other) side effects. Much of this suffering is unnecessary since there are better ways to treat depression.
Here’s another shocking statistic. Did you know that only 19% of patients who had seen a primary care physician had received appropriate treatment for anxiety or depression? (1) In his wonderfully insightful book called “Healing Anxiety and Depression”, psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen explains, “These well-meaning doctors often take a simplistic approach to anxiety and depression, assuming that one treatment fits all which leads to many treatment failures.” He adds, “‘Medication only’ treatment for these disorders is bad treatment and can make some people worse.” (1) With today’s “drug” mentality, far too many people neglect the psychological and social aspects of anxiety and depression and only take drugs.
Incidentally, depression and anxiety often go hand-in-hand. Thus, you want to deal with both issues, not just depression by itself.
Usually anxiety and depression are the result of poor “brain health” combined with the stresses of life. Unfortunately, all too often people set themselves up for anxiety and depression. They don’t do this deliberately of course, but by not actively following steps for good physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, they doom themselves to a lifetime of fighting anxiety and depression. Adding hearing loss into the mix only compounds the problems they face.
“Dr. Amen’s work shows that most cases of depression and anxiety are really symptoms of underlying brain dysfunction. For example, depression can arise if brain activity is too low in your frontal lobes. This inactivity means you cannot inhibit your negative feelings. Depression can also be a symptom of heightened or excessive activity in your frontal lobes, as this leads to an inability to stop thinking the bad thoughts in your head.
Other brain-related factors include brain injuries, toxic exposures, and/or a combination of poor lifestyle habits such as a poor diet and lack of exercise. Dr. Amen’s treatments to optimize brain function focus on the four-pronged approach of diet, exercise, nutritional supplements, and correcting negative thought patterns.” (2)
There are a number of things that you can do to help control your feelings of anxiety and depression, or better yet, prevent them from occurring in the first place. Here are three of them.
1. Practice Good Brain Health: If you are anxious or depressed, or a combination of both, you would do well to read Dr. Amen’s book (mentioned above). It will give you good insight into the five highly interconnected brain circuits that underlie most anxiety and depression problems. More importantly, it will show you how to restore these areas of your brain to health again. As you do this, you will find that your anxiety and depression begin to disappear.
Dr. Amen uses SPECT brain imaging to determine a person’s brain health. (SPECT stands for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography.) In actuality, SPECT measures blood flow and activity patterns. In other words, it looks at how the brain works.
When using SPECT imaging, he looks for three things: first, areas of your brain that work well; second, areas of your brain that are low in activity; and third, areas of your brain that are high in activity. (1) He then works to balance the different areas of your brain for optimal brain (and body) health.
Dr. Amen has five clinics—2 on the west coast and 3 on the east coast: (Newport Beach in San Francisco, California; Bellevue, Washington; Reston, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; and New York City). You can learn more about the work of the Amen Clinics here. Each of these clinics performs brain SPECT imaging in the context of a full clinical evaluation. They also provide a wide variety of treatment options.
You can learn much more about brain health in his book Healing Anxiety and Depression
2. Practice Cognitive Therapy or “Think on These Things”: Cognitive therapy is very simply, therapy for your thoughts. Cognitive therapy has proven to be very helpful in treating anxiety and depression.
In the Bible, God, through the pen of the Apostle Paul laid down the principles of cognitive therapy 2000 years ago. In fact, as Dr. Amen states, “Philippians 4:8 is a very clear statement on the most helpful way to think and behave. What you allow to occupy your mind will sooner or later determine your feelings, your speech and your actions.” (1)
Paul wrote, “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble [honorable], whatever things are just [right], whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely [lovable], whatever things are of good report [admirable], if there is any virtue [moral excellence], and if there is anything praiseworthy think on these things.”
If you have been filling your mind with negative and anxiety-producing thoughts, no wonder you are feeling anxious and depressed. That is why it is so important to think on positive things if you want to have good mental health. (Since most news is about bad [negative] things—and this often leads to anxiety and depression as you mull over it—it is a good idea to limit how much news you read, listen to or watch if you value your mental health.)
As Dr. Amen says, “Thoughts are biologically-based, and have a real impact on how you feel and behave. Every time you have an angry, unkind, sad, or cranky thought, your brain releases negative chemicals that activate your deep limbic system and make your body feel bad.
