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Posted by: belgianlady on 2007-12-09, 02:18:52
Pulsatile tinnitus, also called objective tinnitus, is a hissing, squealing, buzzing or roaring noise in your ear that follows the same rhythm as your heartbeat. The noise may vary in pitch and be loud enough to be distracting. Pulsatile tinnitus may be caused by certain disorders of the blood vessels, including: Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) High blood pressure (hypertension) Turbulent blood flow caused by narrowing veins or arteries Malformation of capillaries Head and neck tumors If you experience the signs of pulsatile tinnitus, see your doctor. Sometimes, a doctor can hear the sounds of pulsatile tinnitus with a stethoscope. Treatment depends on the underlying cause. Treatment of tinnitus depends on the cause. If the ringing in your ears is due to age-related hearing loss or damage to your ears by exposure to excessive noise, no treatment can reduce the noise. Treatment consists mostly of managing the problem. Your doctor can discuss with you steps you can take every day to reduce the severity of the noise or to better cope with the noise. If the ringing in your ears is due to another health condition, your doctor may be able to take steps that could reduce the noise, such as removing impacted earwax. Tinnitus resulting from a vascular condition often can be corrected by fixing the underlying problem. If a medication you're taking appears to be the cause of tinnitus, your doctor may recommend discontinuing the drug or switching to a different medication. Varying success for medications Many medications have been tried to relieve tinnitus with varying degrees of success. Tricyclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline and nortriptyline, have been used with some success, but these medications have troublesome side effects, such as dry mouth, blurred vision and constipation. Two recent clinical trials found that the migraine medications gabapentin (Neurontin) and acamprosate (Campral), a drug used to treat alcoholism, are effective in relieving tinnitus for some people. Treatments with limited results Some other treatments that have been tried, but which have had inconsistent results, are: Acupuncture Hypnosis The herb ginkgo Cochlear implant, an electronic hearing device Electrical stimulation Medications, such as benzodiazepines (nervous system depressants) and baclofen (a muscle relaxant) Hyperbaric oxygen chamber, a therapy to get a high level of oxygen in your blood Zinc |
