Ears.

[Flosy]

Hi.just need some help,does pred affect your ears,l am on 10mg.at mo,been that dose around 6 weeks,due to reduce til 9mg ,feb 1st.i keep getting a thumping noise in ears,then when I wake it just sounds like bees buzzing.thank you.

[SheffieldJane]

Yes, I got that symptom initially, a sort of buzzing in time to my heartbeat. Mention it to the doctor if it’s worrying you.

[Flosy in reply to SheffieldJane]

Hi.thanks what causes it,have u mention to your dr.i dont want to feel I am a pain.

[SheffieldJane in reply to Flosy]

Well as Jinasc reminds us, there can be ear involvement with GCA, so ear trouble with PMR could be significant. I just assumed that I was hearing blood rushing. I think there has been mention of this symptom/ side effect on here in the past. It’s no good us all hanging back from bothering the doctor. You have a serious systemic disease and take steroids. That seems reason enough to take up a few moments of their time by phone or email. In person, I imagine that they would take your blood pressure. Do you have a machine at home? I bought one on-line for about £30.00.

[Sophiestree in reply to SheffieldJane]

What machine is that and what does it register? Always like to have the right equipment! Although I bought an oximeter and it was useless. Cheap rubbish that only worked intermittently.

[SheffieldJane in reply to Sophiestree]

A sphygnomanometer, I think. 🙂 Blood pressure. It is worth owning one. My husband has discovered that his is too high as well, with ours. I get differing readings in each arm which eventually led to my LVV diagnosis. I was thinking about Flosy’s Pulsatile Tinnitus and what doctor’s test in face to face consultations ( rare these days).

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to SheffieldJane]

You think right - except it is spelled with a y not an i!!!!

[SheffieldJane in reply to PMRpro]

Corrected,

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to SheffieldJane]

The joys of medical spelling:"The word "sphygmomanometer" (pronounced sfig·mo·ma·nom·e·ter) was put together from the Greek sphygmos, the beating of the heart or the pulse + manometer, a device for measuring pressure or tension."

Wonder what US medica call it? BP cuff probably ...

PS - you will be delighted by the Italian word: sfigmomanometro

[SheffieldJane in reply to PMRpro]

I love language! I did Latin at school that has stayed with me forever.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to SheffieldJane]

Me too - but they wouldn't let me do Latin. I was the first year where it wasn't compulsory and by the time I went to med school it was no longer needed anyway. My language career came later and Lain would have been quite useful learning German grammar!!!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Sophiestree]

Fiddle with the battery - ours works fine.

[Suffererc in reply to Sophiestree]

I have one from Boots. Boots own make and it pretty good

[PMRpro Ambassador]

There are a lot of causes of pulsatile tinnitus besides PMR/GCA so worth speaking to your doctor. Pred is often used to treat some of the causes.

[MsDirecto in reply to PMRpro]

Those hearing issues appear to be very complex/ I have had tinnitus for about 15 years. It's my understanding now that it is not an ear problem: it comes from the brain. PMRpro- might that explain the 8th cranial nerve involvement with GCA?

Separately from the tinnitus, also go a "thumping" sound around the time I was on 10 mg prednisone. I felt I was hearing my pulse, amplified. I don't have it now that I am on a lower dose. The tinnitus is persistent, but I can just ignore it most of the time. It helps that when I started wearing hearing aids 3 years ago, the sounds of music, audiobooks, or TV coming through my hearing aids tend to send the tinnitus to the background.

A funny but true story about hearing strange sounds: When my husband was dying at home in 2007, and I was getting very little sleep, I would sometimes hear a very loud noise- like a door slamming or a car crashing next to me just as I was falling asleep, or was in light sleep. I knew there was nothing in or around our house to cause it. I didn't want to say anything to anyone because there was no way that they could hear that crashing sound and thought I might sound like I had fallen off my rocker.

"Doc Martin" gave me the answer. One night when I was watching the show on TV, one of the townspeople on the show described what I recognized. Doc Martin said he had "exploding head syndrome." I thought he was just giving the man some stupid answer to get rid of him. Then I looked up "exploding head syndrome"- and it's a real thing. It's a phenomenon that seems to happen at night when people are getting too little sleep or very stressed. When I got some help with my husband and started getting more than 2 hours sleep, the sounds left. I guess my body was saying "pay attention."

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to MsDirecto]

I suppose it depends how you look at it. Poor blood supply to a nerve results in damage, it may cause swelling or even cells to die off if it is below a certain level. That interferes with the transfer of signals from the area it serves to the brain which decodes the signals so we see, hear, taste, feel. The 8th cranial nerve carries signals from the ear to the brain for it to sort them out and order a response. Even with no problems it is sometimes possible to hear the heart beat in your ear - and often once you are aware you can't become unaware. Tinnitus isn't the disorder itself - it is a symptom of the underlying condtion that is causing it:

mayoclinic.org/diseases-con....

Just the same as PMR is the symptom of an underlying autoimmune disorder.

[Pollynolongerinagony]

good morning Flosys, pretty name, sorry to hear you have this problem, must be annoying and bit scary. I have pulsile tinnitus which means sometimes I can hear my heartbeat in my left ear, and I live with it ok. You defo need to get this checked out so do please ring yr doc. With regards equipment i would not be without my oximeter and you can get a good one on amazon, and my hubby has a blood pressure monitor which you pop the cuff on your arm and press a button, voila! as I have pre diabetes, I also have a finger prick test kit to occasionally test my sugar levels. all available on amazon. all these came in very hand when I had an arrhythmia attack on recently, and I agree with you, the right equipment can be life saving. Good luck with your enquiries and your buzzing and throbbing, you'll get really good help on this forum, you're not alone ,,,, take care and keep safe, Polly.

[Flosy]

Hi.thank you.that is very helpful.they are very good on here.i hope I will,i will get one off them odometer,they sound good.and will ring drs.always had problems with my left ear,i do wear hearing aids as well.thanks again.x

[SheffieldJane in reply to Flosy]

The Oximeter clips onto your finger and measures oxygen levels in the blood. The Sphygmomanometer measures your blood pressure and enables you to keep a record of your readings for the doctor. That is the piece of kit I have found so valuable.

[Flosy in reply to SheffieldJane]

Thank you everyone on here.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Flosy]

Not odometer - that measures distance travelled by a wheel so if you ask or search for that you won't get what you want.