Motorboat in my head

In My Humble Opinion
1

About a month ago I noticed that in the quiet of night while lying in bed, I can hear a “motorboat” in my right ear. It sounds just like is said: an outboard motor.

If I lie on my right side with my ear to the pillow, the sound is louder; so obviously it is originating in my head.

The frequency of this “putt-putt-putt” is about twice my resting pulse rate, so it would not seem to be just a noisy artery.

I saw my doctor about this a couple of days ago, and he told me he had never heard of this, and didn’t have any idea what is causing it.

Any ideas??? Thanks in advance.

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It is (pretty much by definition) some form of tinnitus. I am rather shocked that your doctor could not tell you this. It is true that tinnitus more commonly involves hearing high pitched sounds, but it does not have to. Unfortunately, however, there are many possible causes of various kinds of tinnitus, and for most forms there is no effective cure. Try and see an otolaryngologist, though. They might be able to do something.

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Whoops, bad choice of words on my part. :smack:

My doctor did identify the symptom as tinnitis, and a general physical exam by him did not identify any other notable symptoms or signs.

However, he said that he had never come across pulsatile tinnitus, and had no idea what would cause that specific sound pattern.

As you have said, tinnitus evidently has many and varied causes, but I was curious if anyone had any idea what would cause this specific form of it.

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Medical questions about real-life personal problems are better started in IMHO rather than General Questions. Moved.

samclem, moderator