Can you hear your CSF flow?

Question

Hi all.
I have been having this strange sensation sometimes when I sit still or lay down. It is like fluid fizzing or gushing in the back of my neck, like my CSF is forced through a small channel.
How many of you have this too? Is it a typical Chiari symptom?

I found another thread on this site with many people experiencing the same thing. Many of them have Chiari like symptoms. I am shocked...do these people have Chiari???
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Undiagnosed-Symptoms/Strange-Liquid-Sounds-in-Neck/show/200566

Sadie42118 · Answer

I have extreme muscle spasms on both sides of the back of my neck and I'm 26 years post-op. Does anyone else have this and why is it happening?

eloc · Answer

I recently got diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea and started cpap therapy - I was going through some heavy stuff and had really been a couch potato anyway cpap affected my bowels and my weight was going up and up so finally in january this year i started exercising - just walking up and down my mums wheelchair ramp - so this is when I started getting the popping candy sensation that is also like my spinal fluid being milked out of my brain especially as I walked up the ramp. so I did some research and apparently apneas and cpap can stop the cerebral spine fluid flow at the c2 - only the venous flow building intracranial pressure ( from research on normal healthy awake males using cpap) , So I took it as a good thing and even started yoga which is meant to improve csf flow, Now I hear this noise more often - when truning over in bed and even walking on flat surfaces but not if I am still. It could also be eustation tube dysfunction as I took up swimming around the same time- have not been to the dr yet but was considering it= its only been a few months for the noise - but I do have hand numbness overnight ( suspected carpel tunnel and also plantar fascia which have been going on longer and PTSD diagnosed about 9 years

Lilyi · Answer

I'm having this same issue. I hear the fluid at the base of my skull

Shellystone23 · Answer

I experience the same thing! Sounds almost like a high frequency sound and can feel it too. Would love to find an answer to this! It is usually when I am laying back like on the couch or something and always happens in the same spot on my neck right below my skull.

beautyinbrokenness · Answer

I get this also, even though I have no idea what it is (like other people here) and also get it when my stomach growls! It's so weird! I usually have it when I'm relaxing or laying on my back (which hurts so I don't do it often). Hopefully we find answers!!

AhmedNabeel · Answer

I often hear it at the back of the neck ....since I was 15 ...I am 46 now ...every now and then I hear this stream ...likea small bubbles passing through a narrow pipe ...And by the way I am very normal

ploink · Answer

Oops I pasted the wrong link, I meant this one. A similar thread, but many more posts.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Neurology/Fizzing-sound-in-neck/show/13709

I think it is definitely not a vibrating nerve in my case .. It is at the back of my neck, not close to the ear. I hear it but can feel it too a little. It is not always at exactly the same spot. I am not sure if it is tiny air bubbles or fluid...
When I figure out how, I will try to record it.

Check this article:
http://www.conquerchiari.org/subs%20only/volume%203/issue%203(5)/csf%20flow%20children%203(5).asp
"Taken together, the results would indicate that Chiari malformations result in uneven, disrupted CSF flow characterized by high speed jets, uneven speed, and uneven direction of flow. "
Would these "high speed jets" sometimes not make a sound?

redkim · Answer

I tend to get more head pressure if I turn my head to the side.  The other day I had my head turned to the side looking at something and I could hear this drumming noise, then I looked straight it went away.

selmaS · Answer

Hi...many have reported being able to hear what sounds like fluid fizzing or rushing...swooshing....and none of the drs r willing to say it is CSF that can be heard...but , I think they feel it is the nerves vibrating and bcuz it is so close to the ear canal it sounds more like fluid.....

Now, the sensation where u feel it..squish...yup...just when u turn ur head....not sure either what that is from....I always thought I was squishing my herniated tonsil....who knows for sure...drs just look at us funny....if u get an answer please let us know : )

"selma"