Hi... I'm Kim... and I Really Just Need to Know That I'm Not Crazy. :-)

Hi there. I am really hoping to get some answers here. I am 45 with absolutely no other known health issues...past or present...besides mild anxiety/dizziness and I am anemic but the cause has not yet been determined...or rather all forms of testing have found nothing so my doctor is treating it as an absorption problem. I have had very mild ringing in my ears at random times for as long as I can remember. Nothing bothersome but definitely noticeable and it only lasts a few seconds and it doesn't happen every day. Over the last couple of months I have started noticing something that seems more like pulsatile tinnitus, and then this morning something else new that is just plain weird. I'll start with describing the pulsatile...

Whenever I am lying on my left side and my ear is pressed against my pillow, I can hear my pulse. This too has always happened and happens on the right side but what's new about this is the sound has changed. The best I can describe it is that there is a bit of a "squishy" sound added to it. And it the squishing sound stops if I tilt my neck up or down while still having my left ear on my pillow. This is more annoying that worrisome for me, thought I have wondered about an aneurysm.

Then what happened today has me completely and totally freaked out because it makes no sense to me. I don't know if it's tinnitus or a noise the house was making. I was up early for work drinking coffee. I was in our office. We have only lived in this house for a year, and I'm honestly not sure of another time I chose to sit in there early in the morning over the living room, so the room could play a part in this. The house was completely silent except the sound of the computer hard drive. I was sitting with my left ear on the side where the doorway is. I started hearing a repeated beep that sounded EXACTLY like one of the heart rate/pulse monitors in a hospital. (I have spent the night in the hospital with my grandmother before, so I know the sound well.) The beeps were at regular intervals as well. It sounded like it was coming from my left. So I started turning around (the chair spins around, so not turning my head) to listen more closely and see if I could pinpoint where it was coming from. I did not hear the beeping at all when I was facing any other direction in the room, but every time I had my left ear on the side with the door, I heard it again. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything in my house that makes this noise. I am always up before everyone else, and I usually stay up later at night too. I did this a couple of times...same thing...but the third of fourth time I noticed something else. When facing one other direction...one turn to my right, I wouldn't hear the beep but something that was more like the squishy sound, but different (maybe because my head wasn't on a pillow).

Has anyone experienced similar things and what is your diagnosis, if any? I have a doctor appointment next week and I am definitely bringing this up. I can't help but feel like there must be something bad going on inside my brain, but I do realize it could be a number of things and possibly harmless too. There is so much information out there and I have yet to hear of anyone describe anything similar. Thank you so much!

 

@Kim Snow
Welcome to the forum, and very sorry to hear about the problems you are having.
There is a pulsatile tinnitus section on the forum, so I do suggest posting on there as there are a few experienced folks on here with pulsatile tinnitus who will be able to help you.
Some people describe their tinnitus as being 'somatic' that is its volume changes or it is turned on or off by a movement of the jaw or neck) for example. Its 'normal', does this perhaps sound lik your tinnitus?