by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady reported,
I was prescribed Wellbutrin (150 mg) several weeks ago, but when I moved the dose up to 300 mg I developed very obvious tinnitus. I have now been off the Wellbutrin completely for more than a week and still the tinnitus persists. I had a large improvement with my tinnitus within 24 hours of reducing my dose back down to 150 mg more than a week ago, but have seen no improvement since. Now I am really worried. Can you tell me if tinnitus caused by this drug is considered to be permanent, or will it resolve with more time?
Wellbutrin is a brand name for the generic drug Bupropion. Many drugs, including Bupropion, have a “magic” threshold under which no side effects show up. (This “magic” threshold varies from person to person.) When you increase the dose such that it crosses this threshold, suddenly side effects appear, just like it did with your tinnitus.
In your case, stopping taking the drug reduced the volume of your tinnitus considerably (a blessing indeed), but it did not completely eliminate it. I’d give it a month or two (or three) before I’d worry about your tinnitus being permanent. For some people taking Bupropion, side effects such as tinnitus and hearing loss are temporary, but for numbers of others, these side effects prove to be permanent.
In the meantime, you can help yourself deal with your tinnitus by ignoring your tinnitus as much as possible. You do this by focusing on the loves of your life. You see, the more you focus on your tinnitus, the more it strengthens connections in your brain that keep your tinnitus running (and becoming even louder and more intrusive).
Therefore, you do not want to associate any negative emotions (fear, anger, worry, anxiety, etc.) with your tinnitus. as this will just strengthen the tinnitus connections in your brain. Instead, learn to focus on other (good) things and treat your tinnitus as though it isn’t even important enough to notice—and over time you will notice your tinnitus becoming less and less intrusive and it will tend to fade into the background.
If you want to learn more about tinnitus and good ways to deal with it, you can learn much more in my book, Take Control of Your Tinnitus—Here’s How.
Hi, I’m from Belgium and, although I didn’t feel depressed, was prescribed Wellbutrin more then one year ago for a severe burn out condition. I had to start with a dose of 150 mg and after one week I had to rise the dose to 300 mg. 2 weeks after I started with Wellbutrin I developed tinnitus. I never had it before. Now it’s been 3 months since I stopped with Wellbutrin because my burn out condition wasn’t getting any better but the tinnitus hasn’t gone away. The positive thing about stopping is that my energy is clearly increasing. But I presume that the tinnitus will be a permanent condition. I’ve read that VINPOCETINE, a plant-derived remedy with countless benefits for mental health, may also be an effective treatment for some ear imbalances, especially those caused by stress or poor circulation.
Welbutrin is the worst medicine I’ve ever taken. I vomited and now have continuous hissing in my ears.
I took 100 mg Wellbutrin & 15 mg Buspar together for over 20 yrs with no apparent side effects. Turns 2016 I don’t hav money to pay the increased prices so I wean myself off both meds. So I am off them for months but because my life was totally & completely turned upside down & inside out, my new doctor tells me I need to go back on them. I start out 100mg per day & over 3 months get up to the max dose of 3 times a day. Its springtime, trees are pollinating & I allergic to tree pollen & get all the typical symptoms you would take an antihistamine for. But, one morning I wake up & realize I suddenly lost 95% hearing in my right ear.Totally intolerant of stuffed head & blocked sinuses I go to doctor for prednisone or something to stop what appeared to be an ear infection. After several days the antibiotic ear drops cause itching in ear & down neck & throat, so I stop taking &go back to doctor. She says lucky the ears drops seemed to have worked before I had reaction to them. But give it awhile for hearing to return and if it doesn’t then I need to go to ENT specialist. Hearing is not returning &I decide to look for causes of sudden hearing loss. In checking out all the reasons I find wellbutrin in the article and its a rare side effect & most times irreversible. Something like less than 1% of people who take it get hearing loss. Did I mention my doctor for 20 years before I had to move across country, called me her weird duck because if a med had a weird side effect, yep, that would be me and it would find me. One time it was yawning. For crying out loud who yawns every 30 seconds. Forget what med it was. So now I am besides myself and totally hysterical that I can’t hear with my right ear. I sleep on my left side and have for over 50 yrs. I can’t have this. At 68 I am now in charge of my 4 grandchildren 6 to 18 and I’ve got to try to learn to sleep on my bad ear so I can be alert for problems. I’ve got to stop crying & figure out how to conquer this. But I keep reading & reading from different sights & find that it probably wont come back and hearing aids wont help. Is there anyone out there who can give me encouraging info that you did get your hearing back after going off Wellbutrin. Even if only a few, then there is at least a shred of hope. I am fixing to contact the FDA and anyone else I can to alert people to this possibility. These are such weird circumstances that I cant help but think there are things about it than someone can help put together the puzzle of why or what increases the chances of this happening. ANYONE out there get your hearing back????
Hi Beverly:
I think you case really illustrates the “magic threshold” when it come to taking drugs. You took Bupropion (Wellbutrin) for more than 20 years, but at a dose of 100 mg/day and you had no negative ototoxic side effects.
When you upped the dose to 300 mg/day, it only took a few weeks before you woke up one morning basically deaf it one ear. You are not a weird duck in this case as similar things have happened to others. Once they increased their dose and crossed that “magic threshold”–wham–there went their hearing–just like yours did.
The reason I call it a “magic threshold” is because you don’t know exactly where it is and it may vary from person to person. Looking through my records, I suspect that this magic threshold is somewhere over 100 mg/day but may be less than 150 mg for some people and maybe a bit over for others. But when you take a 300 mg/day dose, you are well above this magic threshold–and you reap the consequences.
I think, based on my limited research, that no one should take a dose greater than 100 mg/day and hopefully these bad side effects won’t surface.
For some people hearing comes back and tinnitus goes away or reduces in volume. For others, it doesn’t. My rule of thumb is that the hearing you have at the end of 30 days from the time of your sudden hearing loss is probably the all the hearing you’ll have going forward.
What makes you think that hearing aids won’t help. If your word recognition scores are reasonable (greater than 40%) I see no reason why hearing aids won’t help you. Don’t take what other say until you have checked it out for yourself.
If you are still taking 300 mg/day you are flirting with the danger that your other ear will go kaput too. Based on past experience, it seems that you need to get back to 100 mg per day which seems to be below your magic threshold.
And for your information hundreds and hundreds of people have already reported to the FDA they lost hearing, got tinnitus, got hyperacusis, had balance problems from taking Bupropion. But it sure doesn’t hurt to add your voice to theirs.
Cordially,
Neil
The Pastor at my church ( new life fellowship) in corpus christi TX went on a mission trip to Haiti. The people brought a deaf boy to their ministry. He prayed over the boy with 4 other pastors and the boy’s hearing was restored. I hope God works a miracle for Your hearing too!
I was on Wellbutrin for just part of last year. I stopped taking it last fall and the tinnitus has not let up at all.
I just took my first tablet this morning instant tinnitus.
I was recently prescribed Wellbutrin for depression. I was very hesitant to take any meds but was more cajoled into taking something. I was instructed to start taking 1 150 mg tablet for 3 days then increasing to a 150 mg tablet in the morning & evening. I was having difficulty sleeping & had no appetite. I was willing to push through these symptoms thinking that my body would adjust and get used to the meds. A couple days ago I was awakened by a LOUD high-pitched whistling sound, it was extremely disruptive. I was really freaked-out thinking I was having some sort of neurological event or that I was totally going bonkers. I am very healthy person, I eat well, I exercise regularly the only thing that had changed was I had started taking Wellbutrin. In a panic I contacted my doctor’s office about the symptoms I was experiencing. After 4 phone calls & 3 emails later I finally got a response saying continue but if you find these symptoms bothersome, stop in a few days. She gave me no instructions for tapering off the drug–the whole experience was very disappointing(an understatement) she had little sympathy seemingly no time to address my concerns. I consulted my local pharmacist who was a lot more helpful. He said since I hadn’t been on the medication that long I could stop cold, which is exactly what I did. It has only been a couple of days and I am hoping that the tinnitus improves once the Wellbutrin is out of my system .
After experiencing the symptoms I did research and I learned of the link between Wellbutrin and tinnitus. I am convinced that is what triggered the issue but my doctor is now sending me to another specialist, Otology & Neurotology, Otolaryngology practice for the tinnitus, she doesn’t see the clear link. Never having this issue before, I cannot imagine it is anything else. I feel like she should have been more aware of the adverse impact of such a high dose (300 mg per day). I am hoping that the problem improves when the medicine is completely out of my system. This whole experience had been so frustrating!!
Hi there. Just reading your comments and I am experiencing the same. I see this post was last year. Can you please update? Thank you!
Hi Sunny
I to just came across these statements. I was given this drug to help me stop smoking . I have now tinnitus in both ears and it’s getting louder making day to day activities very hard. I was never told about this possible side affect
I hope and pray it goes away since I’m going to stop taking this drug but I’m very sceptical if it will or not. I would like more answers as well.
Doug
I just went from 150mg to 300 this week and I’ve had a headache and now a humming, tinnitus i assume, and think i should stop based on reading all these comments above and hope that it goes away too.
Hi Amy:
You have a couple of options. One of course, is to just stop taking this drug. However, if that is not a good idea, then, drop the dose back to where it was before.
Often, if you take a drug and don’t have any side effects, you are flying under that drugs radar for side effects. Then, when you double the dose like you did, wham! There are the side effects.
Therefore, dropping the dose back to the old level may permit you to fly under the drugs radar once again and the side effects will go away. This isn’t true in every case, but you might want to try it and see what happens.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m sure you review your comments and only post the ones you want, but what you are doing here is dangerous.
You are not a medical doctor. You should not be telling people to stop taking, or reduce the dosage of, psychiatric medications. If someone wants to stop taking bupropion or reduce their dosage, they should do so only after speaking with a real doctor. Stopping antidepressants cold-turkey can be deadly.
Hi Itsuki:
I allow almost all comments to go through. Typically I only dump those that are vulgar or are completely off topic. I’m always open to constructive comments.
I’m very open about not being a MEDICAL doctor, but I do hold two earned doctorates so I am a doctor–albeit in other unrelated fields to be sure.
First, I do NOT tell people to stop taking drugs as such. I warn them about the side effects and SUGGEST that IF they want to avoid such side effects they need to get off certain drugs or reduce the dose.
But it goes without saying that they need to run this by their doctors before they do anything (so often I don’t say it explicitly).
I’m also careful to explain that if you’ve been on a drug for any length of time, you need to taper off it SLOWLY. Depending on the drug, some doctors taper their patients off much too fast.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much for your website and help. I can’t stand this disgusting comment by Itsuki. I only wish I could have known about your website before taking Wellbutrin for less than 30 days a year ago and now I have have permanant tinnitus in both ears.
Hi Albert:
Itsuki is entitled to his opinion no matter how wrong it may be. But in spite of people like him, I continue to investigate drugs and tell the truth about them to the best of my ability and knowledge. You’ll notice that over time as I learn more, what I say about various drugs changes. I’m always trying to give everyone the best information I can so they can make wiser decisions concerning their health.
Cordially,
Neil
Not Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin can be stopped cold turkey with little to no side effects.
Hi Steve:
That may be true for some people, but certainly not for everyone. I hear from people that have withdrawal side effects from trying to get off Wellbutrin too fast. Serious cases of tinnitus are one example.
Cordially,
Neil
Absolutely! When I moved up to 300mg, I also started having high blood pressure that made me have symptoms of even more frustration and anger – also thumping in my ear. When I moved back down to 150mg, my doc didn’t warn and I felt very serious withdraws for about a week. I told her the next visit but really think it’s important to warn people. Side effects are listed but sometimes you just want relief for the depression, that you’ll try anything to see. Also, seeing I might get tinnitus on a warning label, didn’t seem as dangerous as hearing loss but now I know…
I appreciate your comments and wise advice here!!!
