Monday, November 30, 2009

Pulsatile Tinnitus And Its Top Six Causes

By Elliott Berry

Many folks are surprised to learn that there are two sorts of tinnitus. The most typical type is known as non-pulsatile tinnitus, with the least common and lesser known type being pulsatile tinnitus. You can customarily tell them apart by the kind of sounds you'll hear.

As the name implies, pulsatile tinnitus tends to sound like your own heart beat, whereas non-pulsatile tinnitus may sound like a range of familiar noises such as ringing, chirping, whirring or clicking. It is unusual but feasible to have these two sorts of tinnitus together, and folks who have both of conditions often say the pulsatile component is the more bothersome. The focus of this article is to gain a better understanding of pulsatile tinnitus, its causes and how you can take step one to assuaging its symptoms.

Pulsatile tinnitus is an uncommon sort of tinnitus, with only about three percent of patients reported to have it. It is sometimes referred to as vascular tinnitus and is generally related to disturbances in the blood flow. The turbulence is then amplified and can be heard in the ears as a whooshing, thrashing or other regular sound.

The Top Six Causes of Pulsatile Tinnitus :

1. A Benign Growth : Growths of this nature are usually found in or close to the ear. Usually with a growth, hearing impairment is also a typical symptom.

2. Brain Lesions : One kind of laceration is an aneurism, and another type is an abnormal connection between an artery and a vein. In all cases the blood flow is putting too much strain on the veins and must be dealt with.

3. Veinous Hum : Patients who are malnutritioned, pregnant, or have thyroid issues, may develop increased blood flow through the jugular vein, which amplifies the sound of blood flow in the ear.

4. Narrowing Of The Arteries ( Atherosclerosis ) : Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of the artery due to cholesterol build-up on the artery wall. This condition reduces the opening of the arteries. This sometimes happens in older patients with a history of hypertension, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, angina and smoking.

5. Benign Intracranial Hypertension ( BIH ) : In this condition there is increased pressure around the fluid that washes the backbone and / or the brain. Usually this conditioned is caused by overweight.

6. Hypertension ( High Blood Pressure ) : Some patients who take medication for their high blood pressure report evidence of pulsatile tinnitus shortly after they began taking it. Still others report high blood pressure and tinnitus at the same time, and when they take the blood pressure medication the symptoms go away.

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