Is there, or can there be, a correlation anxeity caused by tinnitus and heart disease

I have been fighting bi-lateral tinnitus and the accompanying depression and anxeity for over 20 years. In 2000 I was experienceing discomfort in my chest and ended up having a cariac cath and stents. since than I have had no problem passing nuclear stress tests or physical tread mill tests.

This year  had a full blown heart attack and ended up with a 3 way bypass. The intensity of the tinnitus (24/7 - a high pitched whistle with varying degrees of intensity) and the accompnying anxeity has increased to a level that makes it difficult to perform tasks that were automatic in the past.

My question is, how much stress is put on the heart via the tinnitus and its following depression and anxeity, and could there be a correlation between the strss and a heart attact direcly or indirectly related to the Tinnitus.

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[CCF HeartMD-2]

Tinnitus or ringing in the ears is not typically a manifestation of heart disease, per se.  However, the tinnitus should be characterized by your physician as either pulsatile or tonal.  Pulsatile tinnitus can sound like your own heart beat in the ears, and while it may be related to conductive hearing loss, may also be related to a vascular problem in the neck area which could be evaluated with an ultrasound or CT scan.  The tinnitus itself should not cause direct stress on your heart.  However, anxiety and stress of any cause can lead to increased blood pressure and may cause unncessary strain on the heart.  The best approach would be to be referred to an inner ear specialist to determine the cause of this chronic tinnitus as a first step.

[snarky348]

I, too, have wondered about the connection between my heart issues (palpitations) and a seemingly unrelated issue (in my case, I was wondering about a connection with GI issues).   Generally speaking, my take is that unless there's a clear consensus about connections that most doctors will deny any sort of connections exist...although, I do believe there are obviously things doctors don't understand from a patient's perspective (it's one thing to spend 10 years study text books and diagnosing people, quite another to have a first hand experience).   I will be interested to see the docs response, nonetheless

[ggansburg]

The cause of the tinnitus is damage to the high frequency side of my hearing. It is not pulsating, it is tonal, a high pitiched whistle that is with me from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep. And quite possibly there while sleeping. The sound elevates if I am in a stressful situation. and it elevation causes increased anxeity. The initial cause is service connected. I worked around jet engines in the 60's. I have been told by both private audiologists and the VA that there is no cure. And so far the attempts at masking have been unsuccessful.

My question has to do with the plausibility of the related anxeity having an affect on heart function where it might contribute to the heart disease. Got any insite on this???

[kev543]

It is obvious to anyone who has or has had anxiety that it screws with blood preasure and can cause palpatations. i am not a doctor but i would say yes it can contribute to heart problems. Ofcourse a doctor might argue that there is no proof in that but if you have it then it only take common sense to figure that one out. I mean no disrespect. I just thought i would share my view on this topic.