by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man explained:
A year ago, I took a single dose of Paxil, obtained from a friend; I (foolishly) wanted to see what effect it would have on me. Two days later, while sitting at my desk at work, I suddenly went deaf in one ear, and my hearing never recovered. The otologists at the University of Washington say it is permanent idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, suggesting perhaps a vascular, viral, or autoimmune event. In your anecdotal experience, how likely is it that this was related to my single dose of Paxil?
I don’t have any anecdotal reports of Paroxetine (Paxil) causing sudden hearing loss like that. To be sure I wasn’t missing something, I looked at all the other drugs in the same SSRI class. For two of the SSRIs I have anecdotal reports of people losing some (not total) hearing after taking them for long periods—ranging from a number of weeks and up to several years. However, I couldn’t find any sudden hearing loss episodes like you experienced.
Paroxetine is listed as causing hearing loss, so some degree of hearing loss can and does happen, but there is no mention of the speed or degree of the resulting hearing loss.
In your case, based on what I know, and what you have said, I don’t think it very likely that your sudden hearing loss was caused by the Paroxetine (but I suppose anything is possible). It does seem coincidental, though, doesn’t it?
I’m with your doctors on it possibly being vascular or viral in origin. Typically, autoimmune hearing loss doesn’t happen quite so suddenly—but the other two certainly can.
To learn which drugs are (or can be) ototoxic, see “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed“. This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 877 drugs, 35 herbs and 148 chemicals.
In 1996 I was prescribed Aropax (Paroxetine) by my Psych. After a month or so I mentioned that I had noticed a problem with my hearing. Bi-lateral. (Note: I trained as an Audiologist in an earlier career.) My Psych sent me on to an ENT who confirmed that my hearing had suddenly become impaired. Today I am totally dependent on Hearing Aids. The time frame from first dosage to awareness was approximately six months. This case was reported to the Australian Adverse Drugs Advisory Department. I believe that there were other reports to them.
My daughter has hearing loss of just 1 specific range. She is 4. Her ENT doesn’t know why. She had an MRI and all was good. Also had complete vision test that was good. (I learned hearing & vision problems can be related.) Her birth mother took Paxil during pregnancy.
Has anyone ever heard of any similar situations?
I too have sudden sensori-neural hearing loss in one ear. Like yours, I went totally deaf in one ear also. My other ear is perfectly fine. Mine happened in a matter of an hour and a half. I was also on an SSRI (citralopram). I had only been on it 2 months when this episode happened. I have always had healthy ears, never even had an ear infection in my life. I DO believe these drugs are related to this. This should be followed into further. Losing my hearing in my left side has had a big impact on my life. Not to mention I feel a constant fullness, tinnitis, and “crackling” in that ear. I will never take another antidepressant again in my LIFE!
After a few months of taking Paxil I noticed tinnitus and crackling in both ears. Few months later I experienced a severe hearing loss and now I have to use hearing aids.
Reading other comments here I do believe my problem was caused by Paxil. I am still taking it and I was wandering if I stop taking it my hearing will get better.
Hi Lyuba:
I have no information on whether the hearing loss is permanent or not.
In any case, the wise course of action is to get off the Paxil so you don’t continue to lose more hearing as the days go by–especially if the hearing loss proves to be permanent.
Regards
Neil
I too have been given a 10 mg. Tab. of paxil to take each night. I just woke up last Thursday night and after being on the paxil for two months I had lost my left ear hearing also. Note: I had a similar occurrence about 2 years ago and lost all Rt. ear hearing. Specialist say the main ear nerve just died?
I am struggling to hear 10% of someone talking loudly just 3 feet away. Goodby to the wife at tv time. I have to raise the level to about 60 on the screen from 25 just a week ago.
Thoughts and other folks to talk to about this will be appreciated.
Thank You
John Gorman
Orlando, FL.
Hi John:
If you lost your hearing in your right ear two years ago and weren’t on Paxil then, I doubt that the Paxil caused your sudden hearing loss now (but anything is possible).
Nerves don’t just die. Typically it is the hair cells in your inner ears that die. Technically they are the nerve endings–not the nerves themselves.
If this is your situation, you could be a good candidate for a cochlear implant and hopefully get much of your hearing back.
Regards
Neil
I am the Peter of response No.1
I have to report that since the initial episode my loss on both side has progressed to the stage where without high powered aids I am now totally deaf and I drew on both my past training as an audiologist and later as a medical detailer and followed up literature on this drug. If one cares to do so they will find hidden in the drug companies blurb that under the heading of OTHER SPECIAL SIDE EFFECTS that acknowledge tinnitus, hyperacusis and deafness as possible side effects, well hidden on about page 18 of their original data, and now on page 37 of the latest ” PRESCRIBING INFORMATION
PAXIL
®
(paroxetine hydrochloride)
Tablets and Oral Suspension
and here is the extract…
“Special Senses:
Frequent : Tinnitus;
Infrequent: Abnormality of accommodation,
conjunctivitis, ear pain, eye pain, keratoconjunctivitis, mydriasis, otitis media;
Rare: Amblyopia,
anisocoria, blepharitis, cataract, conjunctival
edema, corneal ulcer, deafness, exophthalmos, eye
hemorrhage, glaucoma, hyperacusis” and so on.
If it is rare, my question how many people are afflicted and is it that they have not received fair and reasonable investigation? Try living in the isolation as I do, missing, as Helen Keller commented of her disabilities, that her hearing loss was the worst for it inhibits communication and isolates one from society.
I have been taking Paxil for many years and just recently decided to taper off of it. I am still in the tapering stage, but a few days ago I suffered a sudden hearing in my right ear. Could stopping Paxil have caused this and could I regain my hearing if I started back up on my full dose of 20 mg?
