Can This Be Pulsatile Tinnitus — High Pitched and No Whooshing?

[FreshZucc]

I thought this was just a weird quirk of mine and never paid much mind to it, but I know it's been there a long time. I decided to Google one day and promptly scared myself silly.

Background: I'm 39F, 125 lbs, walk 6 miles per day, with no known health problems. Blood pressure was 125/76 last measured 6 months ago. Ranges I've seen over the years vary from 100/65, 115/75, and the highest I've seen at an office was 128/82.

I have severe OCD and anxiety/depression and the last 4 years in particular have been difficult with symptoms of those disorders chronic and severe.

...but does this actually sound like pulsatile tinnitus? Bullet points:

• I have regular pure-tone tinnitus in both ears that also kind of beeps and chirps sometimes, but those particular chirps are not in sync with my heartbeat and not what I'm worried about. I'm pretty sure I have given myself the regular tinnitus due to stupidly listening to too-loud music in my AirPods on my long walks.
• The "pulsatile tinnitus" is not constant. It has happened:
• When I'm really stressed/anxious/angry I will hear it in sync with my pulse along with a vague pounding in my head. You know that "man I really need to calm down" kind of head pounding? Like that.
• A few times it's happened upon waking for a few minutes, then will stop once I get up and go about my day. It's usually when I stretch or roll over in bed?
• Mine does not sound like whooshing or blood flow. I've heard it described as the heartbeat/blood flow sound from a doppler or ultrasound, but mine is nothing like that.
• What mine DOES sound like is the same high-pitched squeal as my pure tone tinnitus, just pulsing in time with my heart when an 'episode' happens. Each episode only lasts a few minutes.
• Mine is not in just one ear. It's more of a general sound in my head. It's moderately loud.

In general, I do not have high blood pressure, but I'm guessing those periods of high stress I mentioned, with the mild head pumping, is a spike in my baseline blood pressure.

I'm calling to make an appointment to see an ENT/Neurotologist tomorrow, but I also have some panic-levels of anxiety going on here. Does what I described even sound like actual pulsatile tinnitus even though it sounds like my usual high-pitched squealing tinnitus, no flow/whoosh sounds, and it's not in a particular ear?

To be honest, I've been crying for days over this and it has ruined my Christmas break. I've let it go on for so long thinking it was totally normal.

 

[jeremy3s]

My tinnitus is high pitched and often pulses along with my heartbeat as well. I came across a YouTube video by Dr. Patrick Axon that deals with that specific issue. He is an ENT doctor in the UK who has seen over 800 patients with pulsatile tinnitus.



The slide below is found at 18:00. According to him, if it's high frequency, it's likely somatic and not true pulsatile tinnitus. So far the only recommendations I've found for treating somatic tinnitus are physical therapy of the neck and or jaw muscles. I had an MRI done where nothing was found so I tried physical therapy. So far I'm 4 months into pulsatile tinnitus and it hasn't got any better.