Hi Clarrissa:
Doubling the dose of a drug can often cause tinnitus or increase preexisting tinnitus as you have discovered. That is why you always want to take the lowest dose that will do the job. Also, if you have been taking a drug for some time, you want to taper off it slowly, especially if it is a psychotropic drug–one that affects your mood and emotions. Just cutting the dose in half–back to 150 mg all at once–can be too much for you body to handle and the result can be various withdrawal side effects, and sometimes a worsening of your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
I took Wellbutrin fot 11 days and on the 7th day i noticed i was hearing loud ringing and buzzing in both ears and called my Dr and went in thinking i had an ear infection and was given antibiotics and took them noticed i was getting worse so i called my Dr and he said to Stop it has been 2 days tiny bit better. I really hope this goes away i hate this.
I am experiencing the same thing today. I started it 8 days ago and the ringing and pressure in my ears is awful. I am just wondering if it got any better for you after stopping the wellbutrin.
did the ringing stop? I have been off the 300mg for 1 week and no change. I was on it for a week. I live in Canada and my pharmacist submitted a reverse side effect form to health canada. I really hope they dont get away with this!
Had the ringing when I started taking it. Quit using it, it went away. Sounds like I may be very lucky.
SSRI giving me low sex drive / ED, but guess I’m still gonna stay away from “ear”butrin… and try generic viagra products.
FYI to Med-Cal covered ppl, the only ED drug covered is sildenafil 20 mg (see https://ww3.iehp.org/~/media/Pharmacy/Formulary/2016-Formularies/CMC-Formulary-Jan2016.pdf?la=en),
Hey! How long did it take for you until tinnitus to subside?
Greetings,
I was put on Bupropion about a month ago, and woke up three weeks ago with a clogged ear. I work in the medical field so I called our ENT department and was seen that day. Long story short was diagnosed with partial hearing loss, and it did get a little better after high dose of steroids. Now I have constant ringing/buzzing in my ear and it is maddening. Thank God I came across this when I was doing my own research. Put a call into my Dr. today. Just wondering if there are any alternatives to this such as acupuncture/vitamins etc. Thank you for your time.
Hi Denise:
Bupropion (Wellbutrin) causes hearing loss in hundreds and hundreds of people and tinnitus in many hundreds more–almost exactly a 2:1 ration of tinnitus to hearing loss.
Unfortunately, you have experienced both.
And yes, there are lots of alternate treatments for almost any ailments. I can’t specifically help you or steer you in the right direction because you didn’t say what you are taking this drug for.
Cordially,
Neil
I have been on 100 mg of bupropion for a few years. No one ever told me that’s what could be causing the tinnitis. In my efforts to stop or lower the sound, I’ve found that if I take one Allegra (24 hr) and two Dayquil per day, it greatly reduces the noise. I just watched a Ted Talk about research into the causes of tinnitus, and the research shows that it can come from the amygdala, which is the part of the brain buproprion stimulates. Please don’t give up. They are working on finding a solution. You might want to try my temporary solution mentioned above. At least it reduces it. Good luck.
Hi, I’ve taken Bupropion (Wellbutrin) and Citalopram for years. Took an extra Citalopram this morning due to issues at work and now have major ringing in my ears with the left ear ringing the loudest. I figured that one day I’d stop the drugs and the ringing would go away. Now that I’ve read this blog, I guess the ringing and hearing loss is here to stay. I try to not ask people to repeat themselves–particularly my wife as I do not want to frustrate her. I am 60 years old; I guess the damage is done, however I like the stability and happiness Wellbutrin and Citalopram brings and so I’ll not quit the drugs. Would rather be happy and a bit deaf than have normal hearing than struggle with anxiety and depression… Life might truly be a series of problems; it’s also a series of trade-offs. If I took other meds instead, there’d be side effects there too…
Hi Ron:
Yes, life is a series of decisions and compromises. Since you are happy with your choice, far be it from me to try to persuade you to change, but there are other alternatives and other choices you can make.
It’s not guaranteed that your hearing loss and tinnitus will be permanent if you choose to stop these drugs. But the probabilities are that this will be the case.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi I am a 53 year Female and took Bupropion for stop smoking, about 10 days into taking 150mg in the morning and 150mg in the evening I started to hear a high pitch noise in my left ear, hearing loss in my left ear and feeling of fulness in my left ear and facial numbness on the left side. I am from South Africa. I went to my Dr he referred me to an ENT he referred me to an eye specialist which referred me to an audiologist. No joy. I thought well it must be an age thing it nearly drove me up the walls,30 days after taking Bupropion I decided to stop taking it for I haven’t had a sigarette for 30 days. I stop the meds cold turkey that evening I felt weird and went to Dr. Google(lol) then I found this site I was shocked reading all the comments. It’s been 5 days after stopping the meds and ringing noise is getting softer but is still there. The ear fullness is better and I definitely still have some hearing loss. I feel positive because I can feel improvements so hopefully I pray I will fully recover. I can just say thank you for this site. I though I have lost my mind.
Hi Alta:
I’m glad you found this site and the courage to stop taking the Bupropion and are not on the read to recovery. Hopefully the symptoms will go away completely, or else reduce to become only minor issues in your life in the future.
Thanks for telling your story.
Cordially,
Neil
I also started taking Bupropion recently and have noticed the tinnitus. I already had very mild tinnitus, but it suddenly got much worse. I also had some hearing loss already and am very concerned about losing more (I’m only 54). I guess I’ll talk to my doctor. He did not mention tinnitus as a side effect.
Not only ringing in the ears, but short term memory loss from Wellbutrin. It did go away several weeks after stopping this drug. My question, what causes the ringing? I’m guessing the anticholinergic effect re memory.
Hi Char:
I don’t know the exact mechanism how drugs such as Wellbutrin cause tinnitus. A lot of things about tinnitus are still a mystery.
Cordially,
Neil
This crazy i was looking to see if this drug could be why my ears were ringing. I only took it for a week. I couldn’t sleep and I had confusion. I have anxiety also. This really scared me when it was happening.
Hi Tarra:
Hundreds upon hundreds of people have reported to the FDA that they got tinnitus from taking Bupropion (Wellbutrin).
Cordially,
Neil
I started taking Buproprion in 2017…SR 100mg BID. I had ringing in my ears but never contributed it to med until I increase the dose to 300 mg. I weaned off in June after 2 years and my tinnitus subsided. I ended up going back on it two weeks ago and the ringing is back. I just today switched to Buproprion XL as I read that tinnitus is not reported as much with the XL. Is there any truth to this?
Hi Switched:
I don’t have any statistics separating out the SR and XL versions of Wellbutrin in terms of frequency of side effects. All my statistics are all versions of Bupropion lumped together.
But I can tell you that LOTS of people get tinnitus from taking Bupropion.
Cordially,
Neil
Nichole, did you have the head buzzing or actual ringing coming from your ears?
Did ypu have any hearing loss? And when you say subsided do you mean it went away or it is just less noticeable?
Hello! I am wondering if anyone has any stories about experiencing ringing in the ears/tinnitus when they first start the drug and then have it subside after the first few weeks? I tried 150mg of bupropion XL 5 months ago for depression and stopped after 3 days due to intense tinnitus. I already had mild tinnitus from spending lots of time in loud environments for work and headphone use but this was too intense for me. I recently decided to try again and started taking 100mg a day of the SR form and notice the ringing started but was not as intense, just slightly more than my “normal” level of tinnitus so maybe i’m just more aware of it. Anyway I just want to know if there’s anyone out there who experienced tinnitus that went away like how many side effects taper off after a couple of weeks. I have a few friends who are also on this drug who said they never experienced any ear ringing so I guess i want to know if you’re in the unlucky group that does experience this side effect is it always a constant/permanent thing or has anyone experienced it tapering off? I really feel like I can benefit from medication and want to give it a shot. Thanks!
Really glad I found this page, thanks for all the info! I took Wellbutrin for about 6 weeks and developed horrible tinnitus. I’ve been off it a week and it hasn’t improved, but I saw an ENT who told me my hearing is normal and he expects it’ll go away after the drug is totally out of my system. Wanted to post just in case that gives anyone a bit of hope…it’s devastating reading all these stories and I know there’s still a chance it’s permanent, but keeping my fingers crossed! Can’t believe they can get away with causing permanent harm to people and face no repercussions; I’ve reported to the FDA.
Hi Caroline:
I don’t know how much good your reporting to the FDA will do–but do it anyway. In the 9 year period from January, 2004 to October, 2012 the FDA database received 7,191 reports of various ototoxic side effects about Bupropion (Wellbutrin). I guess they figure that’s peanuts because they obviously haven’t acted on them.
I guess they wait until 40,000+ people have died from a drug before they act–like they did with VIOXX.
Cordially,
Neil
I have been on Wellbutrin for a little over 2 weeks and have tinnitus. It’s really frustrating and I hope it will go away soon. I also feel like my face is flushed all the time. If these side affects don’t go away I will have to stop med or try having it reduced.
Hi Dorothy:
Personally, I’d dump the Bupropion and ask your doctor for a different drug. I receive a lot of ear complaints from people taking this drug. It is quite ototoxic.
Cordially,
Neil
I just wanted to give people HOPE. Two weeks after I doubled my Wellbutrin from 150 to 300 mg I developed bad ringing in the ears. All day. Very bad. I thought it would be permanent. My body doesn’t recover well from most illnesses. My immune system stinks.
Well, it’s been a good 4 weeks of crappiness…constant ringing…and by week 4 for me…it’s gotten 85% better…mostly gone away.
I don’t want to minimize the circumstances of people who are still suffering, but there is also a lot of “hype” that this thing is permanent for most people. Please don’t believe it.
It will go away for most people. It will take time. Just be patient. It sucks. But take it a day at a time. One hour at a time. Look for the positives and the times it’s better. And rest in those.
This happened to me Monday (4/8). Tinnitus was a 1 or 2 and now its an 11. Maybe not that bad. All of a sudden over night. Right ear is worse than the left but an increase is noticeable in the left. More noticeable in the right. I can still work during the day but a night its sh*t. 300mg (2x 150mg) Bupropion SR. The prescription was for 180 purple pills and Ive taken .31 (56) of them over the last 40 days (missed a few). Started taking it Mar. 1, 7pm. I know cuz I log each one and the numbers are exact b/c I’ve counted them. Also was prescribed Hydroxyzine. Cut that also. Still take about 10mg of melatonin. I was using that b4 the Bup.
Been 24 hours since I quit completely. Last one I took was yesterday at 7pm. 24 hours from this post. Ive cut it completely after reading this on here and reddit last night. Wont even touch it. Will report back in a few. I get headaches, also. Wont even touch it now. Nothing else really.
I think this is the FDA paper: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/020358s043lbl.pdf
Half-life: “Peak plasma concentrations of hydroxybupropion occur approximately 6 hours after administration of WELLBUTRIN SR Tablets. Peak plasma concentrations of hydroxybupropion are approximately 10 times the peak level of the parent drug at steady state. The elimination half-life of hydroxybupropion is approximately 20 (±5) hours, and its AUC at steady state is about 17 times that of bupropion. The times to peak concentrations for the erythrohydrobupropion and threohydrobupropion metabolites are similar to that of the hydroxybupropion metabolite. However, their elimination half-lives are longer, 33 (±10) and 37 (±13) hours, respectively, and steady-state AUCs are 1.5 and 7 times that of bupropion, respectively”
T-max: The median Tmax was observed 19 hours later for hydroxybupropion and 31 hours later for threo/erythrohydrobupropion.
I should also add this is the only thing thats changed in the last 40 days. I take some advil for muscle release from working out and stuff but ive never had a problem with that. No real sound shocks that I’ve had either that i can remember in the last 40 days.
Since my last post Ive noticed varying degrees of tinnitus in both ears in both amount and the pitch of the noise. Never at the same time and I dont think its been worse and it never lasts very long. There are other sensations in my ear with it which I can only describe as throbbing (tweaking maybe?) but that doesn’t last long and doesn’t seem to be permanent…it always readjusts back to normal. Similar to a change in pressure like when you acclimate to a new altitude or something or water fills the ears when you go underwater…..almost like an ear infection or swimmers ear which I had when i was younger and swimming competitively. Never a permanent pressure or throbbing and very subtle.
Overall I think its decreased but Im not sure if ive become custom to it or its actually gone away. It use to feel like i just got out of a rock concert even in the middle of the day. Thats what alerted me to a problem. Now, sometimes im very aware of it and sometimes Im not but its not overriding and doesn’t get in the way of hearing. At nights Ive just decide to not really care to much although it still happens but even at night its not “overriding.”
Another thing to note is that part of me fells im more sensitive to sound in general..Ive noticed i keep my computer speakers at a lower volume on both my workstation and my laptop. I usually stream movies/tv at night on my laptop. These are measurable by the levels in my control panel and on the applications. I cant really share the specifics but they do seem lower with what I feel is the SAME amount of hearing ability as before I started hearing the ringing. This could be me just being more aware and keeping them down but normal conversation seems normal. I should also add the hum of my workstation during the day provides pretty good white noise and I usually only hear the tinnitus now when its super quiet. I havent touched any headphones since and dont plan on until I feel comfortable with my hearing normally. Every audio has been “open.”
I haven’t touched the Bup since my last recorded time and I did take some Advil for a headache ive had in the morning…I think the headaches are also part of being on the Bup since I never really had them before I started on it. Current time is about 66 hours since my last 150mg dose. I do get a bit agitated….mostly just clenching of the jaw and teeth…fidgeting of my legs during the day and not being relaxed in general but that could be situational. Im in a high stress job. So thats normal.
Ive also kept the salt down in things I cook during the day, at least until i feel its changed for the better. Ie….Ive opted for more natural foods instead of….say pizza or even putting salt on things like potatoes or something.
One final thing for today. I dont really remember the level of tinnitus I had before I noticed the ringing….Im sure I had some but…again… all of a sudden one day it was really really really noticeable vs. not at all….and that that the level of sudden ringing had never really happened to me before.
In my second post I said “Tinnitus was a 1 or 2 and now its an 11” and thats not what I really meant. What I should have said is that It wasn’t noticeable for the longest time (including some time while taking the Bup) but all of a sudden it was overriding….like after a rock concert (honestly worse but every show I went to I managed to stay away from being directly in front of the speakers for an extended time) and that there was no way to explain the sudden increase in tinnitus other than I was past the “30 days” on the Bup and was looking for ways to explain it.
A better measure than a 1-10 scale should have been a 2x, 3x or 4x normal. ..And thats how I think about it…it was a multiple of what I normally had overnight or all of a sudden. These posts are just a way for me to log my experience. I think the Bup might be a possible cause and thats why Im kinda logging it all here.
Reading some stuff and what others were prescribed Im kinda pissed at my doc for not staring me “lower.” Maybe there is a magic threshold but he should have known better.
Hi Yolo:
One of the side effects of taking Bupropion is that feeling of pressure like your ear is blocked.
Another side effect is hyperacusis where you hearing everything as too loud or too sharp–like your experience as that you are now more sensitive to sounds.
I’d say you did well to get off the Bupropion so fast before you got severe ototoxic side effects from taking it. Hopefully your tinnitus and other side effects will fade away in a few days to a few weeks.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi I know it’s been forever since you posted this comment but I was just wondering since it wasn’t entirely clear – did the tinnitus go away while you were still taking Wellbutrin? Or did you quit entirely before you saw improvement? My depression is so bad and wellbutrin is the one drug that’s caused me minimum side effects (it’s just that tinnitus is a really bad one). I don’t want to quit, perhaps just reduce my dosage to a minimum.
Thank you so much Chris. I have been on Wellbutrin for about 20years. I was on 150mg XL daily then about 2yrs ago it was increased to 300mg XL daily. I never had tinnitus at all until about 6 months after the increased dosage. I had no clue how I got it. I thought it was bc of the stress of the covid pandemic and I’m an icu nurse so it’s been very stressful. I only just found out that Wellbutrin has this side effect so I’m calling my doctor to tell them I need to wean myself off it. I’ve had tinnitus for a year and I got checked out by an ENT and my hearing is fine. This tinnitus is awful and I have it all the time even now writing this. I’m sooo thankful to realize this may be the cause. I never thought of this since I’ve been on Wellbutrin for 20yrs and it’s only been the last about 14months I’ve had the tinnitus.
Hi Alexis:
Ototoxic side effects such as tinnitus are dosage dependent in many cases. That is why you were able to take the Wellbutrin for 20 years at 150 mg, but soon after you increased the dose to 300 mg, your tinnitus started.
You may find that if you drop the dose back to 150 mg your tinnitus will go away, or at least reduce greatly in volume.
Unfortunately, stopping Wellbutrin isn’t a guarantee that your tinnitus will go away, or even reduce in volume, but it is certainly worth trying the above to see what happens.
Cordially,
Neil
I hope you’re right. It’s been three weeks for me. Still same ringing. I Pray it goes away. I can’t handle it
Neil, Yeah I dont want to risk it…permanent loss isnt worth it imo. Even If it isnt the Bup then at least I can rule it out….I can always go back if its not. Probuably wont though as I do think its the leading suspect.
One thing as I type this is that for me the ringing has 2 different tones. Ie…when I focus on my left ear (the better one) I can single it out vs. the right one. From what I remember about my “old/mild” tinnitus is that the noise was more of a combined sound if that makes sense. This is very distinct. Which leads me to be to believe something thats not natural.
Ill check back in in a week or so. Hopefully it gets better. Thanks all for the heads up!!!
Should also add that when I listen to podcasts on my phone today (no headphones) the volume setting is lower than I remember in the past.
Hi Yolo:
With tinnitus you can hear it in your left ear only, right ear only, both ears together or just “in your head”. My tinnitus switches to any of these for whatever reason.
Furthermore, you can have different tinnitus sounds in each ear, or the same sounds in both ears.
That’s just the way tinnitus is. It’s not that one kind is “natural” and the others aren’t.
Cordially,
Neil
Update 5/4: Things are alright. Its still there and I notice it but its really more of the same. Maybe less. Sometimes I can tune it out so its not terrible but some days its bad…kinda fluctuates but i dont know if its just my mind filtering it. Overall its a little better.
Still notice it more at night and when i wake up in the middle of the night. Again, But some days its more noticeable during the day. Usually its better when there is sound. My computer hum is nice tbh.
Still pretty sensitive to sound .Havent touched the Bup since.
Im so pissed. I didnt even want to go on these drugs but my mom made me just to shut her up. Now my head just rings. 1 month is its not much better.
I don’t know if my tinnitus is permanent from Wellbutrin but Ill tell you what is helping my symptoms of incessant buzzing below….I’ve been weening off of my Wellbutrin because my tinnitus started from a manufacturer brand switch. I was staying at bupropion/150mgs- the only difference was manufacturer…. Well that triggered ALL of the side effects you can possibly get. Convulsions, anxiety like a chihuahua, nausea, couldn’t eat or drink anything…..oh and super Loud ringing in the ears was one of them, and it has not stopped. I was super fortunate to be in a psych graduate program where my professor teaching a class has been a Psychiatrist of 18 years. I’ve been on Wellbutrin for 3 years, and once my tinnitus started, my anxiety was through the roof, the psychiatrist recommended that once ringing starts, to start getting off of it immediately so it doesn’t become permanent. I was on 150mg so weening off was easier because I immediately went to 75mgs fast release for two weeks, then cut that in half for two weeks, then cut that amount in half for a week… DON’T cut the Slow Release in half, you need to ween down to 150mgs and get on fast release so you can start cutting those in halfs and halfs…. This is an awful time to be cutting your SNI, you are weening off of a medication that requires weening…and a side of effect of weening off is anxiety, then you also have this buzzing in your ear that you can’t get a bloody break from and you just want to be off of it. Also my family doctor who prescribed it had NO idea it could be related to my meds, and told me to just get my hearing checked….. After a month, I finally got into an ENT, my hearing loss is zero and western medicine had almost zero ideas except for an MRI to help………Needless to say, I definitely felt like a bullet to the head was better than listening to this buzzing everyday, but after trolling on the internet for about a month and figuring out everything that has worked….here is what has lowered my tinnitus from a 7 to a 5 and now a 2 and sometimes it goes back up to a 4…….its about a 3 right now…
Taking magnesium (Buy the stuff called “calm” it’s a powder you put in your water) helps reduce anxiety and I swear the symptoms…. Vitamin D, B12’s and Riboflavins (or find a b12 that has riboflavins) Really helps cut down the intensity even if its just by 1 level I will take it….
SINGING…Humming adds some vibrational quality to my brain that helps me either not think about it or hide the sound, or vibrate my brain quiet. Either way. try it…maybe it helps….
ACUPUNCTURE- I found a lot of people able to get some level of relief from acupuncture, and it worked a little bit for me….I cut my vaping down by 90% and starting going to acupuncture…My first session it went from a 7 to a 3 or a 2. I could finally sleep. The buzzing still triggers anxiety with me and I hope with time it will just subside and Ill get used to it. But I noticed that it seems a little less and less. Like sometimes I have a subtle break where it isn’t intruding my world. I still hear it at night when its quiet and I have no distractions….but to be clear- it has been 2.5 months now of no welbutrin….
if you e-vape. QUIT VAPING. so many forums online say their tinnitus is related to vaping…if you are on Wellbutrin and Vaping like most millennials– DOUBLE WHAMMY
I go through cycles where I am fine with the tinnitus…and then Im just suddenly not and panic and get online to see if there is anything new discovered to cure it.
CBT is a type of therapy that helps you change your thought patterns around the tinnitus….some cool ways I have heard of people managing their ear ringing is they use it as a meditation buzz ( I haven’t been able to do this yet, but if you can hear it and focus on it to keep your mind from rushing and have it not trigger anxiety- TRY IT) CBT focuses on thoughts….like when you hear tinnitus, a thought pops up that: its going to ruin your life, or You’ll never know quiet ever again, or something else is wrong- whatever extreme things your mind goes to- it then causes a surge of anxiety and your body connects the sound with anxiety….Cognitive behavioral therapy HAS proven to help break the anxiety from the sound which is a huge benefit if you cant get rid of the buzzing
But seriously- Anyone dealing with this, I am giving you the biggest cyber hug. Remember to take a big deep breath….be kind to yourself and your body. It isn’t turning on you- it is just trying to make up for some weird lost sounds it cant find, thus ruining our lives….You arent going to die, at worst youll just have a new edge of annoyance in your life. 🙂
ALSO- Sugar is a huge tinnitus trigger for me. It’s REALLY bad when I eat sweets- like cake or cookies or whatever.
Just wanted to report some good news…to give people some hope.
Have had bad tinnitus in my left ear (sometimes both) ever since I doubled dose of Wellbutrin to 300 mg about two months ago.
I’ve gone from a general 7 out of 10 in terms of loudness (10 being most loud and 1 being least)…and 7 out of 10 in terms of annoyance and life disrupting (10 being most annoying and disrupting) to now two months later…a 1 or 2 out of 10 on most days! Still have bad days, but it’s getting better.
Strategies I’ve used to cope: 1) Journaling the 1-10 scale every day to track any progress and to feel more in charge and in control. 2) Using a portable white noise tiny machine with head phones — a life savor on bad days 3) Saying to myself on bad days, “this is bad, but what would make it even worse than this? What would that be like? Thank goodness it’s not even worse than this! 4) Remind myself and reading about people who go through other medical problems that are worse, like cancer, chemo, etc. 5) Listening to the radio, music or talk radio to distract 6) Being patient and kind with myself and saying, “It’s ok. This is really hard and difficult” and then treating myself to something pleasurable like ice cream or a hot bath.
