Tininitus caused by gabapentin

Hello @cwallen9, here are some articles on gabapentin and it's use to treat tinniitis. Also, Mayo Clinic has some information on the symptoms and causes. Interesting that it is used to treat tinnitis but also may be a cause. I have no medical training or background but it does seem to confusing. Hopefully others with experience can shed some light on it.

Tinnitus - Symptoms & causes
-- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tinnitus/symptoms-causes/syc-20350156

Gabapentin side effects - Mayo Clinic (earaches, noise in ears - listed under "Some side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention.... Less common or rare list of symptoms")
-- https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/gabapentin-oral-route/side-effects/drg-20064011

JAMA Network - Relief of Idiopathic Subjective Tinnitus - Is Gabapentin Effective?
-- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/fullarticle/484708

International Tinnitus Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1–5 (2008) - Gabapentin and Tinnitus Relief
This article is an editorial reply on the JAMA Network report above.
-- http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/articles/gabapentin-and-tinnitus-relief.pdf

NIH - Effect of gabapentin on the sensation and impact of tinnitus.
-- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16652071

I have just stopped taking Gabapentin due to severe tinnitus. In just a couple of days I think it is getting better without the medication. I will post if it continues to lessen symptoms.

@nogo
How much Gabapentin do you take? I take only 100 mg at night and my tinnitus has returned (in my left ear). I had tinnitus before but noticing it more now since taking Gabapentin (never took it before).

300mg for nerve pain. I try not to take meds if I can help it.
I did wake up this morning with tinnitus roaring in my ears again. Who knows?

I also take it for nerve pain (small and large fiber). It helps some but already dizzy and have some balance issues/fatigue that are worsened with Gabapentin. I may wean off at some point in the near future.

Sorry to bother you, but did the tinnitus eventually improve after you stopped gabapentin?

There are many meds that are ototoxic and can cause tinnitus, and I have never seen gabapentin on any list from a medical site like Mayo or Cleveland. Instead I saw that it was used to treat tinnitus. Some things that are listed as potential tinnitus causers are: Tylenol, NSAIDs, aspirin and its relatives, benzodiazepines, and more of multiple antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. The lists are long. I have tinnitus and just saw my ENT and he said gabapentin was not a med that should cause it. However I have had to stop the pain meds Tylenol, NSAIDs and similar, and I had a bad tinnitus reaction at one point to Pepto-Bismol, which is a salicylate like aspirin. Best wishes though and who knows, every person is unique.

I have been taking 1200mg daily and my left ear has been the loudest ever and it is driving me insane. I haven’t read everything in this thread but I’m going to. Is there any remedy that I can do. I apologize if this question has been asked.

Hi, I am currently dealing with tinnitus while recently being prescribed gabapentin. Did you ever get your tinnitus resolved? If so, what was the cause? I could really use some first-hand insight. Thanks!

For whatever it's worth, there's some terrific work being done lately on the placebo/nocebo effects. I have come to believe that some of the effects of many treatments and drugs -- desirable and undesirable effects -- are linked to what your brain expects to happen, and that this link is largely not at the conscious level. It's perhaps part of what enables the laying on of hands or "kiss it to make it feel better" or even biofeedback to work or not work, for example.

At any rate, this could perhaps explain why, in any individual person, gabapentin may be linked to tinnitus even if there is no biological reason why it might be, or not a known or common side effect. I'm not sure that there is any good way to tell if this is true without doing a personal experiment where you track the tinnitus for a couple of months very closely while on the gabapentin, and then track it while off the gabapentin, while minimizing any other changes during those months (changes in drug regime, changes in lifestyle, etc).

I had a very bad patch last summer that caused me to break a personal rule, and start three migraine preventives simultaneously. I'm now in the process of dropping them one at a time over six months, because I have no idea which one worked, and what caused the side effects that were clearly correlated with something.

It's just hard to separate correlation from causation, especially when there's a lot of symptom variability happening naturally that you have to pick apart from the drug impacts. It takes a lot of writing down every day what's going on, and then looking back at it to pick out patterns. When the impact is big and obvious, this works well. When the impact is small and mixed, it can fail. But I have no idea how else you figure it out.