I was diagnosed about a year ago with an acoustic neuroma on the right side. As of last October, when I had my last MRI it was about 7mm in size. My doctor keeps telling me that I don't want to have surgery done if I don't absolutely need it. Over the past month or so I have been getting progressively more light headed/dizzy and I have lost quite a bit of hearing in my right ear. I have had tinnitus, but the last two weeks it seems different, I seem to hear the blood pumping in my right ear. Not the same sound as pulsatile tinnitus. I am a little worried after reading an article online about whooshing sounds being caused by a restriction in an artery in the brain. I am including a link to the article: pbs.org/newshour/health/tin...
If anyone has suffered with the same condition I would really appreciate hearing from you.
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wwoodward49
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I do get that a lot and it was found to be caused by high blood pressure i have , there are tiny blood vessels within the ear and it is so loud and with pumping feeling and that was why i was experiencing this , my present An is stable atm and I don’t think that had much to do with it but , I’ve already had 2An to date and can’t recall having that symptom b4 , all the damage caused by the op was done before I had blood pressure, also getting stressed over what’s going off can heighten this symptom , you definitely need to get it checked out tho as there could be so many reasons .
Very best of luck and keep me posted how you get on ,
Hi, like you, I have a small AN - mine has grown from 4.5mm to 10.0mm across in the last 15 months (although due to clerical errors I was only diagnosed this month). I haven't experienced any hearing loss but do have pulsatile tinnitus (the sound of my heartbeat - not sure if this is quite the same as you are describing) and dizziness/light headed feelings quite often. I saw a very good specialist in Cambridge last week who has recommended radiotherapy - probably gamma knife, I'm waiting to see the next specialist! - and I understand that they only operate if absolutely necessary, as it tends to mean immediate and complete hearing loss in that ear.
It sounds as if you have a good relationship with your doctor and I would suggest discussing the noises with them - information on the internet got me extremely worried and was, in the end, not helpful as everyone seems to have a different experience.
Your AN is still small and sounds like the initial stages of the usual AN symptoms, which will increase as your AN increases in size. One thing you need to be aware of is where the AN is located. If located OUTSIDE of the bony vestibule that the 8th cranial nerve and blood supply flows through to the inner ear it is not timely critical.
But, if the AN is located INSIDE that bony vestibule (sometimes called a vestibular schwannoma) you need to dealt with it immediately before it expands, cutting off the blood supply and innervation to the inner ear. I had similar symptoms to yours for about a year (especially after eating or wine or exercising) and then within a month I went from perfect hearing in my AM ear to almost none, with the usual onset of full blown AN symptoms.
I wish I was as lucky as you in finding out about an AN in its initial stages, but for me it was too late.
Hi Woody. I can sympathise with the stress you are feeling as I've been there too. My GP said the likelyhood of him coming across an AN during his career is very low. However because I had three AN's removed in 1987 (that's right!) he agreed to send me for a scan as I had "whooshing" in my good ear especially at night. The scan showed a Glomus tumour growing in my right temple. Now aged 82 I decided with the consultant to not have surgery due to the risks of losing the hearing in my only good ear and affecting my swallowing which I can only do on the right side. When I had my op in 1987 there was only normal surgery available, no radiology over here. That would have been less invasive and probably spared me some of the residual effects of 9 hours on the operating table. I wish you well and hope everything goes to plan. Keith
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