Pulsating tinnitus

[Olly66]

Hi there....does anyone else suffer with pulsating tinnitus? I have recently been referred to the ENT clinic at our local hospital, could anyone possibly tell me what happens at these clinic...I have Googled pulsating tinnitus and all I’ve succeeded I. Doing is frightening myself silly...thanks for any help/advise

[Jojo313]

Without putting a damper on it, don’t expect a lot! You may get sent for an MRI and offered Betahistine or Something similar, but usually you are just told to learn to live with it, each time I went I was full of hope but soon learned it was just disappointing, I’m 19 months in now and ent have signed me off, saying there’s nothing they can do 🤢

[LH44 in reply to Jojo313]

Exactly! I find a white noise app on my phone helps me get to sleep ☺

[tracyd59 in reply to Jojo313]

Hi jojo313, sorry to hear that your ENT has stopped investigating your Pulsatile Tinnitus. May I recommend a very useful and informative FB page called "Whooshers Unite". It's helping me enormously in my journey to try and find the source of my pulsatile tinnitus. Good luck and I hope you find an answer! Regards, Tracy

[Jojo313 in reply to tracyd59]

Thank you, have asked to join the group, much appreciated

[NicBTA Partner]

Hi Olly66

Hello and welcome to the British Tinnitus Association forum. Do feel free to ask any questions, I hope that you find this a helpful and supportive place to help you manage your tinnitus.

We have some resources that you might like to check out in addition to our home here:

tinnitus.org.uk

- especially our leaflet on Pulsatile Tinnitus tinnitus.org.uk/pulsatile-t... and the one on tinnitus services tinnitus.org.uk/tinnitus-se...

takeontinnitus.co.uk

Helpline 0800 018 0527 (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm) (outside the UK you can call [phone])

Warmest wishes

Nic (BTA Communications Manager and Forum Administrator)

[Olly66]

Thank you all for taking the time to answer...it’s nice to know that there are people out there that can help 😘

[unsure]

Hi,

I have a constant buzzing/humming in both ears and pulsatile tinnitus in my right ear. I saw the ENT for the first time two weeks ago and he was very thorough (I've also had dizziness with the symptoms so was being checked out for that too). I had blood tests and am having an ultrasound scan of my neck next week, which is to check the carotid arteries on both sides. I am assuming that is to check for blockages or something, which I've read can cause pulsatile tinnitus. I then see my ENT again in 3 months (unless something shows up in the scan in which case I will have an MRI). I assume if nothing shows up on the scan, I will have to learn to live with it ... he did offer to refer me for 'counselling' to help deal with tinnitus, which I declined.

So try not to worry, I am sure your appointment will go fine. When do you find the tinnitus is at its worse? I don't get the pulse during the day time but only when lying down at night.

[Olly66 in reply to unsure]

Hi there unsure...thanks so much for your reply...I only have The pulsating tinnitus in my left ear...it’s like a hissing noise in time with my heartbeat...my ear makes all kinds of popping and cracking noises as well...during the day it doesn’t seem to bad I’m guessing the because I don’t think about it when I’m busy, it seems worse in the evening and night..I’m lucky that I don’t have the dizziness ...I do hope they can get the bottom of what the cause of your tinnitus is, and hopefully find a cure..

[Godstopper]

They gawp at your eardrum, magically determine nothing is wrong because they can't see it, and tell you to "mindfully" accept the racket! Or at least my ENT did. I had to pay for my own MRI as he determined, based on a one year old one (for something unrelated) nothing was wrong. Well, something did come back wrong and I've just had a CT today to better visualise whatever has decided to take up residence inside my head. Most of the time, a cause won't be found though (though there obviously is one!). Might be better trying to see a neurotologist (specialises in tinnitus) as the ENT is just concerned with mechanical goings on (you'd think pulsatile T would indicate a mechanical going on, but ...).

[Olly66 in reply to Godstopper]

Thanks Godstopper...I do hope you have a positive outcome from your latest CT scan...I do believe they pick up more than and MRI take care

[Hidden]

Hi there. Despite umpteen other all body symptoms that have me under rheumatology, neurology and lots of others, this one got to me. I saw a wonderful ENT 3 weeks ago and this was one of my concerns. I did have a carotid duplex 3 years ago which showed mild disease in all carotids and my mum died of severe atherosclerosis so I felt that I had reason to be worried.

However he revisited and reformatted a CT scan of my sinuses done by another ENT last year. And wrote to me saying he has found a “high rising jugular bulb with dominant venous drainage” on the same side - which he believes will explain my pulsatile tinnitus. I read up and all my research shows that this is annoying but a relatively benign and not uncommon abnormality ie no intervention required.

Hoping this may be relevant to you and others. I did post here about this last week but had no replies.

[Belfast424]

I do hope they thoroughly investigate the potential causes for you. I believe there are different causes for everyone but most of the time the cause is never found. I think a lot of research is still missing for this condition. I had pulsatile tinnitus for about 9 months in my left ear before I suddenly permanently lost hearing in that ear late last year. They called it sudden sensorineural hearing loss. No cause was ever found for me but it appeared to have been related to my having high blood pressure and migraines which had not been easy to control. So for me it was probably a vascular problem. Now I live with a different kind of tinnitus in that deaf ear which I have quickly leant to adjust to. Do not panic or lose hope. Your body will learn to adjust in its own way. If not..there are lots of apps and self help information is available as discussed before