Conversely, every time you have a good thought, a happy thought, a hopeful thought, or a kind thought, your brain releases chemicals the calm your deep limbic system and help your body feel good.” (1)
Therefore, you want to surround yourself with good people who emanate good thoughts. This is because who you spend your time with also really makes a difference to the quality of your mental health.
When you are with positive, supportive, and loving people, you feel happier and more content and your anxiety and depression tend to be less. Likewise, when you spend time with negative or hostile people, you tend to feel tense, anxious, upset, sick, and less intellectually on the ball. In short, you feel even more anxious and depressed.
3. Optimize Your Gut Flora for Good Brain Health: Few people realize just how important healthy gut flora is to good mental health. According to Dr. Amen, as much as 95 percent of the serotonin in your body is produced in your gut, so strategies designed to optimize gut production of serotonin could certainly go a long way toward optimizing your mental health.
Many people do not maintain a healthy gut flora. The “good guys” are regularly wiped out every time you take antibiotics, not to mention being decimated by the typical American diet of junk food you eat.
Therefore, you want to keep your friendly gut flora at optimal levels. You can do this by eating traditionally fermented foods, or by taking high-quality probiotics.
Dr. Joseph Mercola has become passionate about teaching people to massively increase the amount of fermented foods they eat—specifically fermented vegetables—in order to replenish the beneficial bacteria that produce serotonin. (2)
As Dr. Amen explains: “Your gut is really your second brain. They’re totally interconnected. If you have an overgrowth of poor gut bacteria, you are not producing serotonin and the other neurotransmitters that you need in order to stay healthy. (2)
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This is by no means an exhaustive treatment of this subject, but if you have problems with anxiety and/or depression and want to avoid ototoxic drugs, it is enough to get you started in the right direction.
And of course, to learn which drugs can damage your ears—if you need to take them—see “ Ototoxic Drugs Exposed 3rd edition. This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 877 drugs, 35 herbs and 148 chemicals.
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(1) Amen, Daniel. “Healing Anxiety and Depression”. 2003. ISBN 0399150366.
((2) Mercola, Joseph. “Why Psychiatry Needs to Add Brain SPECT Imaging, Especially in Complex Cases“. October 28, 2012.
Please are there any non ototoxic depressants… the ototoxic meds are killing me please
Hi Ruben:
Read my articles
http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/which-is-the-least-ototoxic-antidepressant/
and
http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/st-johns-wort-a-non-ototoxic-anti-depressant/
Cordially,
Neil
I had hearing loss from taking quetiapine and mirtazapene together. Despite being off these drugs for 6 months now I still have these problems and tinnitus 🙁 is it likely these were caused by the drugs? I was a music lecturer and audio electronics engineer, these problems have destroyed my life…. I also have balance issues now, were these drugs the culprit? Is there any way to take legal action if I was forced to take these drugs despite complaining of the side effects to a doctor?
Hi Mark:
Both Mirtazapine and Quetiapine can cause hearing loss, but Mirtazapine is the more ototoxic of the two.
Again, both of these drugs can cause tinnitus, but Mirtazapine is the worse of the two.
Likewise, both of these drugs can affect balance–ataxia, dizziness, vertigo–and again, you guessed it, Mirtazapine is generally the worse of the two.
I suspect it was mostly the Mirtazapine that caused your problems. Who knows how the two drugs interacted and caused even worse side effects. Very little information is known how ototoxic drugs interact and I’ve not seen anything about these two drugs and their interactions.
You can always take legal action, but the chances of you winning are mighty slim because you’d need a doctor to testify that these drugs caused your problems and getting a doctor to say that just doesn’t happen much if at all.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for the reply. I just can’t understand how such drugs are even legal. These have completely and utterly destroyed my life to the point I’m considering suicide daily. I can’t even keep my eyes fixated properly anymore making life extremely difficult. It’s the cruelest fate for my circumstances, and noone at all will compensate for this living torture or life lost if I decide to take that path.
How are you? I know this post is old but I am praying for all of us for coping or a cure.
Hello, I took Remeron (mirtazapine) for 9 months and quit. During severe discontinueation syndrome I experienced tinnitus and head pressure. It’s been 9 months off the drug and I experience the low frequency or ocean like tinnitus once or twice a month along with hearing disturbance where everyone sounds like a synthesized robots or I hear flutes with every tone received. My question is, if the Remeron caused this, is it hopeful to reverse? Could my lithium be causing it?
