Pulsatile Tinnitus When Jogging?

Hi Everyone,
I developed T from shooting a gun and have had only a constant ring for almost 2 month s now (although louder at the beginning). I use to jog often (7mi-10mi 5x's a week). I stopped exercising after T onset and I have started to go jogging again. About 2 miles into the jog I start hearing the pulse in my ear which I had not heard before T. I use no plugs or headphones. I feel as though it is still swollen or clogged. Could this be? I could see how I would get constant T from shooting but I don't see how I could get pulsating T that is vascular related. Any ideas?

 

@Karen Hi Karen, yes it only happens when I exercise and even then it is only a couple of pulses I hear at a time, some times in my left ear (the one with louder T) and sometimes in both. It stops immediately after I stop exercising. I was thinking my BP could be elevated due to the stress I have been experiencing due to the T and hearing loss. I did take Piracetam for about 3 weeks but stopped taking them 3 weeks ago. I have never had PT while at resting heart rate.

 

Hi Enrique, are you sure its pulsatile tinnitus?

The reason I ask is because a few weeks ago I started cycling, really got my heart rate up, after a really intense ride I developed a twitching/muscle spasm in my left ear, it sounded like pulsatile tinnitus but it wasn't in rythem to my heartbeat, the ear twitching every 30 seconds made a thud noise, I think it was caused by the stress/increased blood pressure of the intense exercise.

 

I have no idea how/why pulsating T came to join the orchestra after a period of constant tonal T, but I want to say that the exact same thing happened to me.
Pulsating T occurred after a while, for a while it got worse than my constant T, and after a very long while it got better, in the sense that I have an episode of pulsating T only once in a while, after doing some effort, just like in Karen's case.

I am sure it was pulsatile T because I could hear it in sync with feeling the pulse of a blood vessel on my face by pressing on it.


Many people after they get T they developed hyperacusis, including me. So after an inner ear gets sick and starts producing T sound, it becomes hypersensitive. And becoming hypersensitive, it starts hearing the pulse of the heart, therefore we get pulsating T too. That is my best shot at an explanation.
Why after T onset the ear becomes over sensitive, I am not sure. Maybe because after a period of T, so no sleep and peace of mind, only tension and worries, the nervous system gets tired and becomes irascible, tensed, ready to react at any little stimulus, which impacts the behaviour of the ear, as the nervous runs and controls everything is our body. I think the (controlled by the nervous system) ear becomes in time hypersensitive after a period of T because the nervous system gets on the edge.

 

@Dana
Good point on the hypersensitivity causing PT. My PT is definitely vascular related. It happens after I jog for a mile then it stays untill my heartbeat settles. I just ignore it at this point but it has stuck around since last year when I started this thread.

 

Hi everyone, I have had T for 21 years. I have had PT for over a year. I find when I walk fast, lift my head up and down, lie down, it gets worse. Any exercise makes it worse. PT is very loud and I can't remember what it is to have silence. I can't do meditation or try and listen to calming music because the PT is too loud. I am scared I will loose what I have of my hearing in my left ear. I am finding it so hard to hear.

 

You could be picking up your pulse from your Caroted artery and more noticeable when your heart rate is up and settles when resting .....lots of love glynis

 

@bluey
I also developed first tonal T and, after a while, PT.
What's important is that, from my experience, PT is settling, is becoming less intense. I do not remember how long it took PT to become less often and intense in my case, cause I have not kept a diary, but I am sure that it was much more than a year.
In Karen's case, it took 5 years.

So don't be discouraged. Chances are that PT will will lessen in time, and not get worse.
I personally recommend swimming, for improving blood circulation, for making it "even" (sort of)
We were trying to come with an explanation as to why people with tonal T get PT also after a while. Is it possible that the PT that follows is not from another vascular problem that occurred on top of the health problem that produced the tonal T initially, but maybe just the ear, the same way it becomes hypersensitive versus the outside sounds, condition named "hyperacusis", it becomes hypersensitive to the inner sounds, which is the pulse, in our case the pulse of the carotid artery, as @glynis says.

Of course, Karen, that I "let you caution people to be tested to rule out a serious condition".


(In a parenthesis, let me tell you that I got tested vascularwise with a angiography which, if I may add, was the most difficult test I went through, because it was done without being put to sleep, and I was awake the whole time and felt everything, including the moments when that contrast solution entered my eyeball's blood vessels, and I felt like it was going to blow up. Very nasty test, when done being awake.
The result of the test was that I had intracranial hypertension, which gives PT, but, unfortunately, I wasn't given a lumber puncture to take some CSF out, nor I was prescribed meds that decrease the production of CSF (cerebrospinal fluid). The problem is that intracranial hypertension can put pressure on the optical nerve and, I must say, since then my vision got worse and worse, at a dramatic speed. Eventually, intracranial hypertension can lead to blindness.
The diagnosis of intracranial hypertension wasn't confirmed again later on by a CT test, so I wasn't given any treatment for it. But that is just my case, told in a parenthesis. I think that I may have developed intracranial hypertension because after tonal T onset I couldn't sleep anymore, in the morning I was more tired than in the evening, I got teribly exhausted, drained of energy, so I became bedridden, incapable of normal functioning, let alone exercising, so I started to put on weight, probably a lot in a short time, which is a cause of developing intracranial hypertension. But that doesn't mean that you guys developed the same problem)

You may try the effect of a diuretic, which lowers the blood pressure and the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid. You may have the surprise that the diuretic helps improving the PT.

So go to a doctor to get checked with whatever tests he considers relevant, try a diuretic, and take heart, in time chances are that the PT will improve.

Good luck!

 

@bluey
Did you get tested for high blood pressure? Maybe it got higher than normal levels, and that's why the PT began in your case. You never know.
Maybe you need high blood pressure medication, or heart medication.

In my desperate attempts to get rid of T and resume a life (I can't call this "life", this is just suffering and you sound like you suffer so much too) I tried blood letting. I plan to repeat the procedure. I felt okay after getting some blood out, didn't faint or anything.

You sound like your PT is very bad.
It would make sense to me if blood lettings would help you. It just lowers the blood pressure, and the body produces back just the right amount of blood.
Maybe that is something good for you to take into consideration. Doesn't hurt, that's for sure, it either does something good for you, or nothing at all.

 

Thank you to everyone for their kind thoughts and advice. I really appreciate that I am not alone having PT. It gets very solitary. I don't have high blood pressure, I have low blood pressure. I don't know if that makes a difference.

 

It makes a difference regarding my advice to try blood letting, transforming it into the stupidest advice ever.
You say that you have low BP, but did you test your BP when the PT gets worse? Even a person with usually low BP can have their BP increase a lot during some events, above normal level or not.

The above actions increase the BP, and it's the level of pressure during those actions and PT worsenings that counts, not after it returns to its usual low level.

Somebody on this forum, I forgot where, said that he measured his BP during an episode of bad PT and it was indeed high.