Tinnitus and Prozac

[oldmegan]

My friend has had tinnitus for a number of years. Recently she was on Prozac for a few months and the tinnitus seemed to be less worse. Anyone else experienced that? Is there a medical explanation?

[beso]

A number of chemicals can cause tinnitus. Asprin is one. Quinine is another. Presumably other chemicals could counter these to some extent.

However it can also be caused by tension in muscles of the neck and head. In turn these muscles can be tensed by emotional factors and stress. The Prozac may be relieving these problems and reduce the tinnitus.

[Sqad]

I agree with beso.

[oldmegan]

Thank you, both. She has previously said that the tinnitus was worst when she was uptight or worried about something, so that would tie in. I will pass the info on to her.

[saxy_jag]

My bloke has tinnitus and was told that in his case it's caused by the brain not filtering out certain frequencies, rather than any physical damage to the ears. He's had to use a little device that helps to 'retrain' the part of the brain that does the job.

Since Prozac can affect certain functions of the brain, it wouldn't be beyond the bounds of possibility that it's affected your friend's brain's 'sound filtering system'.