Hi Lisa:
When you take any psychotropic drug such as Mirtazapine (a tetracyclic antidepressant) you need to taper off them slowly if you have been on them for any length of time. Otherwise you may develop withdrawal side effects such as tinnitus.
Unfortunately, this kind of tinnitus proves very difficult to habituate to. This is why I never advocate taking any psychotropic drugs in the first place. And if you find yourself on one, then you need to do a very slow taper. By slow, I mean a 10% reduction per month on the descending balance. Such a taper will take at least a year.
To answer your question, yes, Remeron can cause all sorts of weird sounds and distortions. Hopefully, they will fade away in time. It is best to ignore them as much as possible and focus on the loves of your life. The more you dwell on them, the worse they can become.
And yes, lithium can also cause such weird things too. And who knows how the two drugs act together synergistically to cause such weird sounds, etc.
Note that the toxic levels of lithium are very close to the therapeutic levels so it is easy to cross that fine line. It’s possible that by reducing your dose slightly might make a difference. Check with your doctor.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I have total sensorineural hearing loss
and I naturally have tinnitus with that. I have depression and anxiety and have been on desipramine for a while. Trying to find the right dosage to deal with this new issue. She wants to put me on Mertazapine because it is listed as one of the only drugs that will NOT increase the ringing. I took it for one night and it was louder. I refused to take it. I have seen that is is not supposed to increase the T. Where do get the information? Just experience or literature?
Thanks!
Hi Carole:
Mirtazapine, according to the testing done before it was released said its tinnitus rate was the same as a placebo, supposedly meaning that Mirtazapine doesn’t cause tinnitus. However, a number of people have reported to the FDA database as getting tinnitus from taking this drug. Thus, obviously the initial studies (which weren’t looking for tinnitus in the first place, but just recorded it IF someone happened to mention it) were in error. (Note: initial studies are often deficient as borne out later after the drug is released to the public and reports from users start coming in.)
Actually, Desipramine is much less ototoxic than Mirtazapine (30 to 60 TIMES less ototoxic) and doesn’t cause tinnitus in many people at all. If it is doing the job, you’d be better off on Desipramine than on Mirtazepine from your ears point of view.
Cordially,
Neil
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Bauman where do you get the “30 to 60 times less ototoxic” figures? What kind of studies show this and who conducted them? Thank you.
Hi Adriel:
I’m not aware of any formal studies on ototoxicity for most drugs. Therefore, I search for the most reliable information available and compile it all. I don’t pretend all the information I compile is totally accurate, but it is the best information I have available to me.
To specifically answer you question, the comparison was between two drugs in relation to their resulting side effects of hearing loss and tinnitus. The two drugs were Mirtazapine and Desipramine. When comparing the reported incidence of hearing loss between these two drugs, there were 3 reports of hearing loss for Desipramine and 201 reports for Mirtazepam which is 67 times more. In the case of tinnitus the same comparison was 4 and 134 or 33.5 times more. These data were taken from the FDA’s database for the 9 years between 2004 and 2012 and compiled by myself. I just rounded the results to 30 to 60 times more, but the actual figures were a bit higher as shown above.
Cordially,
Neil
Does that calculation factor in the popularity of the two drugs? If fewer people take Desipramine, then we would expect to see fewer reports even if it has the same ototoxicity as Mirtazapine.
Hi Grant:
No, I don’t have the figures to compare popularity or else I would have included such information. As you point out, since I don’t have the prescription figures, I can’t really compare apples to apples. However, I give the best information I have available to me.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman, Twelve years ago my body stressed out and tanked. I am gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free. I am on a probiotic and have tried to add fermentation, but my body screams. I live in OH, but have just discovered that when I am in CA, all my pain is gone. I don’t want to take antidepressants, but can no longer handle the pain. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Hi Jodi:
What is all your pain from?
Why did it go away when you went to CA? Was there less environmental pollution, air pollution, EMR pollution, etc.?
Perhaps your body is reacting to toxins where you live. So one solution is to try living away from home and see if you remain pain free. If so, I’d suggest you more there permanently.
