Pulsing Whooshing Stops When I Tip My Head Back

Has anyone else experienced this?

I hear pulsing whooshing when I'm in a quiet location. A few days ago I noticed that if I tip my head back, looking up at the ceiling, it goes away. So now I'm sitting reading a book, and I'm constantly tempted to tip my head back and hold the book up high, which I do but it's very tiring, plus it probably looks a bit odd. I would say it's around 45 degrees when the tinnitus stops. I don't have to go back like 90 degrees.

It just occurred to me, I haven't tested this lying down. Is it the position of the head, or the angle of the neck? I'll test this and report back - I suspect it's the angle of the neck. Meanwhile I'd be interested in hearing any comments about this.

 

If you press your neck on the side the whooshing is coming from, does that stop the sound too?

 

Yes it does, I never tried that before. I have it in both ears, as far as I can tell, and pressing on my neck on both sides has the same effect as tipping my head back.

I guess you have the whooshing version of pulsatile tinnitus, since you noticed my post? Is yours in one ear only?

 

Yeah, I’ve had it since 2018, as well as normal tinnitus. The pulsatile tinnitus is treatable but the NHS is shit and won’t do a scan so they can operate.

Right, if you can stop yours by pressing on your neck, then it’s to do with blood flow. You need to read the pulsatile tinnitus posts in the forum, and they will tell you what you need to do first to get a diagnosis - it will be a battle, but a lot of pulsatile tinnitus cases are fixable.

Steph x