7) Realizing it actually may be a blessing at times to have some tinnitus, not a curse, because now I can’t take for granted other things to enjoy, like a hot bath…how that feels…a beautiful sunset or a good walk in the nice weather. I have to force myself to enjoy other simple things in life even more because then tinnitus will become the center of my focus and steal the rest of life from me.
My medical doctor said it would take months, not weeks, for it to fully subside … IF it is going to fully subside.
Hi everyone,
I too am experiencing rather distressing ear ringing. Forgive me in advance for the length of this post. It really helped me to document the sequence of events of the past few days regarding the tinnitus.
I started with Wellbutrin at 150mg 1x/day for a week. That was on May 6. A few hours after taking the first pill, I noted some ear ringing. But it was very mild, say, a 1 or 2 out of 10.
For the next 10 days or so I logged the effects of the medication in my journal. I noted some increased energy, but not much else. Not once did I mention the ear ringing. So it must have been very minor, at a 1 or 2, or nonexistent.
On Monday, 5/13, I increased to 150mg 2x/day. I don’t recall notable ear ringing during the first week of taking the full 300mg dose. The only side effect I experienced was insomnia, though I experience insomnia from time to time, so it’s hard to tell if it’s the medication that’s causing it or if it’s part of a usual pattern.
I experienced more insomnia at the beginning of the second week of the full dose, which began Monday, 5/20. I went to several faculty workshops for my job. In spite of being tired, thing were normal: I experienced my typical dreams and hopes mixed with mundane neuroses and anxieties. My life was on the track it had been on for years, for better and for worse. The insomnia lasted Sunday night and Monday night.
Then came Tuesday night, 5/21. Things were normal during the evening. I have a loud neighbor upstairs, so I put on my headphones and listened to some drone/ambient music to mask the noise coming from above. I wrote in my journal and felt really good about it. When I finally went to sleep around midnight, I put in some foam ear plugs, in case the upstairs neighbor turned the music back on. The tinnitus was screaming when I did that, and I could not sleep. I believe this was the first time I noticed the ringing that intensely. And when I wasn’t wearing the ear plugs, I could hear the ringing. It was an 8 out of 10 without the ear plugs, a 9 with them in.
I was tired all day Wednesday, 5/22 due to sleep deprivation, and I experienced the ear ringing at a 7 or 8 out of 10. It was distracting, though when I immersed myself in something at work, I could forget the ringing. But I always returned to the ringing.
Sleeping on Wednesday night was difficult. But I was so tired from the previous sleepless nights, that I fell asleep for about 4 hours consecutively. Woke up at 4 am. Then I could fall sleep for about an hour at a time, and not very deeply. I did this all morning (I’m not working today), and I feel somewhat rested, finally. But the ringing is at a 5 or 6 out of 10 when I’m outside, in the midst of ambient noise of the city (Chicago), and it’s a 8 out of 10 when it’s quiet.
So here I am, Thursday, 5/23. It’s been three days of ringing. I have to admit that I am distressed despite my sincere attempts to tell myself to relax and be patient. I am even more distressed reading some of the comments here that suggest that the tinnitus may be permanent. I’d only taken the Wellbutrin for 17 days (I stopped taking it yesterday), and only about 10 days at the full 300mg dose. But I am also heartened to read comments like Chris’s above.
I’m trying to get in touch with my doctor; hopefully that will happen soon. I can’t think of anything else that has changed in the past 2.5 weeks that would have caused the ear ringing but the Wellbutrin. I have been listening to podcasts and music using my headphones for many, many years. For months, I have been listening to ambient/drone music on my headphones to drown out the music from my noisy neighbor above me. So I can’t imagine that alone would be the cause. However, I have always been very sensitive to aural stimuli. For example, I have a hard time having a conversation in a bar because I’m hearing all the voices at once while my friends seem to be very able to pick out individual voices. So perhaps I possess a very finely-tuned internal ear mechanism that is easily susceptible to any kind of disruption, such as Wellbutrin.
Right now, as much as I remind myself that it’s been just 3 days of ringing, I feel totally derailed. I’ve made a list of immersive, tactile activities to do during the day to distract me. I have found pleasure doing these things. I go to my therapist tomorrow. I’m trying to avoid “What if?” thinking and I’m trying to avoid thinking too far ahead.
Anyway, that’s my experience with Wellbutrin and tinnitus.
I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to take the medication, since my experience with anxiety and depression wasn’t acute. I was managing okay with exercise, healthy eating, and therapy. I took the Wellbutrin as an experiment. The psychiatrist prescribed Wellbutrin because Effexor XR and Prozac had zero effect on me , neither good nor bad, during previous attempts to treat somewhat mild depression and anxiety over the years.
Thanks for reading (if you made it through!). I’ll update if anything changes.
Hi Brian:
Wellbutrin definitely causes tinnitus in numbers of people. You might have avoided getting the tinnitus if you hadn’t taken the increased dose. I tell everyone that they have a “magic” threshold below which they don’t experience ototoxic side effects, but increase the dose to above that threshold and wham–there are the side effects.
So you could always drop the dosage back to the original dose and see whether your tinnitus goes away, or better yet, dump the drug. You said you really didn’t need it, so why take it? Are the results worth the risk? It seems you were better off before you took the Wellbutrin.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Brian,
I have been on and off of Bupropion 150mg over the last several years for anxiety but mainly because it helps with my ADD. It has been the best drug to help with my ADD. Although not as successful as Adderall, the side affects were minimal ( or so I thought) and it helps me stay on task. I noticed the tinnitus before, but did not attach it to the drug. When I got off the drug a few years ago the ringing subsided some but did not go away. I just started taking Bupropion again 3 days ago, but already the ringing has increased. After reading this blog, I think I need to get off the drug, but wonder if there is anything safer to take for ADD ( inattentive type) I have tried many drugs, but the side affects always seem to get me.
Thanks in advance,
Tinnitus update. Doubled dose of Wellbutrin months ago…in the early spring.
Ringing was very bad for 2 1/2 months — at about 7-8 out of 10.
I haven’t had it completely go away, but I am so BLESSED to have it generally gotten much better. It has dropped generally to about a 2 or 3 out of 10. Overall, ringing is so much more manageable!
But I don’t quite know what total silence feels like anymore. It’s worse at night or just before I go to bed…probably a 6 out of 10.
I purchased a portable electronic white noise machine with headphones off Amazon which helps me sleep at night.
There’s always HOPE though for those struggling. It’s likely to get better — hang in there those of you who just got this!
We might all NOT have avoided Tinnutus anyway if we had not taken the drugs — sometimes you just get Tinnutus.
But here are some things I used to cope with this…
1. It’s important for me not to say “If only hadn’t taken the meds, I wouldn’t have this…” That might be true, but it isn’t as helpful psychologically or kind to myself. I might have gotten Tinnutus anyway for a variety of reasons…hearing loss, old age, loud music. Stuff happens. You can become too obsessed thinking, “if only I could go back and time and not take those meds…” Be gentle on yourself. Drop the obsession with whether you could go back in time and not take the meds. It will drive you CRAZY.
2. Even if your symptoms don’t completely go away, you often begin to not notice it anymore. Your brain can adapt and habituate to a good portion of it. I know that sounds crazy when you first have it. It can get easier and often I forget it is there.
3. In the beginning, the first month you have tinnitus, rank each day from 1-10 on how bad it is. Keep a journal.
4. Talk to friends coworkers about the ringing in your ears. Talk and connect with people about it. You will feel better about reaching out to people who show you warmth and understanding. It feels good to say, “I’m so sick of this ringing!” to someone and to be able to laugh about it.
5. When it was at its worse for me, I thought, “I’m the ONLY one with a problem like this that I can’t control. EVERYONE else can hear normally.” Not EVERYONE can hear normally. Some people go blind or deaf completely! Not everyone is experiencing life normally. You are not alone.
6. This is easier said than done, and I don’t mean to sound glib, but focus on what you do have…I can see normally! I can breath normally! I don’t have nausea! I can eat foods I love. I still have my hair! Whatever is. Maybe
you don’t have your hair. But something you do have. Focusing on what you have currently out of gratitude helps me every day.
7. Lay off caffeine. When I drink COKE or other caffeine drinks it gets worse.
Damn, I feel better from reading your post (all of your posts really)
Had been wary of psychiatric medication in general, but I figured it was worth a shot, not realizing permanent side effects was a possibility. Similar reasons as some folks, mild depression, ADHD, etc.
150mg for 2 months, it was going okay with some mild side effects, sometimes mild ear pressure, but then 300mg gave me more side effects – dropped back to 150 after a month, but by then I think the tinnitus has kicked in – I just hadn’t fully noticed it because I’m rarely in a quiet environment and have a fan/AC in my bedroom. But I started hearing it in certain cases, and then got to googling and found this.
I got off the medicine in April – it’s not September and it’s not really better unfortunately. I mostly notice it in quiet rooms or when my ear is covered, so it could be worse, but it’s frustrating.
The hardest thing is to not blame myself – it’s so easy to look back and say, see, you should have never taken medication; you should have read about the side effects more; you should have found resources like this and kept an eye out for tinnitus; you should have stayed on the lower dose; you should have noticed earlier and gotten off it sooner; you shouldn’t have trusted the doctor. I know it’s not healthy, but it’s hard to let go.
It’s ironic that my life is noticeably worse for trying to make it better through a medication – I guess that’s a lesson learned for being more cautious about everything.
A big worry I have, as someone who has tried to be careful with his ears, is accidentally making the tinnitus worse through sound exposure. As someone who loves music, going to live events would be very hard to give up – but even with hearing protection, am I risking too much now that I have this condition?
It’s good to know at least that I’m not alone.
Hi Chris:
Excellent coping strategies. You almost sound like me talking.
Cordially,
Neil
I have been on Bupropion since 2014. My Dr. increased the dosage from 150mg. to 300. I mentioned having developed tinnitus and I guess she didn’t think to associate it with the drug. I finally looked up all the medications I am taking and found the culprit. I have been weaning myself and am almost there. My tinnitus is so bad and I have had it for so long I’m quite sure it is permanent. I’m in the process of getting an appointment with the Bill Wilkerson Audiology Center at Vanderbilt (I live just outside of Nashville) I’ll post after my diagnosis. Do we have any chance of compensation from this? Mine is debilitating and I’m finding myself more depressed over this.
Hi Sherrilan:
I think your problems stemmed from your doctor doubling the dosage. Typically, drugs have a magic threshold below which you don’t experience ototoxic side effects. But when you increase the dosage so it rises above your magic threshold–wham–you get hit by ototoxic side effects. The reason I call it a magic threshold is you don’t know where it is–and it can vary between people. All you know for sure that 150 was below the threshold and 300 is above it.
Sometimes, depending on the drug, just dropping the dose back to the previous level will allow the side effects to disappear. But for other drugs, some of the side effects prove to be permanent.
I’ve heard from a number of people that are in just your situation, 150 mg was ok, but when the dose was raised to 300 tinnitus, hearing loss, etc. appeared. The good news for some is that by dropping the dose back to 150, or stopping altogether, the tinnitus reduced in volume by about half, but never went completely away. So getting off this drug and staying off it may allow your ears to recover to whatever extent they will.
I’ve never heard of anyone being successful getting compensation for ototoxic side effects.
Cordially,
Neil
At 57 I had to get hearing aids. The average age of new hearing aid wearers is 70. I have been on Wellbutrin for 19 years. I’m wondering if that is the cause of my hearing loss and if so do I need to go off again? I was off for eight months and just restarted a week ago.
Hi Terrie:
Hundreds and hundreds have reported to the FDA that taking Bupropion (Wellbutrin) caused their hearing loss and double that number reported it causing tinnitus, so it is not a drug I’d want to take. With Wellbutrin, taking a 100 mg/dose doesn’t seem to cause problems for numbers of people, but raising the dose higher causes all sorts of ear problems.
