Sunnyjoy

Hello, everyone. I'm not sure if this is where I'm supposed to type my message, but I'll start here.

I'm just beginning this investigation, since specialists haven't been helpful outside their specialty .. cardiology, neurology .. and I wasn't sure who to see next. So far, your group has been the most informative, and I'm grateful. I suppose I'll seek out neurotologist next because my terrifying symptom is the loud drumming sound I HEAR in my head. It's like a loud drummer marching and banging to the rhythm of my heart, and sometimes there's a clanging or "metallic" sound, when it's loudest. Just the sort of thing you'r all describing.

This started six months ago as something that would happen occasionally shortly after I fell asleep. I would be waked by the loud noise in my head/ears several times a week. I would wake up and lie on my back, and it would quiet in a few minutes and I would go back to sleep for the rest of the night. Then it increased to several times on several nights, and my doctor had me monitor my blood pressure. One night when it had wakened me three times in a row, my systolic was 160, so needless to say, I headed straight to my doctor. I was terrified by that number.

That's how I got diagnosed with high blood pressure and am prescribed a calcium channel blocker. I'm 10 days into that, so it hasn't been evaluated yet. When the drumming starts, my top number can go up to 145, but other times it's 118 or 125, which is what my top number used to average before this started.

Today for the first time, this has happened while I'm awake, so whatever this is is escalating. I can hear it as I'm typing this. When it was only at night, my doctor said it was natural for BP to speed up shortly before morning, but she never seems to take it in when I explain that it happens about 30 minutes or less from the time I fall asleep, even if it's 11 p.m.

The neurologist did a brain MRI, MRA, arteries, veins, carotid MRI, ear canal MRI, all with contrast. (I had had vertigo at first, but that was fixed with one acupuncture treatment.) Everything was "normal" on the MRI, but I got a CD of the MRIs so I can show others.

The cardiologist was horrible. He told me to increase the medication dosage and come back in six weeks! When I said, aren't you going to do an examination?" his answer was that all he needed to know was the BP numbers, and his assistant had taken my BP. When I told him there was 15 points difference between the two arms, he said she only wrote down the one side. I was appalled and will never ever walk through HIS door again.

Because of the sleep connection, next week I'm having a two-hour consultation with a sleep expert who founded and runs a sleep lab. I scheduled that in hopes that she'd seen lots of different problems. The other two doctors are just treating it as a high blood pressure problem.

I'm very worried about going to bed tonight. Last night when I went to sleep, was wakened, waited till it quieted and then went back to sleep, and this happened four times in one night. Finally I just went outside for a walk. I'll try to do the same thing tonight, but sooner. I also experimented with falling asleep sitting up leaning against a big soft cushion, comfortable enough, but it didn't stop the drumming from coming after I fell asleep. It's a serious problem to be exhausted at my job, which is already demanding and stressful.

Of course I'm concerned about the hypertension I apparently now have and I'll change my lifestyle to get over it, but this sound has got to be indicative of something additional. It's quite scary, as I guess everyone here already knows. My biggest question is, how do I find someone knowledgeable and thorough and patient enough to find the cause?

I'm grateful for any suggestions.