This is a fairly niche medication question, but I thought I'd see if anyone has any ideas.
I have some quite bad tinnitus, linked to a few episodes of sudden hearing loss (not total hearing loss, but in my last test I'd lost about 15db at the top range, and that's quite a lot). It's especially in my left ear. This seems to have been caused by PDE5 inhibitors, which I started after my prostatectomy but which I can now no longer take due to the hearing issue. At the end of this week, I had the sensation that I had some further hearing loss and a bit more tinnitus. It came on very rapidly. Apparently, this can sometimes be reversed with high dose corticosteroids, provided they are started within 72 hours. I contacted my GP, who called the ENT rapid treatment centre at UCLH to see what could be done. Since it was Friday afternoon, they said that they wouldn't be able to see me until next week. However, they told my GP that he could go ahead and write out the prescription for the meds and I could start taking them in the meantime and then they'd assess me at some point in the coming week. It's a bit annoying, because I've recently had a cold, and it could just be caused by some lingering congestion that's blocking up the ear, or it could be more sudden hearing loss — I can't tell because both things feel the same. In the past, I've done nothing and the hearing loss and tinnitus have been permanent, so this time I thought I'd not leave it to chance and try to nip it in the bud.
Anyway, I started taking the meds this morning. It's Prednisolone and the dose is really high: 60mg a day for seven days. So far, I feel completely fine. However, I noticed that I seem to have even less erectile function than usual, and a bit of googling suggests that this might be an effect of the meds (though it's not one that's mentioned in the leaflet), since they disrupt hormones in various ways. If so, that's really worrying to me, as my main priority is to regain erectile function and it's already an uphill battle without the PDE5s. I have no idea whether these drugs can cause lasting damage to erectile function/libido, even if just taken for a short time. If so, that might be enough to finish my erections off forever. There's plenty of info online about anabolic steroids in this regard, but not so much about catabolic/corticosteroids. It would be really gutting if, in trying to treat the tinnitus/hearing loss caused by the drugs that I originally took to try to treat the ED, I just ended up making the ED worse or making it permanent. I'd rather just stop taking the steroids and accept the hearing loss. The thing that I really, quite obsessively want above all else is to regain my erectile function. That's definitely the top priority. Of course it could also be that it's not having an effect, since my erectile function is a bit up and down — so to speak — anyway.
So, not sure what to do. As usual, it's the weekend and there's nobody to call... If anyone knows anything relevant, please do let me know.