Pulsatile or more common tinnitus.

[pattish]

I am new to this site and look forward to any help going.

I have had tinnitus for years and over time my brain has handled it very well.

Now the noise has increased and I have a continuous sound in my right ear.

This sound is something like an engine running at various speeds with variations but constantly.

(Not quite sure if that makes sense ). I just about manage it during the day but at night it is dreadful.

I have a level of insomnia anyway and this does not help. I have been taking sleeping pills from time to time and also melatonin every night, both have limited success.

Any thoughts or possible solutions would be gratefully received.

[rabbits65]

Hello pattish , mine is the same as you , right ear constantly , Like a running machine . A fan oven on constantly or out of tune TV aerial . Do you have fullness in that ear too. I find mine is worse when I get tired in the evenings . Feels lighter in the mornings. I do not think there is anything we can do . Fresh air and walks. Listening to bird song , keeping busy. . The thing is going to the ENT clinic in the hospital is a waste of time . Have you read any of the books out there. Anyway. Plenty more people will post on here for you. Welcome to this site .

[Happyrosie]

Whilst there is no cure, as such, the trick - as I expect you know from your long association with the delightful T - is to habituate to it. As rabbits says, walks in the open air, listening to birds, the wind and the rain, keeping busy and so on.Trying to analyse the noise just makes it more prominent, and T absolutely loves that.

If you are not familiar with the British tinnitus Association website then do take the time to explore it, especially the section “Take on Tinnitus” which is a sort of self-training module.

There are also helpful books around, please post here again for recommendations if you need them.

[Mille23]

Hi Pattish. My tinnitus is loud and intrusive, 24/7, and like you, my nights are dreadful . I get through the night , using melatonin and my audio book. I wake up many times during night time,but luckily my audiobook talks me back to sleep. 😊 Did I not use this, I am sure I would not sleep at all.

Before tinnitus I was not a good sleeper , I was very sensitive to sounds from outside, my husband snorring , our dog snorring, ( hope it is the right Word)

Hope you will find the right way for yourself.

[mmmgggsss]

Hello Pattish, Your heading said Pulsatile Tinnitus and that is what I have in my left ear. This particular type is unique in that it synchs directly with your heartbeat. I have had it for close to 2 years now and typically do not notice it at all except for quiet situations and especially when trying to sleep. I typically sleep with the TV on and try to select a somewhat boring documentary on Netflix or anything without commercials-which always seem to wake me up. There are many who say that it doesn't go away but that's not true. I have had long periods where it almost entirely goes away and in-fact the last few months have been great for me. Pulsatile tinnitus is totally different than regular and can be worse due to the pulsating nature of it vs just a constant hiss. The triggers for it are a mystery but hang in there and try to keep track of what helps and triggers it for you. I have been many great DRs here and I have no medical or anatomical issues at all-which on one hand is comforting but also a bit frustrating. You will indeed get used to it, the brain is amazing in how it can adapt and you may even find that it may diminish or at least variate with some nice quieter periods.

[surreycccfan]

Hi, here are some sleep tips I have posted before, I found them really useful in trying to get back into a sleep routine:

I can totally empathise as I just couldn't sleep for months when I first had T. I can now say I can sleep well and in fact I am managing my T so well I am back to sleeping with ear plugs so the only sound I can hear is my T (I am at point in my management journey that my T no longer invokes a flight/flight emotional reaction, I habituate and can live well with my T).

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• I used a sound generator app (I used ReSound Relief but plenty of others out there). I mixed sounds that (1) I found pleasant and (2) mapped well to my T. Audiologists tell us to map the volume of the sound to just below the volume of your T. As time went on and I felt more 'positive' towards my T I slowly reduced volume until I no longer needed the sound generator

• I tried to use positive reinforcement in relation to the sound from the generator app. The sound I had chosen was beach, waves, and rain, when I would go to sleep, I would listen to the sound and think of lovely holidays I have had walking on the beach. As T creates such a negative emotional reaction, these types of thoughts allowed me to calm down and think about something other than my T

• When I was lying in bed if I felt stressed and my mind was focused on my T I would follow a mindfulness body scan. I found this very calming and did take my mind off my T

• I used BTA support groups to help me learn more about T and techniques to move towards living well with T. As I learnt more and managed to reduce the negative emotional reaction to my T I would even say 'hello' to my T when I first settled down to sleep. The reason I did this is I found when I was stressed by my T it was always at the forefront of my mind so I found that if I said hello to it then (1) I had acknowledged it and my mind could move on to something else (2) by saying hello I was reducing my fight/flight reaction to it and this helped me to 'normalise' it for me.

• I tried to follow a good sleep hygiene pattern (maintain a regular sleep routine, avoid daytime naps, don't watch TV or use the computer in bed, no caffeine after 18:00 and as I am a clock watcher I put the alarm clock out of sight so I wasn’t constantly looking at it.

• Exercise was also important as this allowed me to be physically tired

It took me quite a while to get into a better sleep pattern but as I said I can now sleep with my new sound of silence. The BTA has some excellent resources on sleep tinnitus.org.uk/tinnitus-an... and has good links to products such as sound pillows, headbands, etc. In the above link the vicious cycle graphic really highlights how the fight/flight reaction to our T inhibits our sleep. I found by practicing other distraction and behavioural techniques in the day I slowly shifted how I thought about my T (I saw it as less of a threat which took its power away) and in combination with the things I did at night I slowly got back to normal sleep patterns.

I hope the above may help in some small way. Take care

[pattish in reply to surreycccfan]

Thank you so much for the information . As you said there is a psychological aspect which coming to terms with it could help. Also the relief equipment.A step at a time I guess. Thanks.

[surreycccfan in reply to pattish]

Yip, one step at a time. Always celebrate any success, however small and use these successes to help you see the progress you are making. And always be kind to yourself as its a tough condition to live with. Take care