sounds in my head

[maraca]

I found this site while I was looking for some answers to why I should be having these sounds in my head.  They are almost constant and are driving me to desperation.  I have had them for a few months and are getting much worse.  They sound like tiny maracas or a dying fly that keeps buzzing.  My head can be perfectly still or moving.  Opening my eyes also makes it worse, as well as looking upwards.  I have also had flashers and floaters that are related to retinal detachment for several months.  I have been seeing an opthamologist and an eye surgeon for monitoring of that problem, but it still has not detached, although it also has become progressively worse.
The sounds are worse for me than the eye, because I am someone who has always hated noise and odd sounds.  I live for the quiet, so this is a real probelm for me.  From this forum and others, I am grateful, at least to know that there are other people with the same problem.  What can I do?  Please help.


This discussion is related to odd ticking sound comming from head.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
What you have is tinnitus or abnormal sound in ear. There are many medical causes for tinnitus. Besides loud noises, other causes include severe head trauma, sinus and respiratory infections, ear infections, wax build-up, high blood cholesterol, food allergies, certain types of tumors and a long list of other conditions.
Other possible causes of tinnitus have their origin in either your ear (Ménière's disease, otosclerosis, middle ear infections,   wax in your ear canal and TMJ), or auditory nerve (which carries signals from your inner ear to your brain like acoustic neuroma), and side-effects of medicines (aspirin, quinine, some antibiotics etc). Tinnitus can also be stress related.
Sometimes it can be a pulsatile tinnitus where you hear your own pulse. The most common cause of pulsatile tinnitus is noisy blood flow as blood pushes through plaques or kinks in the arteries in the head or neck. It can be made worse if there is also hypertension. Several types of fistulas in the blood vessels of head and neck, especially the carotid artery or jugular vein can also cause this.
Increased blood flow as seen in anemia and hyperthyroid state can also cause pulsatile tinnitus. Fluid in middle ear can be another cause. Vascualr tumors of middle ear such as glomus tumors or paragangliomas can also cause this.
Please consult an ENT specialist and a vascular specialist for this. You may need angiograms, dopplar studies of vessels of head and neck and may be CT scans of ear.
Hope this helps. Take care!

[jdesouza]

Have you checked to see if you might have tinnitus? The eye and ear issues are probably unrelated. I have had floaters for a long time and although irritating the brain compensates for them pretty well.

[Singingloonie]

This sounds like a TMD disorder to me. They used to call it TMJ, but they changed it because everyone has a joint! Anyhow, it's caused by an irregular placement of the jaw, too tight muscles between upper and lower jaws. Look up tinnitus for more information. What to do? Work on ways to loosen the muscles, ask your dentist about a bite plate for possible teeth grinding and clenching at night, and listen to music. The more you concentrate on the noises, the louder they'll get.

Blessings!