You notice a ringing in your ears when you wake up in the morning. This is odd because they weren’t doing that yesterday. So now you’re wondering what the cause might be: lately, you’ve been keeping your music at a lower volume and you haven’t been working in a loud environment. But you did take some aspirin for your headache before bed.
Could it be the aspirin?
And that prospect gets your brain working because perhaps it is the aspirin. You feel like you remember hearing that some medicines can produce tinnitus symptoms. is aspirin one of those medicines? And does that mean you should quit taking aspirin?
What’s The Link Between Tinnitus And Medications?
Tinnitus is one of those disorders that has long been reported to be linked to a number of medications. But what is the truth behind these rumors?
Tinnitus is commonly seen as a side effect of a diverse range of medicines. The fact is that there are a few types of medicine that can trigger tinnitus or tinnitus-like symptoms. So why does tinnitus have a reputation for being this ultra-common side effect? Here are some hypotheses:
- The affliction of tinnitus is relatively common. Chronic tinnitus is a problem for as many as 20 million people. When that many individuals suffer from symptoms, it’s inevitable that there will be some coincidental timing that happens. Enough people will begin using medications around the same time that their unrelated tinnitus begins to act up. Because the timing is, coincidentally, so close, people make some erroneous (but understandable) assumptions about cause-and-effect.
- Your blood pressure can be changed by many medications which in turn can trigger tinnitus symptoms.
- Starting a new medicine can be stressful. Or, in some situations, it’s the root cause, the thing that you’re taking the medication to deal with, that is stressful. And stress is commonly associated with tinnitus. So in this case, the tinnitus symptoms aren’t being produced by the medicine. It’s the stress of the entire experience, though the misunderstanding between the two is rather understandable.
What Medicines Are Connected to Tinnitus
There are a few medicines that do have a well-founded (that is, scientifically established) cause-and-effect relationship with tinnitus.
Strong Antibiotics And The Tinnitus Link
There are some antibiotics that have ototoxic (ear harming) properties. Known as aminoglycosides, these antibiotics are very strong and are normally saved for extreme cases. High doses have been proven to result in damage to the ears (including creating tinnitus symptoms), so such dosages are normally avoided.
Medicines For High Blood Pressure
When you have high blood pressure (or hypertension, as it’s known medically), your doctor may prescribe a diuretic. Creating diuretics are known to cause tinnitus-like symptoms, but usually at substantially higher doses than you might normally come across.
Aspirin Can Trigger Ringing in Your Ears
And, yes, the aspirin could have been what caused your tinnitus. But the thing is: It still depends on dosage. Normally, high dosages are the real problem. The dosages you would take for a headache or to ward off heart disease aren’t normally large enough to cause tinnitus. But when you quit taking high dosages of aspirin, thankfully, the ringing tends to disappear.
Consult Your Doctor
There are some other medicines that may be capable of triggering tinnitus. And the interaction between some mixtures of medicines can also produce symptoms. That’s the reason why your best course of action is going to be talking about any medication worries you might have with your doctor or pharmacist.
You should also get examined if you begin noticing tinnitus symptoms. Maybe it’s the medicine, and maybe it’s not. Tinnitus is also strongly associated with hearing loss, and some treatments for hearing loss (like hearing aids) can help.