If you need a non-ototoxic anti-depressant, why not try the herbal St. John’s Wort. It is not ototoxic and has few other side effects. My wife takes it with good success.
St. John’s Wort is available without a prescription at many drug stores, health food stores or On-line.
A number of studies have shown that it works as well as, or better, than prescription drugs for mild to moderate cases of depression.
If you choose to get it, just be sure it says on the bottle “standardized” and then give what it is standardized to. You want something that says, “standardized to 0.3% (or up to 0.7%) hypericin” which is the active ingredient.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Mr. Doctor, please, have you ever heard of Valerian causing or worsening tinnitus?
Hi Tomas:
As far as I know, taking Valerian does not cause tinnitus. I’m sure there could be some exceptions, but if it is, it is not very common at all. Why are you asking? Has your tinnitus gotten worse since you began taking Valerian?
Cordially,
Neil
Can remeron help my tinnitus?
Hi Chris:
Why would you think that? Mirtazapine (Remeron) is mildly to moderately ototoxic and damages ears including hearing loss and tinnitus.
Some doctors prescribe antidepressants with the hope that you won’t worry so much about your tinnitus–but your tinnitus will still be there (and may even get worse because of the drug).
Much better to learn how to properly deal with your tinnitus, then it won’t bother you so you won’t have to think of taking drugs.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr Bauman,
I’ve had one hell of a year that has ended in my having debilitating tinnitus and blurred vision.
The story is long, so I will get to the crux. After years of taking prozac I came off with the blessing of my dr. I tapered for 6 month. Then 3 months later I had a breakdown, had panic attacks and worse and went back on the prozac even though i didn’t really want to; I felt it had affected my character for the worst. I was now back on 40 a day and my dr added haloperidol to calm me down. I couldn’t get on with the latter as it caused terrible side effects and as I wasn’t happy being on prozac he dropped me to 20 a day and added Flupentixol. Again, I couldn’t get on with the latter, and I was beginning to think prozac wasn’t that bad now. Hence my dr jumped me up from 20 to 60 overnight. I questioned this as I thought it was a bit rash. But, no, 60 it had to be.
To keep me calm I asked about propranolol and he said I could have some. I asked three times about any possible side effects, and he said there weren’t any.
Two days later I heard a ringing in my ears, almost like somebody had flicked a switch. I didn’t think about it again as I thought it would just disappear. Two weeks or so into taking 60 a day of prozac my eyes started ‘swimming’, so I came down to 50 and then 40 and the swimming went, but I was left with blurred vision. Obviously this was very stressful as I thought I may be going blind, and I had panic attacks. A week later I noticed the ringing again, and it hasn’t gone away. I’m now left thinking it would have been better to have never gone on prozac, and yet not to have come off after many years, and not to have gone back on after the breakdown. I’m now in a living hell of constant noise in my ears.
Although I was very stressed at the time, I put the onset of tinnitus and the blurred vision down to prozac and/or propranolol or both as it’s onset happened days after the jump in prozac.
What do you think? I should say that with the tinnitus came a bunged up feeling in my left ear. I read that maybe that could be ETD. I went to my dr and he said that it was, so he gave me an instrument to unblock it (I had to blow a balloon up with my nose). After a few weeks one morning it seemed to unblock, and I had no tinnitus in the left ear or right ear. But after some hours the tinnitus reappeared in my right ear and stayed there and it has since migrated back to my left ear as well. It seems to move about.
Do you think it was the prozac and/or propranolol that caused the tinnitus? Would coming off the prozac do any good at this stage? Would the tinnitus possibly go. The onset of tinnitus happened 9 weeks ago, and the episode with the ear 2 weeks ago. I stopped the propranolol weeks ago.
Coming off of prozac would be difficult, but if there was an alternative to it I wouldn’t mind trying. I’ve been taking it for OCD and associated depression
Hi Nicole:
Both Fluoxetine (Prozac) and Propranolol are ototoxic in their own right, but no one knows how the two together act synergistically. Both of them can cause hearing loss and tinnitus and a host of balance problems. I agree with you that either the Prozac or the propanolol or both together caused her sudden jump in tinnitus. That would seem to be the most reasonable explanation. Propranolol can also give you that blocked ear feeling.
