Tinnitus Relief and Medicine – Drugs That Sometimes Cause Tinnitus
October 31, 2009If you’ve been suffering from tinnitus for a while, you have probably already discovered that there are lots of things that can cause your ringing ears. One of the more surprising potential causes of your tinnitus is the medicine you are taking. You read that correctly. It is actually possible that or more of the medicines you are currently taking could be the cause (or at least one of the causes of) your tinnitus.
This possible link between prescription medications (the drugs that are supposed to help us be healthy) and ringing ears was certainly a surprise to me. I learned of it when my nephew developed tinnitus from the powerful medications he was taking for bone cancer. The medications helped eliminate the cancer & cure him, but part of the price he paid for his cure was long-term, likely permanent hearing damage.
To help you figure out if your medications might be causing your tinnitus, let me give you a list of the types of medications that can cause tinnitus. Based on information from the Mayo Clinic, here are the types of drugs that have been known to sometimes cause tinnitus or worsen existing cases of ringing ears:
- Antibiotics: Several antibiotics can cause problems, including chloramphenicol, erythromycin, tetracycline, vancomycin and bleomycin
- Cancer medications: Some of these powerful medicines that can cause ringing ears include mechlorethamine and vincristine
- Diuretics: Bumetanide, ethacrynic acid, and furosemide
- Quinine medications and others (such as chloroquine) used to treat malaria
- Aspirin: When taken in extremely high doses (12 or more per day)
If you have ringing in ears and are being treated with any one of the medications listed in this article, you need to talk to your doctors right away about a possible connection. They may be able to change the way they are treating you and provide you with tinnitus relief at the same time.
What could be a more natural cure for tinnitus than stopping taking one or more medications that cause your tinnitus as a side effect?













