More strange noises

I went to the doctors again, two weeks ago, about this pulsatile tinnitus. She was more concerned this time since I told her that the noise in my ears was getting worse, and was now audible to the outside world. In other words, if Steve puts his ear on my eat he can hear strange noises too. Therefore it is not 'all in my imagination'. Of course, when I was at the doctors the noise was not present, so she couldn't hear it, but she took my word for it.

I still have the constant whooshing sound of my heartbeat, which is present at all times in my right ear. If you remember in my last post I said that I was also getting new noises which would only last a minute or so. But now, this new noise, is present most of the time. This is the noise which can be heard by other people, if they listen to my ear. I know, it sounds bizarre. Jude also heard it, as did my sister Hannah, when they listened to my right ear. This noise is hard to explain. It's also beats in time to my heart beat, but instead of whooshing (the separate whooshing noise is still there) its more of a creaking humming sound. I was happy enough when it only happened on occasions, but now it is there almost constantly. Sometimes the creaking noise goes, but then it comes back suddenly, as if someone just turns on a switch. I thought the whooshing heartbeat noise was driving me insane. But now I've realised that it was quite a pleasant experience in comparison to this new noisy creaking carry-on. Sometimes its loud enough that I can't hear the TV or a conversation. Sometimes I catch myself turning my head to see where the noise is coming from.

So anyway, the doc was a little more concerned about these new noises. She looked at my eardrum. Last time it looked normal. This time it looked 'dull'. She asked if I'd had a cold recently, which I hadn't. Usually a dull ear drum is a sign of a bad sinusy type cold. At least she could see something this time. So she phoned the hospital to see what had happened to my referral. She had written my referral letter in May. Then she wrote a second referral on 1st October when I'd been to see her again, as she felt it was more urgent than before. The hospital claim they didn't receive either referral letter and had no idea that I was waiting for an appointment. This made me crazy! They agreed to give me the first available cancellation. That was two weeks ago, and I still haven't heard anything from them. The annoying thing is that I should have already been seen by now. I'm pretty sure the first appointment will tell me nothing, and will just be to decide whether I need to be seen by a specialist. So I want to get that appointment out of the way.

I'm tempted to pay to be seen privately. If I pay for the first appointment I can re-join the NHS list at the next stage and be treated sooner. But I loathe to pay out good money when I should have already been seen by now. I'll call the doctor again on Monday and get her to chase the hospital again. In the mean time, poor Steve is probably sick of my constant complaining, especially at night time when I long for peace and quiet. I think I might go completely mental. Judging by the number of people who have reached my blog by googling 'pulsatile tinnitus', I am not alone.