Pulsatile tinnitus

Is it possible to suddenly get pulsating tinnitus out of the complete blue? I can't even tell you the day I got it but I know it was in August 2026. I had been under extreme high stress and anxiety over a lot of medical issues regarding my heart and dental stuff. I experienced many sleepless nights due to insomnia from high anxiety and stress. I've completed my heart ablation on September 9 and it was a success, although I developed the tinnitus in August during all this my central nervous system has been in a fight or a flight state for months. has anybody heard of pulsating tinnitus due to an extremely High overactive central nervous system, and can this pulsating tinnitus go away with management of stress and anxiety and better sleep....not great sleep, because the pulsating wakes me up typically at 3:30 or 4:30 in the morning and it's pounding so hard typically my left ear. My doctor gave me a two week supply of Ativan. I didn't take it every night. I took one every three weeks. It helped so much but she won't prescribe me anymore and it's the only thing that would help me get through the next day without any ringing or pulsating !MRI CAT scan scan Doppler ultrasound all are normal. My hearing test from the audiologist is perfect. I don't smoke drink. I don't have high blood pressure and then good health other than the sudden onset of pulse that has completely almost crippled me... I'm doing some cognitive behavioral therapy, but this is really been changed my life I feel very alone.... Doctors have never heard of this type of tinnitus-you and my ear nose and throat doctor said she had no clue. It goes away when I lie down or position my head in a certain way but as soon as I stand up the pulsating and whooshing starts.....pulsating either either in the left ear or the right ear- Sometimes so hard it makes my stomach nauseous! Please let me know if anyone has had a positive experience or if they know of anyone who is developed this type of tinnitus, possibly from central nervous system being in a fighter flight state for a long period of time with generalized anxiety. All the doctors around here have no answers. Seems to be that way with tinnitus when it just suddenly comes on there's no answers. I was on a heart medication for a few months, but my cardiologist said that the medication absolutely has no background of causing tinnitus or a long-term tinnitus, the medication was a channel blocker for my heart to keep it going into arrhythmia prior to my ablation. Medication was called. diltiazem... any help would be grateful I live in the Boston area so if anybody knows of any really good doctors that handle specifically pulsating tinnitus, please let me know. They have a tinnitus clinic at the mass Brigham but that's just with an audiologist I've already been to two in my hearing is perfect. I would love to get into a clinical trial.

Is it possible to suddenly get pulsating tinnitus out of the complete blue? I can't even tell you the day I got it but I know it was in August 2026. I had been under extreme high stress and anxiety over a lot of medical issues regarding my heart and dental stuff. I experienced many sleepless nights due to insomnia from high anxiety and stress. I've completed my heart ablation on September 9 and it was a success, although I developed the tinnitus in August during all this my central nervous system has been in a fight or a flight state for months. has anybody heard of pulsating tinnitus due to an extremely High overactive central nervous system, and can this pulsating tinnitus go away with management of stress and anxiety and better sleep....not great sleep, because the pulsating wakes me up typically at 3:30 or 4:30 in the morning and it's pounding so hard typically my left ear. My doctor gave me a two week supply of Ativan. I didn't take it every night. I took one every three weeks. It helped so much but she won't prescribe me anymore and it's the only thing that would help me get through the next day without any ringing or pulsating !MRI CAT scan scan Doppler ultrasound all are normal. My hearing test from the audiologist is perfect. I don't smoke drink. I don't have high blood pressure and then good health other than the sudden onset of pulse that has completely almost crippled me... I'm doing some cognitive behavioral therapy, but this is really been changed my life I feel very alone.... Doctors have never heard of this type of tinnitus-you and my ear nose and throat doctor said she had no clue. It goes away when I lie down or position my head in a certain way but as soon as I stand up the pulsating and whooshing starts.....pulsating either either in the left ear or the right ear- Sometimes so hard it makes my stomach nauseous! Please let me know if anyone has had a positive experience or if they know of anyone who is developed this type of tinnitus, possibly from central nervous system being in a fighter flight state for a long period of time with generalized anxiety. All the doctors around here have no answers. Seems to be that way with tinnitus when it just suddenly comes on there's no answers. I was on a heart medication for a few months, but my cardiologist said that the medication absolutely has no background of causing tinnitus or a long-term tinnitus, the medication was a channel blocker for my heart to keep it going into arrhythmia prior to my ablation. Medication was called. diltiazem... any help would be grateful I live in the Boston area so if anybody knows of any really good doctors that handle specifically pulsating tinnitus, please let me know. They have a tinnitus clinic at the mass Brigham but that's just with an audiologist I've already been to two in my hearing is perfect. I would love to get into a clinical trial.

