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I always had problems with sinuses. I've had a few surgeries and while it's better, it's not good either. I literally had a drill up my nose, in my forehead. They still hurt and pop on their own, many times a day.

One day my kid brought a nasty flu from the kindergarten. My otolaryngologist recommended the strongest irrigation stream I can find to clean my sinuses.

Not only did it not help, but it also pushed some goo to the end of my sinuses, which resulted in pulsatile tinnitus.

After about 6 months my kid got sick again, so we all got sick, and I got rid of this tinnitus where I was hearing my heartbeat, by casually blowing my nose. The trick was having a stiff blockage, I guess, so the pressure builds up.

It sounds stupid and probably won't help you, but I wanted to share my story. I had no support from the people close to me and the heartbeat was driving me insane.

I'm sorry you have to go through this. Even though it's not a life-treating condition, it might be a life changing condition (QoL).

You sound like me! I have had sinus issues all my life before 17. I even had a surgery at 16 but I honestly don’t think it helped. Now I have the sinus problem a bit under control, aka I still have occasional infections during allergy and cold season. I use NielMed to wash my sinus and I think it helps a lot. Besides that I really don’t know what it would take to fix it permanently. I constantly can feel the mucus dripping down my throat everyday.

Have you considered seeing an allergist to test if you have some environmental allergies? If so, they may be able to recommend or prescribe meds to moderate the effects of those allergies. (disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, just someone else with sinus issues)

I did this 15 years ago. I didn’t feel like it helped much at all. But, that doctor was later on got sued for insurance fraud so it got me wondering if I was scammed as well. I’ll discuss this with my primary physician next exam. Thanks for the reminder!

Or as a plan B, you can try hayfever tablets / over-the-counter antihistamines, they're harmless to take (I am not a doctor / this is not medical advice / read the information) but if it's allergies they might provide relief already.

That story about your Otolaryngologist is insane. It's sad how many times doctors don't really listen to their patients and throw out there generic advice that is harmful.

Scary story on multiple levels. (Ask your otolaryngologist if Naegleria Fowleri is right for you!)

I’ve used Navage and it honestly helps whenever I have a horrible sinus infection and the constant post-nasal drip wrecks havoc, affecting my quality of sleep the most (also recommend salt water gargles for sore throat).

I have Tinnitus, which I first noticed when I was sick one time as a kid - probably 5-8 yrs old. Thankfully I have no other adverse experiences to report (related to this).

You also sound like me I have NielMed. I’m wondering if you used that before and how Navage compares to it? Appreciate the recommendation.

I developed sever allergies to something later on in life (still trying to pinpoint exactly what, all I know is I get random flare ups), and NasalFreshMD is the one you want for serious sinus issues. It's bigger than either of those other devices though. The Navage has this proprietary pod thing going on so either you but their pods or you get a defeat device but the NasalFreshMD just has an open port for you to dump whatever brand of salt (including NielMed refills if you like their formulation) and however much water you want into so is much easier to use. It has three speeds to the Navage's one. (Not sponsored, just a happy user.)

I live in EU and bought from the US SinuPulse Elite, so I spent a little fortune on it. It was advertised as the best in class. It's definitely safe as the pressure is just enough, but it did not help at all for my problem. Most of the EU irrigation systems turn it up to 11 when it comes to pressure. I don't think that's safe.

Anyway, I think I just have chronic inflammation.

It's not allergy either.

I've had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, so I've never had any negative feelings associated with it. As a kid I just thought it was natural that everyone's ears would ring all the time and would get louder when it was quiet. My ears are ringing right now as I write this.

I don't know if I have tinnitus. I had strong ringing in my ears every now and then as a kid. I once told a classmate about this, who said I should see a doctor, but I've had it as come up every now and then as long as I can remember.

I now have a continuous beep, but only really hear it when I intentionally tune into it. E.g. I can hear it now because I'm writing about it, but most of the day I simply don't hear it, because I don't tune in to it. Not sure if it was always there or just starting at some age. It is sometimes more present when I'm e.g. sick.

I have no idea if other people have this kind of permanent beep as well, because I never asked anyone.

(I just asked my wife and she doesn't have it.)

You have tinnitus.

That's not really tinnitus, I used to have that before I got tinnitus.

Tinnitus is like 30-50 times the volume of that, depending on how rundown I am or whether I have a cold. For me it's predominantly in one ear, though does sometimes change.

What he's describing is fairly normal and is just to do with blood pressure in your ears, from what I've subsequently read.

A clear example of the No True Tinnitus fallacy.

> Tinnitus is a condition when a person hears a ringing sound or a different variety of sounds when no corresponding external sound is present and that other people cannot hear.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

> What he's describing is fairly normal and is just to do with blood pressure in your ears, from what I've subsequently read.

That’s called tinnitus. And I agree, it isn’t rare. From TFA, roughly 15% of people have it (that report it).

Sounds like you may have severe tinnitus, which is more rare, limited to 1-2% of people.

There are different forms of tinnitus, due to there being different causes of tinnitus.

Some people even have multiple frequencies of tinnitus at the same time.

> I have no idea if other people have this kind of permanent beep as well, because I never asked anyone.

We do. I've had tinnitus all my life, or at least I can remember it as far back as about four years old or so. It sounds to me like the whine of an old CRT. I thought it was just normal until I learned it wasn't. I used to think as a kid that it was what the Simon and Garfunkel song "The Sound of Silence" was talking about. Luckily for me it's just something that's always been, so it doesn't really bother me. I have no idea what it would be like to not actually hear anything at all. The one time I was in a sound isolation chamber, it just made my tinnitus scream.

