Pulsatile Tinnitus Developed While Taking Minocycline

[Madays]

I have pulsatile tinnitus that started during the time I was taking minocycline. I took the antibiotic for about a year on and off. I no longer take it. I describe my tinnitus as a whooshing sound in my right ear together with my heart beat. I have had it since 2015 but recently I developed dizziness, pressure on right side of neck and head, anxiety.

Drs have no idea what it is. I have had MRI and ultrasound of carotid all negative. I'm very concerned.

 

[Karen]

Hi, Madays,

Your PT sounds very similar to mine. Back in 2010, I took a blood pressure drug, and my pulsatile tinnitus in my right ear started within about a month of taking it. I no longer take blood pressure meds, but my pulsatile tinnitus remains. Also, before it started, I had mild regular tinnitus in my right ear. After taking the drug, my mild tinnitus became much more severe.

I've had an MRI, CT scan, and Doppler of carotid arteries, all of which were negative. I've been to several doctors and specialists, and they could not find any cause for my PT.

I have heard of other people whose tinnitus and/or pulsatile tinnitus started after taking a drug, and I believe that some of us may be more vulnerable to this condition. In my case, my right ear might have already been weakened by the regular tinnitus in that ear.

Like you, I also experienced dizziness/vertigo, feelings of fullness and pressure, and a great deal of anxiety. I do want you to know that the dizziness/vertigo has disappeared now, along with the feelings of fullness and pressure, although my increased tinnitus and pulsatile tinnitus remain. I have become more used to it, and have been able to get back to living my life normally again.

I wish you the best, and hope that some of your symptoms will dissipate as time goes on.

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[Robert Fahey]

I developed it while taking amoxicillin, on day seven of my 10-day treatment. And I still have it, though it did change from a distinct musical tone to a fuzzier hiss. So, Madays, let's assume the worst -- that it sticks around.

At first, you'll feel attacked, damaged, cursed, handicapped, victimized, ripped off, haunted etc.
After a while -- and a "while" depends on your psychological makeup -- you'll stop focusing on it. It will become just another background noise. Your life is full of those. And this "damage" will become just another idiosyncrasy. People are full of those too.

You haven't lost your silence. In fact, you've never experienced true silence and wouldn't want to. When people are put in a truly sound-proof room, they start to hear their neck bones cracking when they turn their heads, and their eyeballs swishing back and forth when they move. They start to go nuts. The longest anyone has been able to stay in such a room is about 45 minutes. So silence isn't so golden.

Your computer, or your TV set, might make a little hiss sometimes. If your brain does too, it means it's working. Better than the alternative!

 

[kaylarose43]

I spoke to a radiologist about why my scans were not showing the cause of my PT. I found out that you need to ask for an internal auditory canal MRA not an MRI. I have had so many scans and after having the one for my ear canal, they discovered that an artery in my brain had looped around a nerve that goes to my ear. Pulsatile tinnitus isn't well understood by the medical profession. Sometimes it take a few different tests. Since PT often has a vascular cause, you always want to make sure you get tests with contracts called MRA or CTA. I hope you find answers soon.

 

[Purva]

So what has been suggested to you for your vascular loop? Is your tinnitus coming from loop? Any treatment for that

 

[tiniturtle]

Please see my thread regarding this:

If You Have Pulsatile Tinnitus, Here's the First Thing You Need to Do to Get Answers and a Diagnosis

http://neuroangio.org/diagnosis-and-treatment-of-pulsatile-tinnitus/