November 13, 2008

Hearing Pulse In Ears

Have you ever had that experience of hearing some kind of beating in your ears? It is that sound that you hear kind of like having a drum in your ear and has that constant beat. This sound or sensation is what is more commonly known as “pulsating” or “pulsatile tinnitus”. What is tinnitus? This is the kind or type of ear disorder that gives out a sensation of hearing some sounds from within your ear. It may be a ringing in your ear or a buzzing sound. In the case of pulsatile tinnitus, you may experience hearing pulse in ears. It is somehow described as a thumping or whooshing sound.

Pulsatile tinnitus originates within the blood vessels of the body, particularly the head or the neck part when disturbed blood flow occurs. The thumping sound in your ear happens when there is an increased blood flow or a narrowing of the opening of a blood vessel. The change of blood flow in the veins can then be heard in your ear.

One of the main causes of pulsatile tinnitus is a condition called Benign Intracranial Hypertension or BIH. This is a condition wherein the fluids inside our brain experience a pressure. Most of the patients found to be suffering from such condition are young women who are overweight.

Another is the Atherosclerotic Carotid Artery Disease. Such disease is the narrowing down of an artery due to high cholesterol builds up on the wall of the artery. This lessens the opening and thus affects the blood flow in the body. Such change in blood flow then causes the person to feel the ear ringing or beating problem. This usually occurs in patients with higher age level with a history in hypertension, diabetes and smoking.

Middle Ear Effusion is another disorder wherein the middle ear happens to be suffering from an infection. Such infection may be caused by fluid stuck up on the middle ear. This branches out to more problems like inflammation, decreased hearing, sometimes a feeling if fullness in the ears and also pain. Having such inflammation is caused by the increase of blood flow in the area. Having high levels of blood flow makes you hear that pulsating sound in your ears.

There have been cases wherein patients with high blood pressure claim to have pulsatile tinnitus right after they began taking blood pressure medication. The pulsating sound subsided mostly after a few weeks. As for the others, tinnitus continued on due to the elevated blood pressure.
Another cause for pulsatile tinnitus is the case of having twisted arteries. Having twisted arteries in the head and neck cause turbulent or increased blood flow. By applying pressure on the upper neck on the side of the tinnitus should alter or reduce it.

These are some of the causes of pulsatile tinnitus. Having the sensation of hearing a beat or thumping in our ears may indeed be irritating. If having such experience along with excruciating pain, make sure to visit your doctor and inquire for tinnitus relief treatments.

4 comments:

Jennifer Catlin said...

It is driving me nuts I lay down at night and hear thump thump thump just like my heart is beating in my ears loud mostly on the right side. I do have high blood pressure and take meds for it. But it continues and its mostly when I lay down at night and when I stay up for an hour or so it goes away. Please help I feel like I am losing my mind.

Marwa said...

Very nice topic ..thank u :)

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Chicago Carol said...

So, I finally figured out what it is -- pulsate tinnitus!! It's not that I want this malady, but it's better knowing that thinking the neighbors downstairs are leaving on their stereo all night long to thump away. I have made two major job changes at work and also moved my residence within the last 5 months (just to find there was no heat and the water merely trickled out of the bathroom faucets)! My neck had been feeling like a tight twisted knot on the left-hand side from all the pressure and exhaustion. I had no idea this kind of thing could occur. So, onto looking for remedies now!

Thanks for the info.
Chicago Carol