Hello! Anxiety for the First Time Over Pulsatile Tinnitus and Momentary Tinnitus

Hello! I've had tinnitus all my life (pretty quiet, high-pitched whine - basically the noise in war movies when soldiers get shellshocked). Over Thanksgiving, a fire alarm went off next to me, and ever since then my tinnitus has been loud enough to hear while driving.

On its own, I'm able to deal most days. But for the past three months, I've had "episodes" where my tinnitus volume spikes for half a second, and my heart races and I feel a bit dizzy. It's always when I'm reclining or lying down, which makes me think it's either related to my acid reflux, or my heart (which is fine as far as I know, but I have a lot of anxiety over my cardiovascular health). This happens on average once every other day, and my anxiety about it is getting worse every week. It's hard to tell whether any of these symptoms are due to anxiety over the tinnitus.

I also just recently realized that pulsatile tinnitus isn't normal (no idea how long I've had it, but it's always been quiet), and after reading this thread, I'm feeling really scared. My doctor already ordered an MRI (still pending) for other reasons, and I'm not sure whether I should ask her about going to an interventional radiologist and also request an MRA. I've messaged her a lot in the past few weeks, and I don't know how often is normal when communicating with a doctor.

Does anyone experience these momentary spikes? I'm trying not to worry, but with my health anxiety, I never know when to take something seriously and when to just try not to worry.

Thanks in advance. And yes, that is my cat in the avatar. =)

 

I don't know about whether it's different if it's accompanied by heart racing and dizziness, but increase of tinnitus loudness for some seconds - minutes is normal. It's called fleeting tinnitus. Most people, even without tinnitus, have it. For me, it's like for a second everything goes dead quiet, then loud, normally lower in frequency than my normal tinnitus starts screaming, then my normal tinnitus slowly creeps back in. It's scary, but up until now always stopped.

I think if you can, request an MRA too. You can get over with them the same time and spare additional exposure to noise. MRIs are loud, so be prepared, if possible opt for an open one and take earplugs with you and ask for ear muffs as well.

 

Thanks @Kriszti. I wasn't sure whether to call it fleeting tinnitus, because this truly only lasts for a fraction of a second, instead of seconds-to-minutes. I'm still learning the terminology.

I guess I'll request the MRA. And thank you for the suggestion about ear protection!