Cordially,
Neil
If you could go 8 months without it, why did you start taking it again?
Hello,
I developed chronic tinnitus in 2017. Come to find out I had hearing loss, 39 yrs old at the time. I had a terrible time habituating to the tinnitus. I was previously diagnosed with depression and GAD. But I wasn’t taking anything at the time.
However, because I was dealing so poorly my doctor prescribed me Buspar, and Lexapro. I was on was on 30 mg of lexapro up until a week ago. I switched to Welbutrin at 100mg a day (just the generic welbutrin) because I was continually feeling lethargic and had gained weight but my tinnitus was manageable. Today I noticed my tinnitus is a bit louder. I’m also not a drinker, except for coffee. Mind you I took the Welbutrin this morning with water but had coffee afterward. My tinnitus is at a point right now where it’s like I’ve had food with a lot of salt in it. Further I also have TMJ. I’ve been reading how so many people have had their tinnitus worsen with Welbutrin. I was previously on the the cocktail of welbutrin and buspar and had no issues ( this was before tinnitus; it was also a low dose at that time too). I’m concerned that my tinnitus is worsening because I did a direct switch from Lexapro to Welbutrin and the lexapro hasn’t left my system. I’m also worried about my tinnitus because of the shear amount of people that have had so many issues with Welbutrin and Tinnitus.
Thank you,
AH
Hi Autumn:
The risk of tinnitus from taking Buspirone (BuSpar) is pretty low, whereas the risk of tinnitus from taking Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is quite high. The Escitalopram (Lexapro) is almost midway between these two drugs.
If you want to try the Wellbutrin again and are worried about tinnitus, then take a low dose and see whether that lets you fly under the tinnitus radar.
Personally, I wouldn’t take Wellbutrin period. I’d opt for more natural means. For example, if depression is your main problem, I’d take St. John’s Wort. It does a very good job for many people.
If your aniety is mostly due to all the things going on in the country/world right now, don’t watch the news, listen to the news or read the news. That alone can remove a lot of anxiety. The news just fills your mind with a lot of negative things. You want to fill your mind with positive things. I’ve done this for the past 30 years.
Cordially,
Neil
Neil, I’d love to avoid taking any meds. I run daily and am diligent about my diet which helps with depression but not totally. I did some shopping on Amazon for St Johns Wort and just got discouraged by the many bad reviews regarding the quality and side effects. I can’t find a brand I’m 100% sold on. Do you have a recommendation? I’d really appreciate that. I’m a musician with bad tinnitus already. The only med I’d consider taking is Wellbutrin and that had been ruled after after finding so much proof that it causes tinnitus. That leaves me to natural methods. Thanks!
Hi Lucy:
When purchasing St. John’s Wort, you look for 3 things on the bottle. If you don’t see all three things listed, don’t get it. It’s that simple.
The three things you look for are the words, “standardized”, “0.3%” and “hypericin”.
If it doesn’t say “standardized” you don’t have a clue if you are getting any of the active ingredient which is “hypericin”. The percentage is usually 0.3% but may range up to 0.7% which would be about 2 times as strong as the 0.3% formulation which is the most common.
Here’s one from Puritan’s Pride that works.
https://www.puritan.com/puritans-pride-brand-0102/st-johns-wort-standardized-extract-300-mg-005072
I typically use Swanson.com for my source of supplements.
Here are two of their products that meet the above criteria.
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/natures-answer-super-st-johns-wort-herb-extract-300-mg-60-veg-caps
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/enzymatic-therapy-st-johns-wort-extract-450-mg-60-tabs#product-details
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve been taking Wellbutrin for just about a month, took 150 for 3 days and then increased to 300 per day to quit smoking. About a week ago I started getting ringing in my right ear and found this site, I’ve dropped back to 150 a day for past 4-5 days and plan to stop completely but was worried if I stopped it cold turkey something bad would happen.
Figure I’ll take the 150 a day for another week maybe and then start breaking pills in half for a week and then stop them. Hoping this high pitched ringing goes away
Hi Damien:
Note that the instructions say that you are NOT to break Wellbutrin pills, or chew them, etc. You could get a lower dose pill if you use regular Wellbutrin (75 mg and 100 mg). If you use Wellbutrin XL, the choices are 150 and 300 mg.
Since the half-life of Wellbutrin is around a day, probably a better choice would be to take one every two days instead of breaking one in half.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, I know you are not a medical doctor, but I have a question…I was prescribed Strattera recently. I asked him if it could bother my ringing in my ear…because I do have tinnitus because of Wellbutrin. I don’t want to take anything else that could make it worse. He said, “All medications could cause ringing in your ear…there’s no medication that you can say 100% it won’t cause ringing in the ear.” He said Strattera is unlikely to cause it, however. Strattera is an ADHD drug. Do you know if ADHD drugs are better for Tinnitus than the Wellbutrin?
Hi Chris:
Finally, an honest doctor about ringing in your ears. He is right that no one can say for 100% certainty that any given drug can’t cause tinnitus in someone. But some drugs very seldom do and others cause tinnitus quite often, so the trick is to reduce your risk by taking a drug that seldom causes tinnitus whenever you can.
Atomoxetine (Strattera) can cause hearing loss and tinnitus among other ototoxic side effects, but the incidence is quite low. I put the risk assessment about a 1 or 1.5 out of 5. Bupropion (Wellbutrin) has 15 TIMES as many reports of tinnitus–but adjusting for the differences in the number of prescriptions written each year, that works out to 2 TIMES as many reports as for Strattera. I rate Bupropion as a 3.5 or so out of 5.
So Strattera is definitely less ototoxic than Wellbutrin according to my information.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi TE:
Bupropion (Wellbutrin) causes a lot of cases of tinnitus in people taking this drug. In fact, I receive more reports of tinnitus from people taking Wellbutrin than for almost any other drug. Furthermore, Bupropion is quite ototoxic and has thousands of report of all sorts of hearing and balance side effects.
Ototoxic side effects of Wellbutrin (as is true in many drugs) are largely dose dependent. Numbers of people have reported no problems with Bupropion at doses of 150 mg/day, but when their doctors told them to double the dosage to 300 mg/day ototoxic side effects showed up. Mind you, some people get ototoxic side effects on 150 mg/day too, but the incidence goes up with the increased dose.
Thus, I’m not surprised that when your doctor increased your dose to 450 mg that you noticed loud tinnitus. I’m almost sure that the Wellbutrin was the culprit in your case.
Cordially,
Neil
Just wanted to leave a quick reply for anyone who may be experiencing tinnitus due to Bupropion. If you start developing a ringing in your ears, please do yourself a favor and stop taking it immediately and see your doctor. I assumed it was a temporary side-effect and wasn’t warned that it could be permanent so I continued to take it for a while after the the tinnitus started. Now about 6+ months later after stopping the medication, I’m still hearing the ringing in both ears.
I’m currently on escitalopram 10mg and atomoxetine 80mg, and both are working very well with no noticeable side-effects.
Hi Mr. Bauman,
I have another question for you and other people on this site. Have people found much success with Neuromonics and/or hearing aids to help with the Tinnitus caused by Wellbutrin or other drugs? I’m thinking about trying Neuromonics, but it’s quite expensive.
Chris
I too suffer from tinnitus brought on by Wellbutrin that I started in Dec 2019. I had 2 doctors tell me that I was crazy and. I thing could be done to correct it. If this is what living with ear tuning is, I honestly think i may go insane.
I beg for help! I simply cannot love with this.
Hi Sue:
If the Wellbutrin is causing your tinnitus, then you need to get off it and find another drug that will do the job. Then you need to learn how to successfully deal with you tinnitus. A good place to start would be to read my comprehensive book on tinnitus and getting it under control. There you will learn how you can do it yourself, or where to go for professional help if you need it. You can get this book at https://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/.
You don’t have to let tinnitus drive you “buggy”.
Cordially,
Neil
(Note: I’ve had tinnitus for 12 years from a single noise exposure event – but after a very rocky start I had reached a good, stable place where I did not notice it most of the time and it seemed far less loud than when it originated). Starting June 2020 I took Bupropion (Cipla generic) at 150 mg without issue for ~2.5 months, and then increased to 300mg for ~3 weeks also without issue. Then, 3.5 weeks ago, my tinnitus became notably louder (and different than prior). This continued for several more days, at which point I searched the internet and discovered your post. I immediately reduced to 150 for 3 days and then stopped completely (2.5 weeks ago). So far the tinnitus has not subsided and has even seemed a bit worse. I have since been to the ENT for hearing check (no loss) and to the Bupropion prescribing doctor who claims no patients have ever reported this to him. (He knows about my battles with tinnitus and I’m perplexed he did not bring the 6% incidence in the published literature to my attention when prescribing it) I have also initiated a communication to the manufacturer Cipla who stated that tinnitus was a side effect but I am seeking more specific information from them (dosage, permanent vs temporary) which honestly I do not expect to receive. I’m truly alarmed this may be permanent, but trying to retain hope that it could recede within the coming weeks. I wanted to add my anecdote/information and I will update over the next month related to the transient versus permanent nature of this. Neil, if you have links or more specific info related to your comment “…hundreds have reported to the FDA that taking Bupropion (Wellbutrin) caused their hearing loss and double that number reported it causing tinnitus”, could you please share? Thank you.
Hi Kim:
Sounds like you habituated to your original tinnitus very well.
Too bad you didn’t stop at 150 mg, and didn’t increase the dose to 300 mg. Very often taking a lower dose avoids side effects like tinnitus, but increasing the dose brings them on and then you get tinnitus and other ototoxic side effects.
Your Bupropion-prescribing doctor sure is ignorant of the side effects of the drugs he prescribes. Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of people have reported to the FDA of getting tinnitus from taking this drug. And many people have said the same thing to me, so it is common. There’s no excuse for him not knowing about it.
All I have now is the numerous anecdotal reports I’ve received, and the figures I compiled from a website that just suddenly disappeared. This seems to be what happens to websites that report side effects of drugs. This is the second website that would really useful and just suddenly disappeared–never to return.
That makes it most difficult to share good links, doesn’t it?
Cordially,
Neil
I have been taking bupropion 150 for several years and noticed my tinnitus I have from hearing loss got worse the other day and spoke with my psychiatrist if I could stop it and suggested taking it every other for awhile before stopping it completely and I hope it might reduce my tinnitus. What do you think?
Hi Keith:
It would be better to cut the pill in half and take a half dose every day rather than just take a full does every second day. Keeping the level constant is better than it spiking every second day if you want to try to get rid of your tinnitus.
I’m not sure if that would be tapering down too fast. You’d have to ask your doctor about how long a taper you should do.
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve been taking wellbutrin 300mg for almost 10 yrs. I started noticing my hearing was getting bad in both ears. I have 40% hearing loss in both ears so I wear hearing aids now. I’ve always wondered why no one else in the family has hearing loss problems. I had cataract surgery 10/2020 and my eye dr told me that wellbutrin can cause blurry vision and that’s where I read about it can also cause hearing issues. I’m only 46 yrs old!
Hi Alice:
Hundreds upon hundreds of people have reported to the FDA of getting hearing loss from taking Bupropion (Wellbutrin) so you are not alone in this. A good number of people have also written to me about losing their hearing from taking this drug. And hearing loss is just one of the 24 different ototoxic side effects reported from taking Bupropion.
Cordially,
Neil
I got tinnitus from taking 150mg wellbutrin XL for 7 days. Im 30 and very upset at this! Ive searched facebook groups and blogs to hear people complain and whine about the best ways to cope. I am so ashamed of every thing ive read so far! Over 50 million people in the USA have this horrible medical condition but yet theres no cure, and theres no one even taking about it. When are we gonna stand up and start marching down the streets to get our voices heard? Big Pharma messed up my life and now my hearing and everyone just wants to lay down and cope. Hopefully the future generations that get this medical condition will do something about it!
