High-Pitched Pulsatile Tinnitus That Gets Louder When I Boie Down on Teeth

[Brian Lightfoot]

Hi, newbie here and thought I would introduce myself. I have what I think is pulsatile tinnitus, but really unsure. My tinnitus started about 6 months ago and does go in time with my heartbeat.

However it is very high pitched and I can make it go even higher when I bite down on teeth. I was due to see an ENT a couple of days ago , but this got cancelled indefinitely because of the current situation with Coronavirus. This is very concerning, particularly as the doctor put it through as urgent because of the pulsatile element.

Anyone else here have that kind of high pitched pulsatile tinnitus going on? Any advice on how you cope with it greatly appreciated? Thank you.

 

[Cookies & Cream]

Hello
I am not an expert on this, and please do not worry about anything that I write here.. Pulsatile Tinnitus could be a symptom of some other health problems. As you said, the Tinnitus goes along with your heart beat, so this means that there could be something wrong with your arteries, heart, blood pressure or something similar. This could be the reason, why your doctor put your appointment as urgent. In contrast, many people with other kinds of Tinnitus, usually have to wait a few weeks or months, before they will be able to see an ENT.

The fact that you can increase or dicrease your Tinnitus by moving your facial muscles, suggests that you have a somatic Tinnitus. Not all Tinnitus sufferers are somatic, but most of them probably are.

I suggest enjoying your time home as best as you can, while you're waiting for the ENT appointment, and not think too much about it. Watching TV at reasonable sound volumes, eating nice food, maybe having a beer or two.. You know..

My Tinnitus does get louder after certain activities, like running or working out vigorously but I try not to overdo those things, just to stay on the safe side.

Good luck!

 

[Steph1710]

Hey!

Yeah I've got pulsatile tinnitus and it's taken a year of fighting the hospital and my doctors to get anything done. Eventually I Googled top tinnitus specialist in the UK and found one at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

Fast forward - first had an MRI, which btw is a routine check they do if you have pulsatile tinnitus because it can be a brain tumour; this showed nothing but that's often the case with PT - then I had a ctv scan done which showed I have raised intracranial pressure (ICP) which is cause by a blockage in my main artery in my neck - and that whooshing sound is my blood trying to drain back out of my brain haha.

Treatment is a lumbar puncture to drain my spinal fluid and then a stent in my neck to open the artery back up to help the blood flow.

Just so you know the hospital will do everything not to help you. You will have to fight tooth and nail to get it sorted. My story is the same as everyone's with PT.

Oh and I didn't even join this forum for my pulsatile tinnitus. I've been unlucky enough to have developed normal tinnitus on top of all this. Great!

Anyway, hope that helps..

Steph x

 

[Laurie1961]

@Steph1710 Very interesting. In the beginning of having tinnitus it got so so loud and one day while shopping the back of my pants above any area that could have an accident, got wet. I couldn't imagine what it was, possibly a new area to sweat that I'd never had before. The tinnitus was less that night, the next day I couldn't make a twisting motion without pain but tinnitus was gone. In a couple days spine was better and tinnitus back. This happened a couple more times before I figured out that my spine was actually leaking near the tail bone, enough fluid to wet the cloth and there was no sign of anything much on the skin aside from a slightly red area. Same issue with twisting being painful & no tinnitus. As this happened again, months later there was odor to this and my doctor told me it was some sort of cyst. It hasn't leaked for about 4 years now. But, I do notice awful pressure in back of head, neck and spine when my tinnitus is really bad.

 

[Steph1710]

Hi @Laurie1961

thanks for sharing your story with me. Is your tinnitus normal or pulsatile tinnitus?

Steph X

 

[tiniturtle]

When I did have an unexplained bout of ear problems about a month ago, including high pitched tinnitus, it definitely increased when I bit down. This completely went away though.

 

[tiniturtle]

Hey!

Yeah I've got pulsatile tinnitus and it's taken a year of fighting the hospital and my doctors to get anything done. Eventually I Googled top tinnitus specialist in the UK and found one at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

Fast forward - first had an MRI, which btw is a routine check they do if you have pulsatile tinnitus because it can be a brain tumour; this showed nothing but that's often the case with PT - then I had a ctv scan done which showed I have raised intracranial pressure (ICP) which is cause by a blockage in my main artery in my neck - and that whooshing sound is my blood trying to drain back out of my brain haha.

Treatment is a lumbar puncture to drain my spinal fluid and then a stent in my neck to open the artery back up to help the blood flow.

Just so you know the hospital will do everything not to help you. You will have to fight tooth and nail to get it sorted. My story is the same as everyone's with PT.

Oh and I didn't even join this forum for my pulsatile tinnitus. I've been unlucky enough to have developed normal tinnitus on top of all this. Great!

Anyway, hope that helps..

Steph x

There are some newer methods of treating this. I could forward you some information if you're interested.

 

[Steph1710]

@tiniturtle you're more than welcome to PM me with information. However, the main artery in my neck has narrowed, so a stent is the standard procedure, just like if an artery had narrowed in your heart.

X

 

[Laurie1961]

Hi @Laurie1961

thanks for sharing your story with me. Is your tinnitus normal or pulsatile tinnitus?

Steph X

Hi Steph,

Mine is a continuous high pitched hiss. Normal? Normal tinnitus happens like if you go to a concert or school dance that is too loud for maybe a half hour after, or like in the old days with analog headphones too loud - too long or if you had to use a high speed tool like a router or saw for a few hours with no protection -- you would leave work hearing a hiss that gently went away. Everyone experienced that. Parents who were older and did not have tinnitus explained it and what it was- some had experienced this at certain jobs, etc. That was tinnitus in the "olden" days that I could classify as normal. No one had it for days, weeks, months, years or now decades in.

This tinnitus is something new. Be very careful what you let someone do to your spine and brain stem if you are contemplating surgery. There's more than viruses to be caught in hospitals and you want to have a 100% guarantee this significant risk will stop your tinnitus. I'd say get a second opinio but not sure how you avoid golf club friends or professional favors.