Hi
About 3 yrs ago I developed some tingling in my feet as well as whooshing in my head that I hear as a sequence of 3-5 loud whooshes in my left hand side of my head. About 18mths later after a bad night of whooshing normal tinnitus began. I now experience both. The whooshing seems to be when I move my head to the left but not always, at night it’s worse and also when I am tense around my shoulders. I’ve had an mri and mrv with no concerns. Still trying to work out what’s going on but my neurologist is at a loss. All ideas welcome please. Is it pulsating tinnitus plus normal tinnitus?? How do I find out what’s going on? Thanks

@pixey
I have virtually the same situation as you. Afib, ablation + Watchman implant now, several SSRIs (no help & horrible side effects). The Pulsatile Tinnitus showed up in Feb 2022. I'd taken the 2 covid shots and the 2 boosters, then I got a relatively mild case of covid, but I did take the Paxlovid Rx. Then the PT started. I've been through MANY extensive tests and numerous doctors, integrative as well as specialist allopathic. I'm in Florida & I even went to a specialist Pulsatile Clinic in Great Neck NY. The Interventional radiologist, Dr. Athos Patsalides, did an occlusion test, brain venogram and angiogram. He determined my PT is not vascular. The only test I have not had yet is a lumber puncture to determine if I have excess cerebrospinal fluid, which can cause idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). This is a documented PT cause. It can't be done if you're on Eliquis or Plavix as an anticoagulant or antiplatelet use is dangerous for the spinal cord in a lumber puncture with my neurologist.
There may be glimmer of hope in this info for you, I hope so. You have my deepest empathy,
I have not heard of any clinical trials for PT.
As I now have the Watchman implant I should be able to get off Plavix in about 4 months, then I'll get the lumbar puncture.

@caroland75 could we get in touch with one another? I want to talk to someone else experiencing this. I'll private message you my email my private email and maybe we can exchange phone numbers.

@pixey
The short answer to your question re: getting pulsatile tinnitus suddenly is, “Yes.”
It happened to me at the end of 30-days on
Atovaquone (Mepron), an anti-malarial, which is a category on the list I’ve linked below.
So is your drug.
“Calcium channel blockers like amlodipine (Norvasc) and diltiazem (Cardizem) have been linked to tinnitus and hearing loss.”*

*https://americanhearing.us/which-medicines-can-cause-hearing-problems-an-in-depth-look/?srsltid=AYCX9vKQYe0aaJXx9wkuvPYDip5D0rg_LrNNBDQ7NON2iwlsuQW3t6o

You can look at http://www.whooshers.com for support and information.
http://whooshers.com/
I also live in Boston and wasted a lot of time at ‘the best’ hospitals in 2010.
There were interventional radiologists at NYU/Langone who understood the problem and used the best imaging techniques available at the time.
Their best guess was that the medication might have pushed me over the edge of something to which I was susceptible.

I’ve learned to live with it, but was warned it could get worse.
I hope this helps!

@caroland75 could we get in touch with one another? I want to talk to someone else experiencing this. I'll private message you my email my private email and maybe we can exchange phone numbers.