My neighbor developed tinnitus later in his life and it drives him crazy. I definitely feel bad for him, and others who are similarly afflicted by it.

I can't hear 15KHz tube whine anymore, but my tube whine-like tinnitus that has been there as long as I can remember is still there. It seems odd, to me, to be "hearing" a sound that's higher-pitched than the sounds my anatomy can actually perceive, but here I am.

I have something similar, I tend to describe it to people as a light tinnitus. It's a permanent high tone, but I don't usually notice it unless it's very silent around me or I intentionally tune into it, and even then it's not very loud. Never mentioned it to a doctor. I think I know which loud disco I got it from when I was about 7.

Eye floaters are like that. They don't go away but you get used to them being there.

Some of us don’t, but for about $2k they will drain the fluid out and refill will floater free materials.

Changed my life, I thought I was living in a small crowd of fruit flies.

Really? I asked my last ophthalmologist if there was anything to be done about my severe floaters, and he said "no", and that I'd just have to live with them. What's the name of the procedure you had, and what are the downside risks?

I believe there is also "Laser vitreolysis", which seems somewhat disputed.

I have similar issues and 5 years in, problems are only getting worse (perhaps combined with pigment dispersion syndrom making it worse, but not on the path to glaucoma, at least not yet).

It's called vitrectomy. There are risks and that's why they generally only consider it for really severe cases. Look it up.

Thank you! Glad to know what to look up.

To be honest, I don't know where I'd rank on an objective severity scale. My floaters often make it difficult to read, and I've got one that can lodge in the wrong place for long enough to make driving feel a little scary. That's maybe not bad enough - given the risks, which I don't know right now - to argue against it. I'm not necessarily questioning the doctor's judgment - he's maybe right! - just mad that he didn't even tell me about this procedure.

Given it makes it hard to read and actually makes driving dangerous it sounds like it's bad enough to warrant treatment. Get a second opinion, mention trouble reading and unable to see properly while driving.

There are probably high risks of damaging the retina, and there is an increased risk of cataracts, if I remember correctly. Both my eyes had a vitrectomy during retinal surgery and it is really great to live without floaters. But I can imagine doctors will not want to do it just by itself.

Eye floaters can definitely go away. I believe they can break up and break apart and dissipate or be absorbed by the body a bit. Or maybe they just float way off to the side of your vision where you don't notice them anymore.

I do hear my heartbeat from my left ear. The ear doctor said that the ear can be sensitive to the blood flowing from nearby arteries, and that there's nothing to do. Stress affects the heartbeat volume. I just got used to it, but it can be annoying sometimes, especially when you're trying to enjoy the silence.

The doctor also told me that it's not an ear problem, but rather a brain problem. The brain is supposed to filter out this noise, in the same sense that it filters out the sounds from a (normal) digestion, our breathing, etc. I do have some (undiagnosed) hypersensitivity, so that sounds consistent to me.

nozzlegear: it gets better with time, the less you think about it. I know it's not a great consolation, but trust me, train yourself not to think about it, and it will go away for extended periods of time (and will come back from time to time)

This is the first time I heard that this is an issue where the brain isn't filtering out noise properly. This explains why I have had tinnitus, the sound of breathing, whooshing in the ears from my heartbeat, etc. audible to me for as long as I've been conscious and have never understood why everyone else seemed to be really disturbed by what I consider to be supremely normal. Except I also have a sensory processing disorder that makes my brain unable to filter input well so I also come off as sensitive to touch and able to pick up smells well. Because I grew up with all this though I have normalized it enough to function.

Wait... This is not "normal"? I thought everyone has that...

I have this also in the left ear for about a year or so. I self-diagnosed it as eustachian tube related [0] and should really see a doctor, but I also got pretty used to it by now. Only now and then it gets a bit annoying when the sound become more 'whooshing' than 'a clock ticking in the room'.

In my right ear I have another sound regularly, that I went to the doctor for, and she immediately said "Oh, tinnitus, nothing you can do". But I'm pretty sure it is something else. It feels like spasmic tiny muscle fluctuating against my eardrum, and gets triggered by a low-frequency sound, esp. when at rest. Stops after 15-30 mins.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patulous_Eustachian_tube

Huh. The more you learn. Thanks, I think I may have this too.

Same here, had a low level ringing in my ears for as long as I can remember. I really only notice it in quieter rooms, and pretty much have to sleep with some kind of white noise going in the background. Sleeping in a dead silent room is really tough for me.

I'd say i'm sorry to hear about your 60 beat per second heart rate but by the time you read this you are surely dead. RIP

60 bps is a fine HR, if you are implying it isn't

Edit: WHOOPSIE DAISY

Heart beat is usually measured in bpm. All the charts top out at 200. 360 bpm is certainly problematic for a human.

3600 bpm would be even more problematic.

Even techno would be slower :)

That's 3 times the heart rate of a hummingbird.

You’re thinking of one beat per second, i.e. 60 beats per minute. 60 bps is not possible, but if it were, it wouldn’t be survivable.

Upvoted for the edit. :D

Yeah, 60hz isn't a pulse, it's a bass hum. It means you are a robot operating in the US and you have a poorly filtered power supply.

I’ve been meaning to get my power supply checked, but my robo-kid needs a memory upgrade and have you _seen_ RAM prices lately.

On the plus side, plenty of employment opportunities in the US these days. They’re offering us all the former meatbag jobs :)

Haha, woops! I meant 60 beats per minute of course.