Getting off the drugs would be a good first step in controlling your tinnitus, but you have to do it very slowly so that you don’t cause other side effects, or even make your tinnitus worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Having read more, I have found out that tinnitus and a full feeling in the ear are two of the major signs of an ototoxic reaction, In addition I experienced dizziness and blurred vision. Whether I have any hearing loss, i’m not sure as of yet.
I have also found that both prozac and propranolol are ototoxic in nature, Further, I have found that ototoxic medications should not really be combined.
Hence I’m quite convinced that one or both of the medications has caused my tinnitus and blurred vision.
Hi Nicole:
I don’t study eyes, so I can’t tell you whether your blurred vision is due to one of these drugs, but I agree with your assessment in relation to the ototoxicity of the drugs.
Since most drugs are ototoxic to some degree or other, it’s hard not to combine two drugs that are ototoxic. The only way would be to only take one drug at a time, but it seems to be the rare person that only takes one drug. Most seem to be on several.
Cordially,
Neil
I was taking Lexapro and THAT caused my eyes to go blurry when I read. And I am short sighted! I got off them cos I need to read. It wasn’t worth it..I will try St John Wort.
Hi, I have been taking Mirtazapine for almost two years and now I find myself with acute tinnitus (around 7500hz). I have now been off the drug for almost two months and tinnitus is every other day.
Do I have any hope that it will be reduced?
Thank you
Ascanio
Hi Ascanio:
If your tinnitus is not constant, that is a good sign. I’ve never heard of anyone having tinnitus every other day from the after-effects of taking a drug. Hopefully, the intervals between your tinnitus coming back will lengthen until you seldom have it.
Cordially,
Neil
What would you recommend for somebody that has vestibular migraines/vertigo MDDS, rocking on a boat sensation? All of the neurologists want to put me on antidepressants which I guess is something that can calm the vestibular system. I’m worried about taking something that will cause ototoxins but I also need my life back.. Is there any medication that might work that would not be as bad?
Please help 🙁
Hi Karen:
What caused these problems in the first place? I always like to go back to the origin of such things and try to fix the cause rather than just have doctors throw drugs at it and hope something suppresses the symptoms and never fixes anything.
Are your vestibular migraines due to Superior Canal Dehiscence or other related dehiscences? If so, often they can be surgically alleviated.
I don’t know which drugs your doctors want to give you to try. If you send me a list of them, I can tell you which would be the least ototoxic in my opinion.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, I would like to know which of the ssri group is least ototoxic? In particular between sertaline, cipralex and prozac. Furthermore, are snri considered safer/less ototoxic? Thank you
Hi Hili:
Of Sertraline, Escitalopram (Cipralex) and Fluoxetine (Prozac) I’d say that Sertraline has the least risk of ototoxicity, but not by much over the other two.
When looking at the SSNRI drugs, all of them have considerably higher risk than do the SSRI drugs in my opinion.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil🙏🏻
I started taking sertaline which helped with my tinnitus, but caused a weird sensation of blocked ears pressure, so I stopped taking it after a week. I am now on escitalopram and the tinnitus is back, but the blocked ears feeling went away. Not sure which is best
Hi Hili:
Actually, Escitalopram is a bit more ototoxic than Sertraline, but the best one for you is the one that works for you with the fewest and mildest side effects.
If you are taking a drug for depression, you may want to consider St. John’s Wort. A number of studies have shown that it works as well as, or better, than prescription drugs for mild to moderate cases of depression and it is only very mildly ototoxic.
If you choose to get it, just be sure it says on the bottle “standardized” and then give what it is standardized to. You want something that says, “standardized to 0.3% (or up to 0.7%) hypericin” which is the active ingredient.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil, i will look into it, even though i suspect my depression isn’t mild :/
Do you happen to have any more information as far as ssri effect on bone and otosclerosis in particular? Which ssri is least harmful ?
Thanks again
Hi Hili:
The only SSRI I have information on as causing or worsening otosclerosis is Fluvoxamine.
But be aware that the Bisphosphonates and various birth control pills can cause/worsen otosclerosis.
Cordially,
Neil
Oh, that’s interesting. I did know about birth control pills, which i was on and stopped, but didn’t know about Bisphosphonates. Aren’t they used for treatment of otosclerosis and other bone issues?
I have started taking fluoride supplement, which i hope is helpful and won’t cause more damage?
And how about alprazolam? My psychiatrist prescribed me alprazolam as an sos treatment.
