Sinemet and Tinnitus

[K.Ibsen]

Does anyone know if tinnitus can be a side-effect of sinemet use?

Karl

[BEMM]

Now that you mention it, I have humming, ringing in my ears most of the time. It is just loud enough to hear, and just faint enough to live with. I have not connected it to sinemet, but to Amantadine. I don't know which one of them is to blame.

birte

[Stitcher]

Karl, I have had tinnitus and hearing loss for many years now. I don't see that it is atributed to PD. I did a search on "parkinson's disease hearing loss" and "parkinson's disease tinnitus"...and found the following:

I don't know that I agree with this assumption, but here it is anyway...

"how is tinnitus related to Parkinson's disease, OCD, and depression"
"Neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas, a researcher at the New York University Medical School, has found that Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and tinnitus all share one cause in common: they may result from disruptions in electrical signals between the thalamus and the cortex, two brain regions [1]. The thalamus and the cortex produce our reality by communicating through electrical rhythms; when the cells misbehave, they produce low-frequency oscillations that set off activity in surrounding areas--leading to the symptoms [1]. In other words, the two brain regions that normally fire their cells in synchrony become decoupled [2]. This decoupling may produce the ear-ringing of tinnitus, as well as the immobility and shaking seen in Parkinson's disease, the hand-wringing in obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the deep sadness in depression [2].

Source: http://tinyurl.com/2tdlxg

references
1. Anonymous. 2000. The rhythm of mind. Discover 21 (1). 24.
2. Blakeslee, S. 1999. New way of looking at diseases of the brain. New York Times 10-26-1999. F1.

[K.Ibsen]

Here's the back-story: I was visiting one of my doctors today. I'm trying to be assertive about stopping use of antidepressants, which I'm pretty sure is the cause of the tinnitus I'm experiencing. Even as I was trying to convince him that I didn't want any more antidepressants, he suggested wellbutrin. I said that I might be willing to try it (in an attempt to appear cooperative), but I wanted to wait at least long enough to make sure that last antidepressant I had been taking (trazodone) was out of my system. I've heard it can take a few weeks. Anyway, when I said what I said about the tinnitus, he said that carbidopa/levodopa can cause tinnitus. I had never heard anything to that effect. I searched the web and found nothing. I even asked Heidi L, who said there was no such side-effect. After all that, I decided to pose the question here.

So: sinemet and tinnitus. Is there any connection?

I'm thinking not and just perhaps it was just the doctor trying to make an argument to keep me on antidepressants. Perhaps someday I'll learn why they keep wanting to give me antidepressants when I keep saying I don't want them.

[K.Ibsen]

Well, it seems this one didn't have much to it. Given the lack of responses and the lack of any information on the Internet, I think I can conclude that there isn't a known relationship between sinemet and tinnitus as a side-effect. I spent a week dropping my doses of trazadone and have been off the stuff for about five days now, and my tinnitus is just about gone.

I've concluded that the antidepressants I've tried just don't do much for me on the positive side and that the side-effects are too much to warrant continued use. I also have learned that I feel the best when I have the right level of dopamine. It seems to be the best antidepressant.

Karl

[EmptyNest68]

Hi Karl-
Sorry...I haven't posted in a couple weeks, and was reading over things today. One of the longest running symptoms I have is tinnitus. My neurologist told me right off the bat it can be a symptom of the disease itself-I had it before starting meds, and still have it once in a while. When I amtaking my carbidopa/levodopa regularly, it's not so bad.
What a strange disease this is.

[olsen]

Tinnitus may originate in the brain


Researchers at the University at Buffalo have discovered tinnitus -- phantom auditory sensations -- originate somewhere in brain, not in the ear.

Principal investigator Richard Salvi, director of the University of Buffalo Center for Hearing and Deafness, says tinnitus is caused by continued exposure to loud noise, normal aging and, to a much lesser extent, as a side effect of taking some anti-cancer drugs. Thirty percent of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans suffer from the condition, Salvi said.

"For many years it was thought that the buzzing or ringing sounds heard by people with tinnitus originated in the ear," Salvi said in a statement.

By using positron emission tomography -- or PET scans -- to view the brain activity of people with tinnitus, the researchers showed the phantom auditory sensations originated somewhere in the brain, not in the ear.

Salvi and colleagues discovered when the brain's auditory cortex begins receiving diminished neural signals from the cochlea in the ear, due to injury or age, the auditory cortex "turns up the volume," increasing weak neural signals from the cochlea. This increased volume of these weak signals may be the buzzing, ringing, or hissing characteristic of tinnitus, the researchers say.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Health/2007/10/08/tinnitus_may_originate_in_the_brain_/6972/