Have you ever held a seashell up to your ear to hear the ocean?
I’ve always loved doing that – but right now, I can hear that sound even without the seashell. I’m hearing a chronic, pervasive whooshing in my right ear.
It started after a particularly heated run about 10 days ago. I remember thinking, “Wow, I really got the old blood pumping!” when I first started hearing the whooshing in my right ear. It sounded like blood pumping or flowing (and that is in fact what the sound is).
However, when it lasted all through the day and kept me awake that night, I realized something else might be going on. I started googling and found my way to Whooshers.com, an incredibly helpful (if oddly old-school) site for people suffering from the condition known as Pulsatile Tinnitus.
Pulsatile Tinnitus isn’t a form of regular tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Instead, the Pulsatile version relates to turbulent blood flow in the vessels of the head or neck. The sounds of Pulsatile Tinnitus happen in time with the heartbeat. I was able to easily figure this out myself because when I did deep breathing to slow down my heart rate, the whooshing sounds slowed down in perfect time.
I’m not freaking out about this new sound in my head, but I am taking it seriously. I’ve heard the sound of my own blood flow like this before – by holding a seashell up to my ear, or after heavy exertion. But I’ve never experienced it as a chronic, never-ending, always-on whooshing sound. So that part is a little freaky.
Plus, Pulsatile Tinnitus can have many underlying conditions or causes, some of which are quite serious. That’s why I headed to my primary care doc about a week after first noticing the whooshing. She diagnosed me with Pulsatile Tinnitus and referred me to the ENT. I have my appointment very soon so I’ll keep you all posted.
Yep, I’m going back to the ENT doc this month. (Longtime readers may remember that I visited the audiologist to get my hearing checked back in 2020 because my beloved family had gaslit me into thinking I was going deaf. Spoiler alert: my hearing was fine!)
Leave it to me to end up with some goofy rare condition right at the end of 2023. Here’s hoping it’s nothing too serious. The good news is that my doc cleared me to keep running so I don’t have to give up on my fitness goals while I’m waiting to find out more about the whooshing.
I just keep telling myself that what I’m hearing is the sound of waves or a rushing waterfall and so far, that is keeping me relatively calm. I do love those nature sounds and this is somewhat similar. It’s most noticeable at night in bed when it’s silent. During the day, normal work and life sounds seem to drown out the whooshing or at least distract me from noticing it.
Let me know if you have any whooshing stories to share. I’m all ears in the comments below (sorry, I couldn’t help myself!)