Thank you so much,
Hili
Hi Hili:
Yes, Bisphosphonates are used for treating bone issues.
Why would you take fluoride? I’ve never heard of anyone being too low in fluoride, but lots of cases of being too high which causes fluorosis, and other problems as it is toxic to the human body. I would never take extra fluoride.
Alprazolam (Xanax) is a benzodiazepine and these are nasty drugs in my opinion. I wouldn’t take any drugs of this family, but if you decide to take it, use it sparingly and at the most for 2 weeks if even that long if you want to avoid most side effects associated with this drug.
Cordially,
Neil
What are the side effects associated woth benzodiazepine? Especially to ears? Flouride is used as treatment to otosclerosis, as it is good for bone health. Also a lot of countries have stopped the fluoridation of drinking water.
Hi Hili:
Benzodiazepines cause hundreds of side effects to you body. I certainly don’t keep track of them all, but only the ototoxic side effects. Once when I was researching Benzos for ototoxic side effects I was shocked to discover that suicide, attempted suicide or thinking about suicide were among the most commonly reported side effects–typically in the top three. That alone tells you these drugs are not to be taken lightly.
I classify all ototoxic side effects under 30 different headings such as tinnitus, hearing loss, ear pain, vertigo, etc. People taking Alprazolam (Xanax) and Lorazepam (Ativan), for example, have reported getting 25 of these 30 side effects.
Obviously no person gets all these side effects at the same time, but they can experience several at a time. The most common ototoxic side effects include, hearing loss, tinnitus, ataxia, balance disorders, dizziness and vertigo.
Concerning taking fluoride, my information says that it makes bones hard and brittle and thus subject to fractures. To me that is not bone health.
The reason that countries have stopped adding fluoride to water is because it causes so much damage to the human body, as well as lowering the IQ of children that take it.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m worried about sertaline.. went back on it because it stopped my harsh tinnitus, but now i scored lower on my hearing test. They actually said i have sensorineural hearing loss in addition to my conductive hearing loss. I don’t know if the testers were unknowledgable as they were fairly young and unexperienced, but i’m afraid . A month ago while on cipralex, that was not the case, i only had conductive hearing loss. Maybe it’s got to do with the change in tinnitus pitch..
I do feel like sertaline cause a blocked ears sensation. Frankly i’m at a loss as to what to do and the doctors know very little about the relations of antidipressants and hearing loss. They say it is not connected .
Hi Hili:
A blocked ears sensation is a reported side effect of taking Sertraline. I don’t see how your doctors can say there is no connection between Sertraline and hearing loss or tinnitus. The truth is that hundreds upon hundreds of people have reported getting these side effects to the FDAs database after taking Sertraline.
If you want a safer antidepressant, why not try the herbal, St. John’s Wort?
Cordially,
Neil
Not all doctors research the medications they perscribe. It seems they know very little about the side effects of the drugs and always disregard them as “most unlikely”. I have read that St. John’s Wort can cause eye problems and it makes the skin photosensitive that’s why i’m reluctant to try it. I wouldn’t want to lose my eyesight as well as my hearing.
I find it interesting that sertaline clearly has an effect on hearing but hasn’t been researched enough in regard to the nature of those effects. It helps tinnitus but causes blocked ears sensation it’s weird.
Hi Hili:
St. John’s Wort can indeed make your skin more phonosensitive if you are fair-skinned and out in the sun too much. Ditto for your eyes.
But if you live in the northern climates where it is gloomy in the winter and you are affected by SAD, you may find that St. John’s Wort helps your depression without any obvious side effects.
Like any drug, you don’t want to take it in large doses or for a long time. The higher the dose and the longer you take it, the more you are susceptible to photosensitivity.
It also causes tinnitus in a few people.
However, if you compare it’s side effects to those of prescription drugs, you’ll find the side effects of prescription drugs are considerably more and worse. So it is still a good option for many people. But always keep a weather eye out for any developing side effects and stop taking it if they begin to appear.
Whether you choose to take St. John’s Wort or a prescription drug is up to you of course. Just consider both sides of the story, then make up your own mind.
Sertraline is fairly ototoxic not only causing hearing loss and tinnitus, but also balance problems and other ear problems such as your blocked ears which numbers of people have reported. It is NOT approved for treating tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil