Hi
For over 10 years now I have suffered with pulsatile tinnitus in my right ear. In the beginning it was just a faint pulsing coming from my right ear that was heard in the evening when things quietened down. However, over the past 6 years the tinnitus became so loud that it affected my sleep, my hearing and also my mood. The only way I could stop the whooshing sound was by putting pressure over my neck (basically stopping the blood flow). Over the 10 years, I have been sent to a number of doctors (NHS Scotland) with the majority of them telling me that it was nothing to worry about and that it may be just stress. I pushed further (after many years) and was sent for certain scans which I was told showed no abnormalities that could be causing the tinnitus. Feeling hopeless and demented I started looking for doctors who specialised in pulsatile tinnitus. I came across a Dr Nicholas Higgins who pointed me in the direction of Dr Patrick Axon (Cambridge). I had the previous scans that were taken sent over to Dr Axon and he found that I had a diverticulum of the sigmoid sinus/ dehiscence of the temporal bone. He stated at the time that surgery (resurfacing of the sigmoid sinus) could help. Ling story short, I came back to the NHS with Dr Axons advice and I was sent to Dr Georgious Kontarinis in Glasgow who performed the operation on me a fortnight ago. I am overwhelmed and delighted to say that my wooshing blood flow has now stopped blaring out my ear. In my experience, pulsatile tinnitus is completly overlooked and I don’t think doctors take on how much it can affect day to day life for the people that suffer with it. Thank you for reading.