Did this resolve for you? I was affected 5 days in and stopped. First day not taking it, I’m praying it goes away.
Did it stop yet? On day 4 I noticed tinnitus and stopped on day 5. I’ve had tinnitus for 5 days now and am terrified that this can be permanent. It’s unbearable.
Got permanent tinnitus at day 4 (150mg once a day), tapering off soon after didn’t unfortunately help. It’s been almost a year now.
When I get anxious (= tinnitus becomes louder), massaging my neck, head and face helps.
How I wish I could go back in time!
And I have no hearing loss (audiogram by ENT).
Do you still have it? I only took 5 days at 150 and stopped. Have had tinnitus in both ears for 5 days now. It’s horrible.
How are you guys doing now?
Hi. Could there be a link between Wellbutrin and high blood pressure. And could this high blood pressure be the major cause of the tinnitus?
I noticed many people get the tinnitus noise at the higher dosages like 300mg, which is also associated with high blood pressure. And I noticed a spike in my blood pressure at that higher dosage and the tinnitus began then. I have since stopped Wellbutrin and the tinnitus went away, thankfully. But it was such a great help for me so I am considering going back down to 150mg or even 100mg. At the 150 mark, I was fine.
The only question I have is even if the Wellbutrin causes higher blood pressure which then leads to tinnitus, why does the tinnitus continue for some people even after stopping the medication?
Would like your thoughts on this.
Thanks.
Hi Mariam:
High blood pressure can cause somatic tinnitus (pulsatile tinnitus), but I’m not so sure it causes the neurophysiologic kind of tinnitus most people with tinnitus experience. It may, but I think it is the drug itself. For example, if you get permanent tinnitus from just taking one pill, that can hardly be attributed to high blood pressure.
It is very definitely true that at doses over 150 mg per day, that many people find they get tinnitus and other ototoxic side effects, but if they stay at 100 or 150 mg they avoid tinnitus. But it is also true that numbers of people on 100 o 150 mg of Wellbutrin per day also end up with tinnitus and other side effects. So taking the lowest dose of this drug that will do the job gives you the least risk of getting tinnitus.
I think you answered your own question. That is assuming that the tinnitus is caused by the Wellbutrin increasing your blood pressure, whereas it is more likely that high blood pressure AND tinnitus (and many other side effects) are caused by the drug itself so these two side effects may occur concurrently and both originate from a common cause (Wellbutrin) and not from a secondary cause–the Wellbutrin causing increased blood pressure, and the increased blood pressure causing tinnitus.
That is why the ototoxic side effects do not necessarily go away when your blood pressure goes down when you get off the Wellbutrin.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil. Thank you for your response.
You have a great understanding and knowledge regarding Wellbutrin induced tinnitus. I wanted to ask you for your opinion as I am desperate to feel better and no antidepressant has worked as well as Wellbutrin did for me. I’m saddened that there is no alternative NDRI the way there are many SSRIs and SNRIs.
So here are my questions?
1. is there a difference between the extended release (i.e. Wellbutrin XL) and the instant release? I noticed most complaints about tinnitus is from Wellbutrin XL. Have you come across people who have gotten tinnitus from Wellbutrin slow release?
2. I recall a suggestion of yours of remaining below a threshold like 75mg. Is this with the XL or the slow release?
I noticed those on Zyben for quitting smoking typically get low dosages and some still reported getting tinnitus.
3. I’m considering asking my doctor for the slow release at 100mg. I got tinnitus when I went up to 300mg and so I just want to be safe and well below the tinnitus effect.
3. Would the other bupropion brand “Alpenzin” make any difference? I know the active ingredients are the same as Wellbutrin but the inactive ingredients slightly differ. Have you come across people who got tinnitus from Alpenzin?
4. Based on your experience (since a lot of people with Wellbutrin induced tinnitus write to you), have others found a similar drug or combination of drugs that are similar to NDRI or Wellbutrin? I’ve tried many SSRIs and I don’t want to try SNRIs because I worry about the withdrawal side effects. (i.e. if it doesn’t work, I take it for 6-8 weeks to find out and have to endure terrible withdrawal. I’ve already gotten terrible withdrawal from SSRI switching and the SNRI withdrawals are even worse. ) I wonder if stimulants like Adderall is comparable to Wellbutrin? I’m looking for something to increase my dopamine as that’s my main issue and the SSRIs are not doing a good job. I’ve recently started Abilify which is a dopamine regulator and my doctor says maybe it can help me the way Wellbutrin did. But I’ve been on it a few weeks now and it doesn’t have the same effect as the Wellbutrin.
So sad that the makers of Wellbutrin won’t at least admit that their drug can induce tinnitus, let alone do something about the medication make up such that this side effect is no longer a problem.
Looking forward to your opinion. (And for anyone out there who wants to say “go consult with your doctor”, I do have bi-weekly appointments with my psych doc but I’m just searching for opinions from respectable and knowledgeable people such as Neil —not medical advice. I simply want to understand certain things so I can then have a productive conversation with my psych doc.)
Thanks again Neil
Hi Mariam:
To answer your questions.
1. I don’t compile statistics on the various versions of any drug–just lump them all together, so I can’t answer your question authoritatively. However, my gut feeling is that it doesn’t make any real difference because the drug’s side effects occur after the drug gets into your bloodstream and gets to the cells. Since Bupropion has a fairly long half-life (between 12 and 30 hours), I think that whether you take a fast or slow release it would be remain more or less the same level in your bloodstream. Thus, it is probably the average peak level in your bloodstream that causes the ototoxic side effects rather than any instantaneous peak level caused by a fast or slow release. However, logically, the slow release should give a more constant blood level and thus avoid higher average peaks, so you might want to go with the slow release for that reason. But this is just my speculation. I don’t really know.
2. I don’t separate the two, so it is just “Wellbutrin”. In any case, the lower the dose, typically the lower the risk so take the lowest dose that will do the job, whatever the exact formulation might be.
3. Most people that tell me about getting tinnitus from Bupropion say it began when they increased the dose from 150 to 300 mg. Thus staying at 150 or below would definitely reduce the risk of getting tinnitus. However, some people tell me they get tinnitus from this drug at 100 mg–so it also depends on how sensitive your ears are to this drug.
3A. I think this is a good idea, if it works for you. It would definitely reduce your risk of getting tinnitus.
4. Only one person told me of her experiences with a different drug–Vortioxetine (Trintellix) as a substitute for Wellbutrin. It’s a Serotonin-modulator and stimulator drug. She explained, “I started taking Bupropion and now have permanent tinnitus. I told my doctor after 30 days that I had the side effect but he did not say it was an issue and I kept taking it for another 6 months. Now my ears ring all the time. My tinnitus has not subsided at all since I stopped taking the drug. I now take Vortioxetine (Trintellix) and feel great.
You might want to investigate this drug and see whether it may work for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for the through response, Neil.
Hi..do you have information as to why taking Buproprion causes tinnitus? And do you have any statistics about the average length of time it takes for it to go away once you stop taking the medication? I only took Bupropion 150 mg XL for 9 days and stopped after telling my doctor about ringing in my ears and occasional stabbing pain in both ears. It’s only been three days since I stopped it and I am hoping tinnitus completely resolves itself. What are the chances it will?
Hi Marie:
Sorry–no information on why Bupropion causes tinnitus.
Sometimes the tinnitus goes away in a few weeks, or reduces in a few days for some people. For other people, even taking just 1 Bupropion pill causes permanent tinnitus. There is no way to know ahead of time whether your tinnitus will be temporary or permanent. Bupropion also causes ear pain in numbers of people, not to mention hearing loss and a host of other ototoxic side effects.
I don’t have enough data to hazard a guess as to your chances of your tinnitus going away. I’d remain hopeful though.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your prompt reply. As I write there has not been much change, though it does appear the tinnitus has lessened in one ear. I am going to see an ENT is a couple of weeks. As they say..hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Hi Neil,
So I had initially gotten tinnitus when I went up from 150 to 300mg and thankfully it went away.
I was desperate to get some relief from Wellbutrin and tried to stay under the 100mg threshold this time. But my doctor told me I can’t cut the 150mg pill in half. So for four days I tried taking 150mg as this didn’t effect me the first time around when I had started. But after four days I became anxious and doubtful about the whole thing and just stopped taking it. I had not gotten any ringing at that point but didn’t want to risk getting tinnitus again.
Well the day after I stopped I noticed slight ringing in my left ear (the same ear I got the ringing in the first time). I suspect I already had a very mild form of tinnitus in that ear but now it’s more noticeable and I’m worried it will get worse.
Just wanted to ask you if this happens commonly? I mean the tinnitus didn’t start until after I stopped the Wellbutrin, and I had only taken it for four days so there shouldn’t be any withdrawals, per my what my psych doc says. I’m hoping it will go away again (or go back to my original faint sounding baseline). Last time it took about 2-3 weeks for it to go away. It’s only been less than a week now but looking for some hope.
Thanks!
Hi Mariam:
You could expect an increase in your tinnitus when stopping a drug “cold turkey”. But, as you now know, that increase can be temporary. But it’s always better to taper of psychotropic drugs–even if it is just a very quick taper when you have only taken the drug for a few days.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil just updating that it’s slowly getting better and I think the tinnitus is back at my base level. Thank you for your informative website.
I’m grateful to have found this page, just to know I’m not the only one dealing with this. I started Bupropion 150mg XL on June 1. The tinnitus started in my left ear on the 17th or 18th, and was much louder by the 19th. I woke up to it a few times that night. I went to urgent care today, and they started me on a Medrol dose pack.
My question is this: Since I’ve only been on Bupropion since June 1, would it be safe to stop completely? My PCP is the prescriber, and is not particularly comfortable prescribing psych meds, I’ve found (I take 0.75mg klonopin, same dose for years). I’d rather just stop if it’s safe than ask her to change the med schedule up. I’m afraid she’ll tell me I have to find a psychiatrist for my next anti-depressant. Also, it seems like getting this out of my system ASAP would be best. I know a taper is usually recommended, but what about my case, only 22 days into taking it?
Thanks.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi Edward:
I’m not an expert in whether Bupropion needs to taper or not. If your body hasn’t formed any “dependence” on the drug, then just stopping cold turkey should be fine. Other people have done so and not reported any untoward side effects. However, if you have built up some dependence, then even a quick taper over a week or less should be better than just quitting.
Since you’ve only been on it for 3 weeks, my gut feeling is the same as yours–that you could just quit without having any real problems with your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi dr neil,
Ive been following this forum for a few days now since the onset of what I believe to be sudden sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus brought on by wellbutrin. I toom wellbutrin for 17 days (i made myself throw up the pill i took on the 18th day after suspecting it was causing my hearing issues) I know you cannot give me a prognosis but i was wondering what your opinion was on my chances of recovery. I took 150 xl off brand wellbutrin once daily for 17 days. I woke up one night after my power went out and my house was silent and noticed some white noise and what seemed like my ear was blown out. The next day i took my pill and had noticeable anxiety and difference in hearing when listening to music and decided to google wellbutrin and hearing issues. I have since stopped my medication completely and spoke to an ent who prescribed me a two week regiment of prednisone for SSNHL. Havent had any testing done. I can hear out of both ears and i do not believe my T is that bad at this point. I have serious anxiety right now which i believe is making the perceived T worse (im hearing real noises and convincing myself theyre t noises and its driving me insane) i also think i have some sound sensitivity that im hoping goes away soon as i am a musician and its making things very uncomfortable. Im hoping you have some good news for me but im also being realistic. Do you think i have okay chances of any recovery with the T, sound sensitivity, or hearing loss? I hope i caught the signs early enough but again, im not very hopeful.
Hi Erin:
There is no doubt that Bupropion (Wellbutrin) can, and does, cause tinnitus and hearing loss. And numbers of people have told me of their experiences of sudden hearing loss from taking this drug. Furthermore, numbers of people have also experienced sound sensitivity (loudness hyperacusis) like you have. So your experiences are not out of line with what others have experienced.
