TT (Toilet Talk): Hearing a Whooshing Sound for a Few Seconds Right After Sitting Down

Hi all. I've had "regular" (classic? ) tinnitus for decades.

About two weeks ago after I first got up in the morning and sat down on the loo, I heard blood rushing in my ears in timing with my pulse which lasted only a few seconds. I also was able to "see" a pulse in my eyes which lasted about five seconds. The following days I started to pay attention and noticed the brief pulsing in my eyes after first sitting down on the loo, but didn't hear the whooshing again til this morning, first thing.

I coincidentally had my annual eye exam last week and he had no idea what would cause this.

Some recent things of note that I wonder might be contributing to ear issues: The air in my house is very dry right now due to having forced air heat, about 25% humidity. I have started doing high intensity exercise two weeks ago and noticed a large overall spike in my tinnitus. I've been monitoring my blood pressure and it's hovering around 120/85.

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this?

 

Winner for Toilet Talk.

This 100% sounds like it's related to your blood pressure.

I get the pulse in my eyes when I exercise (and have been for a good 15 years), and I'm only 32. Like you, I've had many eye check-ups in that time and nothing untoward has ever been detected. So that's unlikely to be something you should be concerned about.

Guess it just means we share an exceptionally good venous system.

But moving from standing to sitting positions will always have an effect on blood pressure, hence the "head rush" people get when they stand up from sitting.

Also you mentioned having recently taken up HIT, and that it's spiking your tinnitus. This again is very common. A large number of us notice our tinnitus spikes after exercise; so another thing you needn't worry about.

The only thing that sounds concerning is that the blood pressure changes (when you're sitting down) are new for you.

Personally I'd get the blood pressure looked over by a GP. But to be honest, none of this sounds like a tinnitus related/audiological issue.

Just my thoughts. Hopefully someone who's experienced this themselves can chime in.

 

@The Bucket Woman, go and get checked as soon as you can.

From all I know about pulsatile tinnitus, this sounds like a carotid cavernous fistula.

You need an angiogram to help diagnosis. Not an MRI, nor an MRA!

 

Thank you, but looking online at the typical symptoms it doesn't match what I'm experiencing. I did send a message to my doctor this morning. ETA: To be safe I'll also make an appointment with my ENT.

 

I forgot to add, that exercise will increase your heart rate, which will increase the pulsatile tinnitus. This is probably why you are now noticing it more.

Are you from the UK? I ask because if you want this sorted, the ENT department at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, is the only place which specialise in what you might have.

 

My resting heart rate is actually normal/low, averaging 60 beats a minute. I only experienced the pulsatile tinnitus for a few seconds a couple of times and not right after exercising. I wish I lived in the UK. I am in the US.

 

@The Bucket Woman, interestingly, heart rate has nothing to do with pulsatile tinnitus .

My resting heart rate is 46. I have hereditary Bradycardia. My father’s heart rate can hit the 30s. Pulsatile tinnitus is usually caused by a small blockage somewhere in the veins around your head/brain/neck.

Don’t wish to live in the UK. The NSH is terrible. I have always been jealous of those who live in the US. I would have given anything to grow up in the States during the 90s.

Anyway, hope you’re okay despite your ears/eyes.

P.S. Ha! I know what I wrote sounds contradictory, but what I meant, is that if there’s a blockage in a vein or artery, increasing your heart rate (no matter how slow it is normally) will make the blood try and squeeze through the narrowing quicker - thus making the sound louder or more noticeable.

 

Thank you and thanks for clarifying! What I mean is that the couple of times I heard the whooshing in my ears was only in the situation I described which was never after or close to when I exercised. When I've been exercising and getting my heart rate way up I do not experience the pulsatile tinnitus at all, but just have a spike in the old-fashioned tinnitus. (I WAS cranking the volume up too far in the beginning, loud music gets me moving!)

I've always felt like I fit in better with the Brits than my fellow Americans. I have a very dry sense of humor. It's nice that there are many Brits here, so a positive about having tinnitus.

 

My whooshing sound is worse when going from sitting to standing/standing to sitting. It is also particularly bad in the morning when getting out of bed (sounds like water draining through a pipe, which eventually syncs with my heartbeat). I have noticed that when my normal tinnitus gets louder (I don't really get spikes, just overall louder days), it can, on occasion, mask my pulsatile tinnitus. I cannot hear the pulsing, but I feel it. I dare say the ambient noise of the environment you exercise in, is higher than the ambient noise in your bathroom, which could also help mask the sound.

Regardless, its always best to get pulsatile tinnitus checked out, no matter how quiet or intermittent it is.

 

Interesting, thanks. Do you know the cause of yours?

 

Not yet, not even seen an ENT yet. 7 months on and I’m no further forward. In fact, I have lost a fair amount of hearing.

After speaking to a friend who is a GP, I have given up and paid to go private (she said NHS waiting lists are 18 months long!)

The dry humour may be alluring, but the healthcare system leaves a lot to be desired.

 

I heard back from my PCP (primary care provider) as we call them here in the Unitd States and he is not familiar with it but said it doesn't sound like anything of concern to him and is glad that my eye doctor ruled anything out as that would be his suggestion. I also got a call back from the nurse at my ENT's office and described in detail what I'm experiencing. I was told that because it happens for only a few seconds in that one specific situation and I don't have any other symptoms it's likely benign.

I have an appointment with the ENT in June (soonest). If they thought it was urgent they'd get me in sooner. Obviously if anything changes I'll let them know.

I feel more at ease now!

 

Pulsatile tinnitus can also be caused by inflammation of the vascular system and inflammation of the mastoid bone.

Often this can take a while to heal.

 

Interesting, the swirling swishing water sound when I would lie down were the first symptoms I had of tinnitus in 2020 before it progressed into the unbearable pulsating/railing shrilling sounds I now have 24/7.

I read another post of someone who already had tinnitus and then this developed, interestingly enough it was the opposite for me.

Good luck in your resolution of these issues.

 

Thank you, Tin can. I do have an update!

ENT #2 examined me and said the pulsatile tinnitus, because I only hear it a few seconds in the specified scenarios, is nothing to investigate, same as ENT #1 said over the phone, but that I'm welcome to do all of the numerous tests available. I declined. I haven't heard it at all for over a month but heard it when I first woke up this morning while still in bed, but it quickly stopped.

Regarding my sometimes pulsing eyes which I realized is positional, I saw a retina specialist for an unrelated matter and she did examine me in relation to this and found nothing but said it could be related to blood pressure.

Last week I had a treatment from an Osteopath for foot pain and she noticed my neck was not right. After that session the pulsing in my eyes completely stopped for a few days and now it's very faint.

So in my case, I think this all is related to my neck!

 

I'm back! The whooshing sound came back briefly and is gone again, but suddenly my high-pitched ringing tinnitus that I've had for a year and a half now sometimes is in synch with my pulse?! Is that a form of pulsatile tinnitus that cam be worrisome, or is it different since I don't hear blood whooshing, nor do I hear my heart beating. It's just crickets with someone turning the volume up and down in synch with my pulse...