Pulsatile Tinnitus – Rhythmic, Pulsating Sound in Your Ear
If you hear a pulsing, whooshing, or thumping sound that beats along with the rhythm of your heart, you may have pulsatile tinnitus. You may hear sound beats as low-pitched thumping sound or higher-pitched clicking sound. Pulsatile tinnitus is also called vascular tinnitus because many times it occurs due to blood flow change and its disruptions in veins, arteries, and other smaller vessels in the ear, skull, and veins in the neck.
Pulsatile tinnitus isn’t a very common type of tinnitus as only 3% of all tinnitus sufferers have it. It is generally considered the most annoying form of tinnitus as testified by sufferers who’ve had both pulsatile tinnitus and continuous tinnitus.
As with other types of tinnitus, pulsatile tinnitus is not a disease but a symptom of an underlying problem. And since it has to do with your blood flow, it is advisable to be checked by a doctor because the underlying problem can be something serious and can get worse if untreated.
Some of the most common pulsatile tinnitus causes are:
- Arteriovenous malformations (AVMS) – There may be abnormal amount of veins and arteries forming around the auditory nerve in the cranial cavity.
- Fluid from middle ear: Otherwise known as middle ear effusion. If there’s an infection, inflammation, or Eustachian tube dysfunction, some fluids accumulates back of middle ear which is normally an air-filled space, causing pulsatile tinnitus. This is sometimes accompanied by hearing loss and sometimes, pain.
- Middle ear vascular tumors: otherwise known as glomus (from its appearance of a globe) or paragangliomas located at the base of the skull. This tumor is benign and in order to correct this problem, surgery is required.
- Hypertension medicine: In some cases the medication used to treat hypertension in turn causes pulsatile tinnitus.
- Benign Intracranial Hypertension: Pulsating tinnitus occurring due to increased levels of pressure of fluid surrounding the brain. This is most common for overweight younger girls. Many times it’s treated by exercise and weight loss.
- Atherosclerosis (Atherosclerotic Cartoid Artery Disease) – Pulsatile tinnitus develops because of artery wall cholesterol build-up which leads to narrowing of the artery. This in turn causes blood flow turbulence which leads to pulsating tinnitus.
- Carotid artery-cavernous sinus fistula – Usually due to head trauma. There are abnormal connections between large group of veins and a large artery within the cranial cavity. Radiology is likely the only treatment for this.
Pulsatile tinnitus can be effectively treated although it’s an uncommon symptom. It is advisable you seek medical attention immediately because as you can see, it’s a symptom of an underlying disease which are more serious. Your body will constantly pester you to get your body checked out and build an optimal health condition with an “alarm sound” inside your head. And like a stubborn smoke alarm that won’t shush up until the fire’s put out, your pulsatile tinnitus will keep on “ringing” until the fire in your body is gone.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment