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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Ringing Sound In The Ear With Constant Headache?

i have ringing in my right ear and a heart beat like sound in my left a fullness that goes across the back of my head constant headaches and vertigo and nausia. they have done an mri/mra and the only thing they have found is i have large blood vessels behind my ears. how can all these symptoms just be from blood vessels and is it possible its something else
Thu, 18 Sep 2014
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ENT Specialist 's  Response
Hi. Yes, it is possible that your symptoms could be because of something else also and I would recommend the following evaluations (below). At the same time, do note that large engorged vessels behind your ears (? Glomus jugulare) can also cause all these symptoms.

The ringing in your right ear is called as tinnitus and the heart beat like sound in your left ear is probably some arterial pulsations being perceived. Headache, fullness, nausea and vertigo can all be due to some inner ear involvement.

Tinnitus is a condition where you constantly hear a sound within your ears (swishing or ringing or echoic) when there are actually no external stimuli.
This happens because the auditory nerve is injured and it is misfiring signals even though there is no real sound and making you hear an abnormal sound.

Now, tinnitus can be a very annoying condition and I completely empathize with your frustration to deal with the situation. There are many causes of tinnitus and the treatment can be variable, sometimes even difficult but unfortunately the reasons to why this occurs and how can it be cured is still poorly understood.

There are some treatable causes of tinnitus, such as due to the blockage of the Eustachian Tube (ET). The ET tube connects between the back of the nose and the middle compartment of the ear between the eardrum and the cochlea. The purpose of the ET is to equalize the pressure within the ear to the atmospheric pressure. Many times allergies, secretions, mucus and sometimes swellings in the back of the nasal cavity due to adult adenoids or inferior turbinate enlargement can block this tube. This results in negative pressure in the middle ear and irritates the auditory nerve to cause tinnitus. I would recommend that you visit your ENT specialist and have him look for these using an endoscope since they can be easily treatable.

Other causes include vitamin B 12 deficiency that could have made the nerve weak and susceptible to noise injury or recent exposure to excessively loud noise can cause nerve damage and tinnitus. Also some medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs and some antibiotics (aminoglycosides) and some naturally occurring ototoxic material in food can also precipitate nerve damage and tinnitus. In rare occasions it can be something in your brain pressing on the auditory nerve pathway (The large blood vessels behind your ears may have this effect on your auditory nerve). You do need a hearing test - pure tone audiogram to see the pattern of hearing and your ENT specialist may be able to correlate it with some of these causes.

The treatment involves oral antioxidants (avoid if planning pregnancy), Vitamin B12 capsules and the use of white noise maskers during sleep. There are also some hearing aids available in the market that can help mask your tinnitus with white noise and help you defocus your attention from the tinnitus. It is common that tinnitus worsens when you think about it too much even though it is hard to avoid. Also please note that it is important to avoid noise exposure and use ear plugs in noisy environments and check any ongoing medications for potential ototoxicity.

I will be happy to help you further if you can share with me your pure tone audiometry findings and your ENT assessment on your ET function. Hope you recover from this terribly annoying condition at the earliest.

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What Causes Ringing Sound In The Ear With Constant Headache?

Hi. Yes, it is possible that your symptoms could be because of something else also and I would recommend the following evaluations (below). At the same time, do note that large engorged vessels behind your ears (? Glomus jugulare) can also cause all these symptoms. The ringing in your right ear is called as tinnitus and the heart beat like sound in your left ear is probably some arterial pulsations being perceived. Headache, fullness, nausea and vertigo can all be due to some inner ear involvement. Tinnitus is a condition where you constantly hear a sound within your ears (swishing or ringing or echoic) when there are actually no external stimuli. This happens because the auditory nerve is injured and it is misfiring signals even though there is no real sound and making you hear an abnormal sound. Now, tinnitus can be a very annoying condition and I completely empathize with your frustration to deal with the situation. There are many causes of tinnitus and the treatment can be variable, sometimes even difficult but unfortunately the reasons to why this occurs and how can it be cured is still poorly understood. There are some treatable causes of tinnitus, such as due to the blockage of the Eustachian Tube (ET). The ET tube connects between the back of the nose and the middle compartment of the ear between the eardrum and the cochlea. The purpose of the ET is to equalize the pressure within the ear to the atmospheric pressure. Many times allergies, secretions, mucus and sometimes swellings in the back of the nasal cavity due to adult adenoids or inferior turbinate enlargement can block this tube. This results in negative pressure in the middle ear and irritates the auditory nerve to cause tinnitus. I would recommend that you visit your ENT specialist and have him look for these using an endoscope since they can be easily treatable. Other causes include vitamin B 12 deficiency that could have made the nerve weak and susceptible to noise injury or recent exposure to excessively loud noise can cause nerve damage and tinnitus. Also some medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs and some antibiotics (aminoglycosides) and some naturally occurring ototoxic material in food can also precipitate nerve damage and tinnitus. In rare occasions it can be something in your brain pressing on the auditory nerve pathway (The large blood vessels behind your ears may have this effect on your auditory nerve). You do need a hearing test - pure tone audiogram to see the pattern of hearing and your ENT specialist may be able to correlate it with some of these causes. The treatment involves oral antioxidants (avoid if planning pregnancy), Vitamin B12 capsules and the use of white noise maskers during sleep. There are also some hearing aids available in the market that can help mask your tinnitus with white noise and help you defocus your attention from the tinnitus. It is common that tinnitus worsens when you think about it too much even though it is hard to avoid. Also please note that it is important to avoid noise exposure and use ear plugs in noisy environments and check any ongoing medications for potential ototoxicity. I will be happy to help you further if you can share with me your pure tone audiometry findings and your ENT assessment on your ET function. Hope you recover from this terribly annoying condition at the earliest.