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Comment by earslap | Hacker News Reader

I had that in one ear for 2-3 years. By pulsatile tinnitus I assume you mean the loud "whooshing" sound that is in sync with your heart beat (hearing the blood flow basically). Doctors were pretty ignorant about the phenomenon, I gave up. It was not constant either, would go away for a few hours, start again for another few hours - repeat. One day, it stopped and never came back. Pretty mysterious.

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I'm having unilateral pulsatile tinnitus, and it's been 3 months so far.

My doctor thinks its often just eustachian tube seasonal allergies, and so gets better on its own slowly. The steroid spray I've been using for months just hurts my nose.

It was pretty constant up till this week, now for several mornings I wake up all clear! What relief! But it comes back over the afternoon. I really hope it improves on this trajectory.

I hesitate to recommend this because of how woo woo it sounds, but... I had terrible pulsatile tinnitus (both sides) for over a year and half. I went to doctors, specialists, tried steroids, the works. I had to sleep with headphones to drown it out. Eventually my wife suggested I try craniosacral therapy. After the first session it started to get a lot quieter and even would "stutter" out for short periods of time. After the second session it disappeared and hasn't been back. The practitioner came from https://milneinstitute.com/what-is-vcsw/

Actually that's a good idea... My parents are literally ENT doctors so one thing they told me to try was simple neck massages/movements. Basically cradle the back of neck with your fingers, then slowly tilt head up and down. It improves blood flow, releases muscle tension, etc., and there's a chance this or the CST that you mention can help with some forms of tinnitus. Now that you've reminded me, I'll keep trying it, thanks!

It wasn't whooshing or heart sync'd. I'm not sure it was pulsatile, I'll have to search again. It was like a 120 bpm metronome - tap, tap, tap, tap, ...

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