How Did Your Pulsatile Tinnitus Start?

[Bessie]

Hi everyone. I would like to know how did your Pulsative Tinnitus started? Mines had started with everytime I would bend down to pick up something, there will be a deaf sensation in my left ear. I couldn't understand what was going on.

At first I thought my ears are not opened up and try to blow them open. And a week from thursday, that's when I begin to hear my heartbeat in my left ear. I thought it was weird. I've done some research and thought maybe my ear drum had ruptured.

So I played by ear hoping it will hear but the whooshing sound was really bugging me. So I did further research and that's when I came up with a name I don't hear people talking about: Pulsatile Tinnitus.

The next day, I went to the doctor and told her about it and she told me that's what it was. Eardrum was fine but I was bummed when she told me there was no medication for it. So I just prayed and ask God to bless me with comfort and peace with this.

As of now, im talking vitamin b12 for it and Im going to judge because it has not been a week since I took it.

Sorry this was very long, but im curious to know how did you find out you had pulsatile tinnitus. God bless

 

[TeresaD]

@Bessie Sorry to hear about your PT. please don't let the doctor dismiss you so easily. There are tests they need to perform to check why this is there if just started up for no reason. Go to whooshers.com too for more information and I hope it just goes away!

 

[gcouger]

Mine started to be a problem in the 1970's. Before that I would notice my ears ringing now and then after duck hunting with dad's quail gun a Remitting Model 12 US Army Trench gun that had been made civilian legal by adding Polly Choke and Cutt's Compensator. I had over a 170 dB retort with duck loads. In the 70's I add a Remington 6 mm and 357 Magnum with a 3 inch barrel both nearly as loud as the shotgun. I also drove tractors with rather loud mufflers. I have more hearing loss in my left ear as most farmers do from looking down the right side of the tractor turning my left ear to the muffler.

Sometime in the late 70's or early 80's my heart beat began to ring in my ears. It hasn't got any better with age. I never bothers me much even when its loud. It's just part of me. It came on gradually and I just didn't let it get to me very much. I was dealing with a possibly having Multiple Sclerosis, and going broke at the same time I had other things to keep me awake.

I still can count ever beat of my heart if I listen. I notice the pulse in my ears most when I am reading posts here.

I can't tell anyone how to live with because it never was a problem for me. I sure can see why it could be problem. I think I may have actively tried very hard to keep it from being a problem when I saw how big a problem it was for a friend of mine. It almost drove him mad a time when a lot of farmers were having a very hard time. I took to drinking for a few years. It makes the ringing worse if anything.

The two good thing are the ringing it gets worse when my blood pressure is too high and I can tell when my heart skips beats.

It's something that hasn't ever bothered me. Sometimes I can do the same with pain. I just can't do it for pain very long. I think the trick is not to let either on intrude into your thoughts. I have to concentrate fairly hard on something I like to do and I can't be interrupted very often or I get frustrated and the pain comes back. I expect it's the with tinnitus for people that have trouble with it.

Gordon Couger
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. - Theodore Roosevelt

 

[Beste]

My pulsatile T in my right ear started 2 mos my regular T with ototoxicity with benzo w/d. It is not that bad and I can change its pitch with neck moving.

 

[Chilly]

I was in my room . I just laid on bed. I started hearing heartbeat on my left ear. It felt weird. I hadn't had any idea what was that.
Later on that day , i heard it in my right ear. And now i have tinnitus on my right ear only. My left one is fine
I have no explanation for this.

 

[JustJenn]

Mine started about 8 years ago when I had Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (aka Pseudotumor). At first I only heard it occasionally, but over the years it has gotten more and more frequent. Now I hear it almost constantly. It never goes away. Some things make it increase in volume - exercising, certain positions - but even when it is quiet, it is there. The Pseudotumor is long gone, and by all accounts curing that should have cured the PT as well. So now I'm in the middle of a series of tests to see if there is another cause. MRI, CT Scan, MRA, and Lumbar Puncture have all come back with nothing. Today I had an ECoG to test for Meniere's. Fingers crossed. I think the next step is poking a hole in my eardrum. :\

 

[Nicole C]

I believe mine started after suffering from an ear infection. I went to see my GP and she told me to take OTC sinus medication. A week after the ear infection, I woke up with this horrible whooshing noise that was in rhythm with my heartbeat. I was so upset and distraught, I had no idea what was going on. I then went back to my GP and she assured me it wasn't PT (I came to this conclusion after doing some research). She told me to continue using the sinus medication, which wasn't helping. She then referring me to an ENT. When they told me it was indeed PT, and I was told to "live with it," I broke down crying in the office. I knew after looking up my symptoms that it was very hard to get rid of PT. I knew deep down that's what was going on with me. I've since then gone through many tests, MRI, MRA, CT, three audiology appointments, with negative (which is a good thing).

