Repurposing metformin to manage idiopathic or long COVID Tinnitus: self-report adopting a pathophysiological and pharmacological approach

Inflammopharmacology. 2024 Apr;32(2):945-948. doi: 10.1007/s10787-023-01421-8. Epub 2024 Jan 31.

Abstract

Chronic tinnitus is a common neurological disorder that affects millions of patients globally with no available successful pharmacotherapy. It can be extremely bothersome to some patients to the extent that it occasionally qualifies as a disability that can hinder them from leading a normal life. In this short communication, the author discusses how he suffered from idiopathic tinnitus and how he managed to adopt a combined pathophysiological and pharmacological approach to the reason for the first time in the medical literature that low-dose metformin might be safely and effectively repurposed to manage at least a subset of tinnitus patients while discussing the potential role of adenosine receptor agonists as potential future tinnitus therapeutics.

Keywords: Adenosine; Adenosine receptors; Caffeine; Long COVID; Metformin; Tinnitus.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
  • Self Report
  • Tinnitus* / drug therapy