Recommendations for Doctors Experienced in Pulsatile Tinnitus in Phildelphia, PA Area?

Hello Everyone,

Does anyone have a recommendation for a doctor experienced in pulsatile tinnitus diagnosis outside of the Phildelphia, PA area? I'm actually much closer to Reading, PA, but anywhere in the southeast corner of the state would be great. Thanks so much for any help!

My story if it's of any interest or help:

New to the forum, but not to tinnitus. I've had regular, ringing type tinnitus for several years. More recently though I have developed bilateral pulsatile tinnitus. This all started since last June, and came along with two months of chronic daily headaches (pressure behind the eyes) that tapered off, and subsequent TMJ disorder & neck pain issues. When I initially had the daily headaches I was concerned and went to the ER - the only abnormalities they found were elevated intraocular pressure, and a slightly dilated right ventricle on my heart. The most likely cause at the time seemed to be obstructive sleep apnea as I also have been dealing with severe obesity and pre-hypertension for about 5 years. We started a search to look into sleep apnea that lasted several months and eventually came up dry. Incidentally, most of my health issues have resolved, but not my tinnitus...

I've got my TMJD & neck pain under better control through physical therapy. And the chronic daily headaches have been subdued to occasional headaches that only seem precipitated under high stress or anxiety. In that time I've lost ~60lbs, which I suspect has helped. Interestingly though, the pulsatile tinnitus has stuck with me. For me, I can hear it all the time, but it changes in sound and intensity when laying down and/or twisting my head to the side.

I suspect it's a vascular issue, or intracranial hypertension, but I've not gotten a doctor to agree to investigate these things yet as my PCP had never heard of intracranial hypertension, and the ENT I was just able to see said that vascular issues causing pulsatile tinnitus don't present bilaterally... So, I'm not quite at a dead end but I don't know where to go next. I just want to talk to a doctor who has actually treated a decent number of patients and gotten some results. As I understand it, most pulsatile tinnitus patients have an underlying cause that can be diagnosed, and it's important for me to rule out the dangerous potential causes like fistulas, dissections, and atherosclerosis.

 

I highly recommend driving into Philly to see Dr. Eliades at Penn Medicine’s Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. He got to the bottom of my pulsatile and non-pulsatile tinnitus.

Best wishes and big hugs,
Andrea

 

Thanks Andrea!

I'm going to give Dr. Eliades a shot - I just scheduled an appointment with him for mid-February. Hopefully he'll help me figure this out.

 

@jes072, hey just curious how you made out? I’m in Bucks County.

 

If you want solid, definite answers, travel to NYU Langone in NYC. That's where most of my surgeries were performed. They are among the best in the world.