How Do You Get Help If Your Family Doctor Won't Help You?

Welcome to TT,

Can you explain your issue more? What kind of help are you looking for exactly? Just general relief from pulsatile tinnitus? A diagnosis of what might be causing your PT?

There is always the possibility of seeing another doctor privately.

@Karen can help more, I'm sure!

 

Hi, @karine,

I have both pulsatile tinnitus and regular tinnitus, too. It is difficult to cope with just one of these conditions, let alone both, so I truly sympathize with you!

How long have you had your tinnitus and pulsatile tinnitus? Did they both start at the same time? Did they start suddenly, or gradually, over a period of time?

Did your doctors order any tests for you? For true pulsatile tinnitus, it's best to get checked out by a doctor to be sure there are no dangerous conditions present. Other people tell me they've called around first, to be sure the doctor they have chosen knows something about PT. Are you in the U.S.? Where are you located? It depends on your medical system as to how you go about looking for another doctor.

I've been to several doctors myself, and my ENT wasn't able to help me, so he sent me to a neurotologist. The tests your doctor might order for you would be: CT scan with contrast, MRI and MRA/MRV of the head, CT scan of the temporal bone area, and Doppler of carotid arteries. If the doctor suspects something specific, he might send you for an angiogram. This is if you have something such as a fistula, a dehiscence of the bone, etc. Pulsatile tinnitus is treatable if a specific condition is found. If you have copies of your tests/scans, you can go for a second opinion to a neurointerventional radiologist, to review your scans.

Regular tinnitus is not surgically fixable, but there are many things you can do to make things better. Many people try hearing aids/maskers and have great success with those. Other things you can do include TRT (Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) or CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), and you can try using prescription drugs for anxiety to help you with sleep and calming. You can also use various apps or other means of background sounds that will help to mask your tinnitus when things are quiet.

My doctors haven't found a reason for my pulsatile tinnitus as yet, but I am pretty sure mine is related to blood pressure, and/or blood pressure medications.

Good luck, and I wish you success in getting some answers. Please let me know if I can help!

 

Hi, Karine,

I'm sorry you're having difficulty right now, and I totally understand. If you're in Canada, it probably is hard to find a good specialist near you. I am also a member of Whooshers.com, a website and Facebook group just for pulsatile tinnitus sufferers. There are some doctors listed there that are highly recommended, who might be able to help. The one I've heard a lot about is Dr. Maksim Shapiro, who is in New York City, at the NYU Langone Medical Center. He is a neurointerventional radiologist, and he has helped many people who have PT. His address is on their website; if you can't find it, please let me know, and I'll see if I can find it for you. The people who have sent their scans to him say he is very knowledgeable and caring, and he will respond to your E-mail. I haven't tried this myself; I sent my scans to another doctor (in Baltimore), but I wasn't smart about following up, and I think they got lost.

Right now, there really aren't any tests for regular tinnitus, except a hearing test, which you've probably already had. There is a lot of research being done right now for tinnitus, and we'll be among the first to hear about it here at Tinnitus Talk if there is a breakthrough. In the meantime, you can try masking sounds, anti-anxiety drugs, natural supplements (such as magnesium), and distraction. Have you been checked for allergies or sinus condition? Perhaps yours has something to do with that (?)

Take care, don't give up, and please keep me posted on how you're doing!

Karen

 

Well, you've come to the right place here! The people here are very helpful and supportive. You sound like me about four and a half years ago, when my PT first started. I felt like I was falling apart, too, and was ready to give up. As a result of all the anxiety caused by my T and PT, I ended up with adrenal fatigue, too. I've gotten over that now, and I am finding my T and PT much easier to live with these days. How do I cope? Well, I take natural supplements, such as magnesium and niacin, which I think help take the extreme edge off the high-pitched hissing sound I have. And my pulsating is still there, but it has settled down considerably. I am sleeping again, and living my life normally again.

You may want to look on Whooshers.com and read some of the information there. And don't forget to read some of the success stories here on Tinnitus Talk! If you give it some time, and keep yourself busy, your tinnitus may settle down, too.

Also, have you ever heard of IIH? (Benign intracranial hypertension). It is caused by fluid buildup in the head, and some people who have that condition also have pulsatile tinnitus. You might want to Google it to see if the symptoms sound like yours.

Take care --- you're going to make it, and you will be OK again!!!

 

Is it RingStop, or something similar? I'm afraid most of us haven't had good luck with those combination tinnitus formulas. A few people have had success with Lipoflavonoid, but most people say it doesn't do much.

Some natural supplements that have helped me are: Magnesium chloride, niacin, and B vitamins. For people whose tinnitus is caused by inflammation, some have had success with systemic enzymes, such as Wobenzym. Another supplement (I haven't tried this myself) that works for some people is N-acetylcistene. You could experiment with some of these supplements, one at a time, to see if they help you.

Other people on this forum may have additional suggestions for you. Good luck; keep experimenting until you find some things that work for you.