Thanks in advance for your time During the last year because of a severe problem of anxiety my psychiatric prescribed me a therapy consisting of 300 mg of valproic acid every day (depakin chrono). Actually the dosage was quite low and I was lucky enough not to experience any particular side effect. After the first two months anyway a partial ( although not significant ) tinnitus started to develop. I immediately consulted an audiologist which assured me that although my values in the audiometry weren't excellent (2k and 8k had no "hearing loss" value but couldn't even be considered normal) this didn't justify the tinnitus. he thereby concluded that this had to be caused by the depakote (he said it's quite common in chronic cures with valproic acid) together with a weakening of my hearing that I keep experiencing even after an year. He also said these effects should disappear once the cure is over. Do you concur with this diagnosis? Since this is a psychiatric therapy I didn't feel comfortable in talking about this with too many people except for my therapist and my audiologist. Nevertheless because of the anxiety given by the weakening of my hearing (I'm only 28 and I'd rather wait old age to lose my hearing) I'd be very grateful if you could share with me your opininion regarding this matter. I sincerely thank you for your attention
2014-11-19 11:16:46
Ototoxicity (hearing loss due to medication) has become a popular concern. Tinnitus is a symptom of hearing loss that does not typically "disappear". The risk of hearing loss increases with prolonged exposure to the ototoxic medication. To prevent further damage please discuss your symptoms with your therapist and pharmacist. Perhaps an alternate formula may be prescribed. In these scenarios have courage to be your own advocate.
2014-11-19 11:17:11