For some people, their tinnitus is permanent, but the good news is that for others, the tinnitus, hearing loss and sound sensitivity are temporary. You need to get your anxiety under control so you don’t make your current situation even worse.
You may not find your tinnitus goes away completely, but there is an excellent chance your tinnitus will drop in volume. I think your sound sensitivity will fade away in time and some/much/all your hearing will return. At least you can be hopeful.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey. im a teen who takes these pills. i have been on this medication for nearly 8 months now. my doctors immediately put me on 300 mg and the side effect are absolutely horrible for me. the room will sometimes spin; i have way more of a chance to pass out. It makes me feel horrible in the morning (although that could be my sleeping meds) i cant get up without wanting to vomit. and the ears oh my god. its fine when im hearing things cause it fades off but a night, its almost like someone is screaming into my ears. its unbearable. i really dont know what to do
Hi Flower:
Bupropion (Wellbutrin) can cause all those side effects. Therefore, if taking Bupropion at 300 mg causes all these problems, the obvious solution is to get off the drug now, or at least cut the dose in half. It’s possible that this will let the side effects go away. My choice would be to get off this drug entirely and have your doctor find another drug that does not affect you with ototoxic side effects.
Cordially,
Neil
I took bupropion for about two months five years ago. I stopped it because of tinnitus and because my tongue swelled, and my doctor said I could be allergic. Five years later I still have the tinnitus, and my tongue is still swollen. I assume this will stay for the rest of my life at this point. Wish I had never taken it.
I was taken off Lexapro which i was on for 25 years with no problems and put on Wellbutrin and Dr said give it a few weeks for my body to adjust ! 18 days later I was rushed to the ER having a total mental breakdown ,felt like my head was going to explode ,had blood coming from my right ear and the ER DR,said if I kept taking it I would’ve had a stroke !I have severe heart disease and now SEVERE Tinnnitus which is maddening and totally dibilitating !
I have been on bupropion started at 1:50 XL moved to 300 XL for probably 10 years. After starting this I have passing out episodes under stressful situations like flying going to the doctor. Could this be related to the medication. I would love to have my life back!
I also developed CIdp is this related to the medication. I also have tinnitus. I just went back and reduced the dose to 150 XL. Wondering if this will help? My PCP put me on a eardrops steroid but it hasn’t seem to help. I mostly have a popping sound in my left ear and she said there was air pockets in the left ear and inflammation.
I like it for weight loss
Hi Carolyn:
It’s been a while since I last heard from you old friend.
Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is a drug that is quite ototoxic. I get a LOT of reports of people wrecking their ears from taking this drug. It’s a good drug to stay away from in my opinion.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised that your passing out episodes are related to this drug. Why don’t you get your doctor to prescribe a different drug and see if you feel better.
What is CLDP? I only know it as chronic lung disease in premature babies–and that hardly fits you .
Reducing the dose is a good idea as most ototoxic side effects are dose dependent so the lower the dose, the less likely you are to experience tinnitus, for example.
Since the ear drops aren’t helping, why keep taking them? You just risk more side effects without any clear benefits.
The problems with your ear popping and crackling can be due to the Bupropion too.
Cordially,
Neil
It’s CIDP
Hi Carolyn:
I’ve never heard that CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy) is related to taking Bupropion, but I’ve never looked into it either. This is outside of my areas of expertise.
Cordially,
Neil
I am having the same issue due to Wellbutrin and its side effects but I am here to let us know that there is hope, as I was put on a steroid anti-inflammatory and cold compresses to my ears in the back of my ears and mandible area help a lot as well as listening to water drops out of my kitchen faucet or while watering my garden, that really helps. Don’t lose hope because if Decadron helped me get through days where I can’t hear it anymore and I am not sure that it will come back or not but I know that there is some thing that’ll help me get rid of that ringing and if it goes away with the anti-inflammatory, in the cold compresses then that means it can go away and please don’t lose hope and just go to your nearest emergency room, let them know what’s going on and get to an ENT as soon as possible
Wellbutrin needs to be taken off the market and big red letters need to advertise its side effects. It’s BS that they know what they can do to someone and it’s still out there, this is medical negligence and I hope that an attorney takes off this very serious issue with Wellbutrin and it manufacturers because it should not be on the market and it should not be prescribed to anyone, if it causes birth defects to women that are pregnant and taking it, why would it not damage us? I really hope in attorney gets on this because I want to join this lawsuit
Ik heb jaren 50 mg Nortrilen (Nortriptyline) gebruikt wat best aardig werkte voor mij tot ik naar een andere arts ging die mij 1a2 a 150 mg bupropion voor schreef. Dit was een goede week geleden. Ik had al iets last van oorsuizingen maar niet echt zo storend. Nu na een week gebruik kreeg ik gisteren een vreselijke piep vooralsnog mijn linkeroor en heb er zelfs amper van kunnen slapen. Net de arts gebeld en moest gelijk met de bupropion stoppen. Nu maar hopen dat die vreselijke piep overgaat want kan dit er eigenlijk niet bij hebben.
Hi Paul:
You wrote, “I’ve been taking 50mg Nortrilen (Nortriptyline) for years which worked pretty well for me until I went to another doctor who prescribed me 1a2 to 150mg Bupropion. This was a good week ago. I already had some problems with tinnitus, but not really that disturbing. Now after a week of use I got a terrible beep yesterday for the time being in my left ear and I have barely been able to sleep because of it. Just called the doctor and had to stop the Bupropion right away. Now let’s hope that terrible beep goes away because it can’t really handle this.”
As you have unfortunately found out, Bupropion is much harder on your ears than Nortriptyline. I’ve had numerous anecdotal reports of Bupropion causing tinnitus and hearing loss, but no anecdotal reports of Nortriptyline causing such side effects.
Since the Nortriptyline was working, why did you doctor feel he had to switch you to such a high-risk drug?
The good news is that for some people tinnitus caused by Bupropion drops to a lower level within 2 weeks after stopping it, but unfortunately, this doesn’t happen with others.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Paul, I recently had the same experience as you. My therapist advised me to switch to bupropion as a pain reliever for nerve pain (I was taking oxycodone), because it would have so few side effects. After 5 days of 1x 150 mg, the beeping started for me. I immediately stopped the medication, but unfortunately the beep has not gone away now, 6 weeks later. After 1-2 weeks I had the idea that it was slightly milder, but it was still quite intense, it kept me awake and at times it made me distraught.
The same doctor then prescribed me a low dose of clonazepam at night (0.5mg), to help me sleep better, and this has made a world of difference. I am now sleeping well again and during the day the beep is now milder and more in the background, sometimes I even forget it is there. Especially in the afternoon/evening and when there is silence/aloneness, it is still very present.
Like you, I am quite shocked by it and fervently hope that it will go away. I am also curious how things are going for you, have you already improved?
Hi, I want to share my experience with Wellbutrin here. I was taking Wellbutrin XR150 mg for a couple of years and recently increased to 300 mg. After 10 days of taking them, I started having really awful symptoms like nausea and ear pressure. One day I was not feeling stable so stayed in bed all night. I thought I had stomach flu but the symptoms was not getting any better. I figured out my symptoms were related to wellbutrin because my nausea and ear pressure get worse around 4-5 pm in the evening. I started researching the peak hours of wellbutrin XR and it was 7 hours after taking it. I was like this is it because I take it around 9 am in the morning. I stopped taking them for 4 days now and symptoms seem to be minimized. I think exercising helped me as well. My psychiatrist tells me ear pressure wasn’t common side effect of wellbutrin but pharmacology books don’t tell you everything. Thankfully, wellbutrin doesn’t give you as bad withdrawal as other antidepressants like SSRI, so its better to stop it if you are feeling symptoms and talk to your doctor or get second opinions.
Hi Aya:
Thanks for you report on Wellbutrin side effects.
Ear pressure, otherwise described as a blocked feeling or a feeling of fullness is indeed one of the side effects of Bupropion. Numbers of people have reported this to the FDA’s database.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello, I would like some advice from some of you guys if you would be kind enough to do so. I have estuation tube dysfunction to begin with so I need to get tubes put in my ear drums surgically every 3-4 years. I also suffer from anxiety so I was told to take Wellbutrin for my anxiety after some SSRIS did not help. Well I think it was helping me but the doctor said since it was not completely helping me that I should try to up the dose to the 300. I had no problems with this dose for a few weeks and I had a schedule surgery to replace my ear tubes. After the surgery the next day I developed really bad high pitched tinnitus mainly in one ear. My other ear only has the slightest bit of noise. Well it has been 7 months and nothing I have tried has helped. I have tried literally anything. The only thing that has slightly helped my attitude towards it was magic mushrooms. No I do not condone the use of these but like I said I was desperate to try anything. My attitude towards life is much better and I have developed some hope after I have tried anything I could think of. So I decided to go to the tinnitus clinic and decided to get schedule to get a hearing aid for the ear that is really bad. My hearing in that ear was originally bad since I was little. BTW I am 24 now. So I am excited to get the hearing aid for my half deaf ear and hopefully that helps me deal with the T. But the tinnitus clinic also wanted me to take Nortriptyline!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not understand this. Should I even try this???? They told me it would help me sleep at night. Well I am too scared to try this because I have read that this drug could cause tinnitus. I have told the doctor everything about how I think it was the Wellbutrin and he still told me to take that to help me sleep. My thought process is that the Welbutrin caused my tinnitus which affects dopamine. Caffiene and nicotine make tinnitus worse and those affect dopamine. Nortriptyline also affects dopamine in a way. So how does a Doctor at a tinnitus clinic think that its a good idea to try another drug. Is there any validity to that? Has anyone felt that this type of anti depressant decreased their T from Welbutrin? My theory is that I would be better off not using anything that affects my dopamine levels so that maybe my brain can heal. I appreciate any advice or feedback!!!
Hi Trent:
Numbers of people find that they can take Bupropion (Wellbutrin) at a lower dose (around 100 mg), but when their doctors increase the dose, say to 300 mg, they start to experience ototoxic side effects in the days or weeks following the dose increase.
Your tinnitus may have been a result of the increased dose and not the ear surgery. That’s one possibility.
If you were willing to take Bupropion (Wellbutrin), you should know that there are 16 TIMES as many reports of tinnitus as for Nortriptyline.
Pretty much all drugs can cause tinnitus (over 900) so the chances of taking any of the common drugs have the risk of tinnitus to some extent or other.
If your problem is depression, why not take the herbal St. John’s Wort. It is MUCH less ototoxic than tricylic antidepressants such as Nortriptyline. But you say you are suffering from anxiety, not depression, so why would you take an andidepressant?
You’d obviously need an anti-anxiety class of drug–but they are also all capable of causing tinnitus.
My choice would be to go to a good counselor and learn how to properly deal with, and control, your anxiety. Then you won’t have to take any ototoxic drugs for anxiety. And learn calming exercises such as breathing techniques to reduce your anxiety and calm you down so you will be able to sleep. Taking drugs doesn’t fix the underlying problem so you have to take them in the long term and that is not good for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi all, I just wanted to share my experience with Bupropion. I started on Buproprion 150mg XR, followed by an increase to 300mg after 7 days of taking the 150mg dose. After increasing the dose, I too experienced Tinnitus that was persistent and caused me to the most anxiety I’ve ever experienced in my life. Reading all of these accounts of people suffering from severe tinnitus, I honestly did not know what to do or how to go on. After spending days and days in bed ruminating about the thoughts of the tinnitus, several doctor appointments and hearing tests, I finally had some relief with Prochlorperazine which is a dopamine antagonist. This helped both my sleep and it also helped to reduced the tinnitus (potentially placebo).
Fortunately I was lucky and my tinnitus subsided within about 2 weeks. I still get it every now and again when I’m extremely tired or stressed of an evening, but it’s continuing to improve. It has been about 2 months now since I ceased the medication.