I am currently experiencing PT, unilaterally, in my right ear and trying like hell to come to a conclusion on how I can help myself with this.

 

[Karen]

Mine started after taking a blood pressure drug for the first time. Before that, I had mild tinnitus in my right ear, but it was when I began taking a blood pressure drug that my regular tinnitus became much worse. Then, I tried to get myself off the blood pressure drug, and when I did so, I began noticing a strange sound in my right ear that I hadn't experienced before. I did some research on the internet, and that's when I read about pulsatile tinnitus for the first time.

Since the time it began, I've been to many doctors and practitioners, had a number of tests, and nothing negative was found. I've had PT now for six years, and I would say that it seems to have calmed down to a consistent level. I'm living with it, and working and socializing again. I truly wish I didn't have it, and it is still hard to sleep at night, but I am managing.

I wish for all PT sufferers that we can some day find a cure for this awful condition!

Best wishes to all,
Karen

 

[Nicole C]

Karen-
I have been reading through a bunch of threads on this site and always make sure I read yours. Would you mind sharing what you're currently taking that you think may be helping your tinnitus? If not, I completely understand. I haven't tried anything on my own yet. I was prescribed predinsone twice last year and that made mt PT drop significantly, but then once I was off of it, it came back.

Hope to hear from you!

 

[Karen]

Hi, @Nicole C

To answer your question about what I'm currently taking for tinnitus -- well, I am currently only taking:

N-Acetylcistene - Twice daily (I take two 1,000 mcg tablets per day)
Fish oil
Magnesium Glycinate - Once daily, about 1 hour before bedtime. (One 400 mg tablet). It helps with sleep.

That's it, except for a multi-vitamin, and extra vitamin C in the form of Emergen-C (one packet per day). Also, I take one CardiTone tablet per day, which keeps my blood pressure normal.

When my pulsating first started, I tried a lot of different supplements, but didn't want to take any prescription drugs. I think that Holy Basil was helpful for calming, as was PharmaGABA. I don't take those any more. Another thing I tried was systemic enzymes (Wobenzym), but that didn't help my tinnitus. It does help some people, whose tinnitus is caused by inflammation.

For me, what works best is staying active, and keeping myself distracted. Also, moderate exercise seems to help, as well. I think the key is staying healthy and keeping your blood pressure as low as possible.

I hope this information helps!

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[LB Jeffrys]

Bessie,

My tinnitus started in 1980 when I was an Air Force pilot and experienced the loudest engine sound I had ever heard (it was an STS Solid Rocket Booster firing - it was so loud I could feel the organs in my body). After that, I have had a constant 8KHz tone in both ears. Then, 2 years ago, my doctor prescribed Cipro 500 mg and, at the end of the first week, the tinnitus had gotten much louder and started pulsating with my heartbeat.

I went to my GP who sent me to an ENT specialist who was about as good as Wikipedia. Basically, his prescription was "learn to live with it". (My opinion of the medical profession is extremely low). The ENT did not seem to take the tinnitus seriously, which I have experienced many times with doctors. To most doctors, its just a ringing sound, not life threatening. Essentially, the medical folks have no good ideas how to deal with tinnitus because they have so little knowledge of the brain and hearing systems.

So I guess my question is - have you been prescribed any antibiotics recently or just before the pulsating tinnitus appeared? If you have, then you have ear damage that is causing the pulsating. As to a cure, at the moment we live in a pre-medicine age for this condition.

LB

 

[Fungus]

Started when I had grommets for ETD.

 

[volsung37]

I had a perforated eardrum following a bad flu in April 14. Had muffled and distorted hearing for a couple of months following this. Then everything settled down. However in mid Oct 14 I awoke one night with a whooshing sound in my left ear that kept time with my heartbeat. Iwas pretty traumatised by this as I had never heard of PT. My eardrum perforated again in Dec 14. The PT seemed to change from a whooshing sound to a thump. I found drinking lime, ginger and honey seemed to help quiet it a bit as did using an earplug to dampen the sound at night. Around 6 months into the PT it started to fade and by 8 months it had gone. I had a blissful 7 months or so before ordinary T took over in the left ear. Whether the two bouts are linked I don't know but I suspect there is some connection.