Hi Debbie:
It is always possible that the hearing loss is related to tapering the Paroxetine too fast. It has happened to other people who suddenly stopped taking another drug in this class.
How fast were you tapering. The longer you have been on a drug and built up a dependence on it, the slower your taper should be. You might have to taper very slowly–over a period of 300 days in some cases.
Was there anything else that might have caused the hearing loss? Wax in that ear? Another drug? A cold, flu or other virus?
I don’t have near enough information about your situation to hazard a guess whether going back on the Paroxetine could help your hearing. If you’d like to phone me, my phone number is on the hearinglosshelp.com website at the bottom of any page.
Regards
Neil
I have taken Paroxetine 5mg for just 3 weeks at night & have hardly any hearing in both ears. My GP took me straight off this medication & now 2 days later I still have very little hearing. This had better resolve itself or the company producing this crap will have a case to answer. This is dangerous & should carry a warning & not just against ringing in the ears.
Hi Johanna:
The nasty thing about taking drugs is that you don’t know ahead of time whether you will experience ototoxic side effects or not. Thus, it makes it difficult to decide whether to take a drug your doctor prescribes or not. However, if I told you that hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of people have reported to the FDA getting hearing loss from taking Paroxetine (as the 4th edition of my drug book “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed” will), maybe people won’t be so quick to take drugs for every little condition. I do not consider hearing loss to be a rare side effect of taking this drug. And even more people have reported getting tinnitus from taking this drug. And thousands upon thousands of people have reported getting various balance side effects too. So it is not a drug to be taken lightly.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I have chronic constipation / irritable bowel syndrome. I started paroxetine (Paxil) 10 mg tb/day and just after 7 days I felt hearing loss in my left ear and I stopped taking paxil. After that I also noticed that I had ringing in my left ear.
I’m very stressed about that, I wonder if the problem resolves spontaneously or if it is parmenent or if it will get worse in the future. Also are there any medications avaiable that I can take early in the course of disease?
Hi Ercan:
If you stopped the Paroxetine, I don’t think the hearing loss/tinnitus will get worse, but I don’t have any good information on whether your hearing will return, or whether the loss will be permanent. Only time will tell. But I sure wouldn’t take this drug again. It is quite ototoxic.
Are you asking about medications for IBS and constipation? If so, I wouldn’t suggest medications at all–look what happened when you took the Paroxetine. I’d much rather look at natural solutions first. Off the top of my head, here are four things I’d suggest. 1. Eat more foods high in fiber–both digestible and non-digestible fiber. A good place to start would be vegetables, preferably mostly eaten raw. (I eat about half of my food in the raw state.) 2. Make sure you have the proper gut flora flourishing. Eat lots of live culture foods such as homemade yogurt, and other live culture foods, and/or take quality probiotics. 3. Cut out all grains as they can lead to leaky-gut syndrome and inflammation. 4. Cut out processed foods–which would include all foods/drinks with sugar, flour or trans-fats added.
Just doing that should greatly improve your gut and overall health.
Cordially,
Neil
i took paxil for 3 days .each day half of a 20mg pile.i have pain in my left ear and im worried it may cuse me serious problem becuse i lost the other ear when i was a child.
Hi Amad:
If your pain started after you began taking the Paroxetine (Paxil), I’d stop taking the Paroxetine and ask your doctor for a different medication that doesn’t cause ear pain. For your information, there have been hundreds and hundreds of reports of Paroxetine causing ear pain.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Neil Bauman,
A few years ago i got antidepressant from doctor who diagnosed me neurosis.
Despite side effects, I was taking drug for more than half year.
I got ringing in ear after few days of taking drug. It is one of side effect which keep so far although treatment was completed 2 year ago.
When i was taking drug, i did not care side effects of SSRI called Seroxat because doctor said it is common during first month and ringing in ear is not associated with drug.
I asked a few doctors about ototoxicy of SSRI and each of them denied this fact.
I could not find any information on official websites where it would be mentioned to destroy internal ear by SSRI.
Can you explain me this story?
Hi Barpis:
I don’t know how doctors can say that tinnitus is not associated with taking Paroxetine when both the “official” drug books in Canada and the USA list it as a side effect, not to mention that hundreds upon hundreds of people have reported this drug to the FDA as having caused their tinnitus.
According to my calculations, more than 200,000 people a year in the USA alone get tinnitus from this drug. So you are certainly not alone in getting tinnitus from taking it.
So the story is that either doctors blindly believe the stuff the drug manufacturer’s representatives tell them (and nobody is going to “bad-mouth” their own products), or they are too lazy to look this information up for themselves like I’ve done.
Incidentally, Paroxetine is listed as causing 25 different ototoxic side effects on our ears, not just tinnitus. Furthermore, Paroxetine is not much different in ototoxicity than the other drugs in this class. They are ALL ototoxic.
Cordially,
Neil
I have a vestibular disorder and took Paxel for a week. I started having severe dizziness, and on the last day when we increased my dose to 20mg I started having attacks of nystagmus. I’m still struggling with symptoms and I’m afraid if how the drug may have effected my vestibular system.
Hi Kota:
Thousands upon thousands of people have reported getting balance issues from taking Paroxetine (Paxil). Since you already have vestibular problems, it doesn’t seem a good choice for you to take this drug.
Also, since ototoxic side effects are often dose dependent, if you drop the dose back to 10 mg you may be able to get rid of the nystagmus.
However, if it were me, I’d dump this drug as I wouldn’t want to further damage my vestibular system.
Cordially,
Neil