I wanted to write this, just to give some people some hope as I know exactly how many of you must be feeling and there are very few successful stories on the web.
For those of you that are still experiencing tinnitus, I am really sorry that you are going through this and I sincerely hope that you too will experience some relief. Stay strong
Hi Sam:
Thanks for your report. People do need hope that sometimes the ototoxic side effects of Bupropion are not permanent.
I’ve had several people say the same thing–that they could take Bupropion at 150 mg a day without ototoxic side effects, but when their doctors raised the dose to 300 mg per day, within a week or so, they began experiencing tinnitus and other ototoxic side effects.
Like you, I wonder whether the Prochlorperazine reduced your tinnitus or whether it was reducing anyway because you stopped taking the medication, or as a result of the placebo effect. Just be aware that Prochlorperazine itself is ototoxic and has been reported by hundreds of people as causing hearing loss and tinnitus among other ototoxic side effects.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thank you for the information. Unfortunately my Tinnitus has returned – about three days ago it returned and has become non-stop and at a similar intensity. Essentially after stopping the medication, after 2 weeks the tinnitus was completely gone. It was gone for about 3- 4 weeks in total. I honestly just don’t understand what would cause it to come back considering it disappeared completely for several weeks. To my knowledge, absolutely nothing has changed and my stress levels have been fine lately and I haven’t been exposed to any noisy environments. Just curious if this is a common thing for it to go and return? Could this actually indicate it is indeed permanent? I am really struggling at the moment and im not sure how much longer I can take this
Hi Sam:
I wouldn’t say it is common at all for tinnitus to go and then return weeks later the way you describe it.
I don’t see that this indicates it will be permanent. You’ve only had it back for 3 days. Who knows but it may stick around for another two weeks and disappear again.
Are you taking any other drugs, or had a recent vaccination, or changed your diet, or?
No matter the cause of your tinnitus, you need to learn how to successfully deal with it and not let it drive you “buggy”. I wouldn’t just wait around and hope your tinnitus will disappear again. Now is the time to be proactive. The latest edition (8th) of my book “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” (https://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/) explains in detail how you can go about doing that. There are a number of strategies you can try. All of them work for some people, but none of them work for all people. Thus, you have to see what works best for you.
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve been taking bupropion for 20 years and never had any problems. In June my ears started ringing for no apparent reason. Can the bupropion cause the tinnitus after all this time with no prior issues?
Hi Linda:
Did you change the dose on the Bupropion. Increasing the dose is one way to cause tinnitus from taking this drug?
To answer your question, I’ve not heard of tinnitus suddenly occurring after 20 years–assuming no changes in dose. Tinnitus almost always occurs within the first month, or a couple of weeks after increasing the existing dose.
Did you take any other medication around the time you got the tinnitus?
Cordially,
Neil
Just started on Bupropion and I am pissed off the doctor lied to me told me there was no bad side effects to this had I known I’m going to have ringing in my ear for the rest of my life and possibly lose my hearing I would have never touched this drug.
Neil – any thoughts on taking Predisone for Wellbutrin induced Tinnitus?
OR that it may not be the otoxocity at all but an excitement of neurons/ a lot of dopamine?
Doctor prescribed me predisone after two doses results in severe ear pain and ringing. I don’t know if I should take it.
Hi Pam:
I really doubt that taking Prednisone will help drug-induced tinnitus. Personally, I wouldn’t take any drug to try to help with tinnitus that is already drug-induced. It’s possible it could help, but it’s just as possible it could make things worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Neil – yes, that was my thought too. I did not take. Appreciate it.
Just curious if anyone having now had Tinnitus what antibiotics have been “Tinnitus-safe” to use? I know that ear ringing is ALWAYS a risk to any medication, but has anyone had good experiences with certain antibiotics that do NOT make their Tinnitus worse?
Hi Chris:
You have to take the antibiotic that kills the bug you have. Having said that, I’ve found that the cephalosporins such as cephalexin and the tetracyclines such as doxycycline although ototoxic have never bothered my tinnitus.
If you can, stay away from the most ototoxic antibiotics such as the aminoglycosides (neomycin, tobramycin, etc) and the fluoroquinolones (such as ciprofloxacin and others ending in floxacin).
In addition, here are my four rules of thumb for taking drugs including antibiotics.
1. Take the least ototoxic drug that will do the job.
2. Take the lowest dose that will do the job.
3. Take the drug for the shortest time that will do the job. With antibiotics, doctors typically give you a prescription for 9 days or 14 days or whatever, but you reduce your chances of ototoxicity if you only take them until the bug is dead (and I give it one day more for insurance), then stop.
4. Only take antibiotics when you doctors knows which bug you have. Don’t take drugs “just in case” or “let’s see what happens” or “as a precaution”. You want to know which bug you have and that it indeed is causing an infection before you go taking antibiotics. This alone eliminates your chances of ototoxic reactions when there were now bugs present.
Cordially,
Neil
Very helpful! Thanks!
Hi Neil, I have existing tinnitus from bupropion and am struggling with severe depression. Have trialled at johns wort and cbr, but I need to go onto an SSRI unfortunately for severe depression and obsessive tendencies with potentially some adhd.
My questions are.
1) If I was to take an ssri, are there any that are less ototoxic? At the moment they believe that I would benefit most from an SSRI.
2) are there many reports on stimulants increasing or causing tinnitus permanently?
Hi Sam:
I can’t really recommend any SSRIs. They all eventually have nasty side effects so you want to be careful. You might want to try Vilazodone or Fluvoxamine and see whether they work for you.
Stimulants such as caffeine can raise tinnitus temporarily. I don’t recall reports of them raising tinnitus permanently though. Besides caffeine what sort of stimulants are you talking about?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil thank you for your response. My medical team are wanting to steer clear from ssris. Currently my options are:
1) parnate
2) nortriptyline.
Do you know which would be safer in regards to tinnitus?
Thanks for your help.
As for the stimulants, I was referring to things such as dexamphetamine, Ritalin and adderal. Have you had many reports of these permanently worsening tinnitus?
Hi Sam:
Of these three stimulants, I’d choose Dexamfetamine as being least likely to cause tinnitus. Adderall would be second and Ritalin third.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for your help it’s greatly appreciated. One last question if I may.
Have you got any reports of modafinil being ototoxic?
Thank you for your time
Hi Sam:
Modafinil, like all psychotropic drugs is ototoxic to some degree. I classify it as at the high end of being mildly ototoxic. So use it with caution and keep a weather eye out for any ototoxic side effects developing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Sam:
Of these two, I’d choose Tranylcypromine (Parnate) over Nortriptyline as being least likely to cause tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Wish I found this conversation sooner. I was initially prescribed Wellbutrin May 2020 during the pandemic, I was very anxious. I loved the effects and asked my psychiatrist to increase my dose. She and I had been talking about the tinnitus already, and she was hesitant to increase my dose. She asked me to see an ENT and discuss it with them.
So I went to the ENT and explained the situation. They told me there’s no problem with Wellbutrin and hearing loss, or with Wellbutrin and tinnitus.
Dose increased, then in October 2022 I had a Meniere’s type episode, lost much hearing in the left ear and have a loud hissing on that side since.
Still the ENT insisted wellbutrin could not be the culprit. they gave me oral steriods and then 2 separate injections of steriods into my inner ear. didn’t help the hearing or tinnitus situation which still remains.
Many other medical interventions have occurred as a result of all this. But the thing that stands out to me after reading all these comments, is the blatant disregard on the part of the ENT office.
Is there any existing link to the FDA reports of correlation between Wellbutrin and hearing loss or tinnitus?
Hi Amy:
Here is a link showing that 1,227 people have reported getting tinnitus from taking Wellbutrin.
https://www.ehealthme.com/ds/wellbutrin/tinnitus/
Here is a link showing that 228 people have reported getting hearing loss from taking Wellbutrin.
https://www.ehealthme.com/ds/wellbutrin/hearing-loss/
This shows the absolute minimum number of cases as fewer than 1% of such cases are ever reported to the FDAs database.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello, i dont know what to do because wellbutrin is the only drug work for me so far (tried like 15antidepressant already and none work) i would like to ask if theres any hope like if do you heard of any tinnitus or hearing loss on 37.5mg TT
Hi Nana:
Often drugs have a “magic” side effect threshold that if you stay below that threshold, you don’t have obvious side effects, but when you exceed that threshold, side effects such as tinnitus show up.
With Wellbutrin, numbers of people on a dose of 150 mg report getting tinnitus after a while, but if the dose is increased to 300 mg, they almost immediately experience tinnitus. I don’t have any reports of people getting tinnitus from taking a 37.5 mg dose of Wellbutrin so that dose may be below the ototoxic side effect threshold.
If that dose will work for you, try it and see whether your tinnitus reduces in volume or goes away. For some people reducing the dose makes a difference in their tinnitus. Unfortunately, for others, their tinnitus stays at the same level although they reduced the dose.
Talk to you doctor and see whether you can try a 37.5 mg dose. I think it is worth a try as it may let your tinnitus level drop significantly.
Cordially,
Neil
I have been on Wellbutrin 120 mg for over a year and soon as the doctor upped my dose to 300mg started tinnitus. I’ve had tinnitus for over 20 years but the volume got louder as I started the stronger dose . I went back down to 120mg this morning to see if the tinnitus gets better . Fingers crossed
Hi Pam:
It is quite common for tinnitus to appear when you up your dose to 300 mg from 120 or 150 mg. In some people when you reduce the dose back to 120 or 150 mg, the tinnitus volume also reduces back to baseline. Unfortunately, for others, reducing the dose leaves the tinnitus at the new loud level. Hopefully, you’ll find your tinnitus reduces back to baseline.
Cordially,
Neil
I used Wellbutrin a few years ago and I noticed the tinnitus but wasn’t sure it caused it. I tried it again recently because my doc said it helps you lose weight. Well, now the tinnitus is worse. Why does the fda let this drug stay out there if it definitely causes these effects. I’ve seen so many on her that is is obviously a permanent side effect for many people!
Hi Julie:
Multiplied thousands of people have reported ototoxic side effects from taking Bupropion (Welbutrin) to the FDA’s database. So you are not alone in experiencing tinnitus from this drug. I classify it as having a high-risk for ototoxicity.
If the FDA were to take all the drugs that cause tinnitus off the market, they’d have to dump 1,126 drugs! That’s how many I have listed in the latest edition of my book “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed”!
Unfortunately, the FDA is too busy protecting the drug company’s profits to have much time to spend protecting the public–which is their mandate. This corrupt system needs to change.
It seems that thousands of people have to die from a drug before the FDA bothers to get involved–think Vioxx and the tens of thousands of people that died before the FDA removed it. So, in their present state, you can hardly expect them to get excited about “minor” side effects such as tinnitus or hearing loss, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
If you have used 150mg or 300mg before without getting tinnitus, is it safe to assume you won’t get it if you start using bupropion again?
Hi John:
I’d say as a general rule that would be correct, but there are a few caveats. First, the length of time you take this drug makes a difference. For example, if you took Bupropion for 2 months and then stopped, and didn’t get tinnitus, you might assume you won’t get tinnitus if you take it in the future–but this time you take it for longer than before–say six months. You may be shocked to find that out of the blue after you have been taking it for six months you get tinnitus. That can happen.
Second, as you probably already know, if you take Bupropion at a dose of 150 mg per day without getting tinnitus, if you increase the dose to 300 mg per day, a few days or weeks later you may get tinnitus. Therefore, don’t raise the dose higher than it was previously as you risk getting tinnitus at a higher dose.
Third, if after taking Bupropion for some time without getting tinnitus, you stop taking this drug without tapering down, you may find tinnitus suddenly appears. So it’s always a good idea to slowly taper off such drugs rather than to quit “cold turkey”.
Cordially,
Neil