This chapter is organized in the following manner. First, I'll review classes of medications and describe a few specific medications that have been tried for tinnitus. Next, I'll review some "alternative treatments" that have been considered for treatments. Then I'll review some classes of medications that have been used to treat tinnitus reactions. I'll also mention drugs that might cause tinnitus. In rare cases, stopping the intake of these might eliminate your tinnitus. You'll not find me recommending a treatment to cure your tinnitus.

Classes of Prescription Medications to Treat Tinnitus

Many medications have been studied to treat tinnitus. I'm going to describe them according to their probable mechanism of action. Some of them require special care and clinical follow up. For example, anticonvulsants and antidepressants require gradual increase in the dosage to reach adequate concentration. They also require a gradual decrease in the dosage at the end of treatment. This is because there are possible withdrawal symptoms which might occur, such as sleep loss, nausea, dizziness and headaches. This is why it's important to carefully titrate down your meds under medical supervision. Some general principles on drug therapy are described in Table 12-I.