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Loud Heartbeat in Ear

Carrigon

Senior Member
Messages
808
Location
PA, USA
Anyone else ever get pulsative tinnitus, that loud beating heartbeat in your ear. I've been getting it lately and tonight it is particularly bad. I'm told it can actually be related to the Hashimoto's. I don't know. But it's awful. It's just beating away in my right ear.
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
I get that sometimes, and I've been having it a lot lately. My mother suffers from it very badly and says there are several causes. High blood pressure is one. Another is ear infection, which can be mild enough to give no pain or symptoms - other than this one of throbbing as the blood tries to pass through a blood vessel slightly constricted by inflammation. I'm afraid I don't know anything about Hashimoto's.

My mother - who was almost deaf as a kid because of glue ear - told me that she had this throbbing every night. That was during the wartime, when she lived in London right through the Blitz. She used to lie in bed in terror because she thought it was an army of soldiers marching along and she was terrified it was the Germans.
 

Stone

Senior Member
Messages
371
Location
NC
I've had tinnitus sense my acute onset in 1995, but lately since I've started on Neurontin (gebapentin), I've had a good deal of trouble with hearing my heartbeat wooshing in my ears. Not particularly enjoyable, if I may say so. I do hope yours subsides very soon.
Best,
Stone
 

Starlight

Senior Member
Messages
152
Hi Carrigon and all. I have had this problem since my cfs and pots got very bad 9 years ago. It goes through phases of being very bad, so loud that I can't hear small sounds around me eg foot steps approaching.When it's less bad it sounds like an incessant whooshing which is annoying but not as bad as the hard beating. I find it gets worse when my general cfs and pots are worst.

I haven't found anything that helps except placing my hand up along the side of my neck and pressing lightly. That seems to stop it but only while I'm holding it.I need to do this if I want to hear small sounds around the house or wind outside. Sticking one ear plug into my right ear,which is usually worse than the left, also helps give some relief too. It kindda depends on the angle you place it at to help though. It's trial and error.

I wish I had a more hopeful story of it going away altogether but I can say you do get used to it and it gets less annoying and eases as you feel better.I've been severely affected for a long time now but the last time I felt a bit better it eased quite a lot. Hope it help to feel you aren't alone with it. I find it comforting to think I'm not. :)

If anyone has any tips for managing it or improving it I'd love to hear them.
 

illsince1977

A shadow of my former self
Messages
356
I get this too. It's transient for me (comes and goes). I had it for a couple of hours again last night, but then it went away, thank goodness. It's highly annoying. I also associate it with CFS - it's less likely to happen when I'm doing better in general, but it isn't with me all the time when I'm really bad (been bedridden for 6 months + now), just occasionally. My BP is usually low.
 
Messages
26
I've had this problem as well...It was at its worst when my CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) pressure was elevated. It is also known as hydrocephalus. The brain inflammation causes vessels to swell and push against structures related to our ear.

I can only describe the sound as a heartbeat sound that pulsated and almost vibrated. It was very odd, and extremely annoying.