# weird symptom from being hyperthyroid-heartbeat in ear



## ETaylor1015 (Jan 4, 2013)

Hello,

I had my thyroid removed January 25 because of thyroid cancer. Everything went well with surgery and RAI. My only problem now is I can hear my heartbeat in my right ear. I can only hear it in quiet places, but it is especially annoying when I go to bed. I started noticing this about 2 weeks after surgery. I have read that being hyperthyroid (which they will keep me for the next 5 years) can cause this but when I bring it up to my endo, ent, and surgeon non of them seem to know anything about this. The only advice I got was from an ent to get an mri to rule out something serious like a tumor, which after all I have been through with my thyroid cancer is a terrifying thought. I still firmly believe this has to have something to do with my thyroid because it started right after the surgery. I am very hyperthyroid..tsh .04 Has anyone out there experienced this?


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

I haven't, but I wanted to mention that TSH suppression is one of those things you have to toy with a bit. That is, you only really *have* to be around .1-.5...if you are feeling hyper symptoms, it's worth try to modestly raise that TSH a bit.


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## kathlav (Mar 26, 2013)

Hi ETaylor1015,
I have been majorly hyper since july last year and have only just been diagnosed with graves.My TSH when first diagnosed was <0.01 so none existant,and blood pressure 160/110,i do remember before being medicated that i also could hear my heart in my ears mainly at night when trying (Trying very hard) to sleep a kind of swooshing sound,insomnia is also a symptom of hyperthyroidism.
I was prescribed propanolol for blood pressure and carbimazole for thyroid the propanolol works pretty quickly,and i went from sleeping rarley (i would be awake for days in a row without any sleep) to sleeping pretty well.I am still taking the propanolol even though i have tried a couple of times to stop taking it,every time my sleeplessness would return....the swooshing in my ears etc,my BP is still unpredictable and on the high side but kept in check, but boy do i sleep better.

Have you had your Blood pressure checked recently? if not then i advise you to do so,
there is a real risk of strokes/heart disease when hyper...better to be safe than sorry.

Best wishes and take care.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

You may want to have your blood pressure checked. I've always had low blood pressure...until I had my thyroid removed. My BP skyrocketed for a few months after surgery. It's normal again now (came back down on its own). My doctor said BP often increases, at least temporarily, after thyroid removal. The body is kind of thrown for a loop.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

ETaylor1015 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I had my thyroid removed January 25 because of thyroid cancer. Everything went well with surgery and RAI. My only problem now is I can hear my heartbeat in my right ear. I can only hear it in quiet places, but it is especially annoying when I go to bed. I started noticing this about 2 weeks after surgery. I have read that being hyperthyroid (which they will keep me for the next 5 years) can cause this but when I bring it up to my endo, ent, and surgeon non of them seem to know anything about this. The only advice I got was from an ent to get an mri to rule out something serious like a tumor, which after all I have been through with my thyroid cancer is a terrifying thought. I still firmly believe this has to have something to do with my thyroid because it started right after the surgery. I am very hyperthyroid..tsh .04 Has anyone out there experienced this?


It might be wise to get an ultra-sound of your heart. You may have the gushing sound from mitral prolapse. Also, how is your blood pressure?

This article is interesting. 
http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/pulsatile-tinnitus

Keeping you in my thoughts and please let us know what you decide to do.


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## ETaylor1015 (Jan 4, 2013)

Thanks everyone for their replies. I have been checking my blood pressure and it is still in the low-normal range. It did go up a bit after surgery (122/68) but now back down to 90/60 ish. I thought they have been suppressing my tsh too much but the endo at this point said the lower the better. I was thinking I would start feeling less hyper at .1 as opposed to .04 which is where I am now. I also know that I have mild mitrovalve prolapse but have never heard anything in my ear before having my thyroid out. I guess it is just a medical mystery! The good news is aside from my ear thing I feel perfectly normal without a thyroid which was a big concern of mine!


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## ETaylor1015 (Jan 4, 2013)

joplin1975 said:


> I haven't, but I wanted to mention that TSH suppression is one of those things you have to toy with a bit. That is, you only really *have* to be around .1-.5...if you are feeling hyper symptoms, it's worth try to modestly raise that TSH a bit.


I want to raise my tsh a bit but my endo said this is perfect and where they want it too be the next 5 years. Your doctor doesn't make you remain hyper? The funny thing is I asked them if suppressing tsh makes a difference for cancer recurrence and they don't even know if it does, so basically they are keeping me hyper based on a theory and not scientific proof!


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Well, I'm at .2, so technically by my lab's values, I'm hyper, but just slightly so. My surgeon's guiding principle is as hyper as you can be *without being symptomatic*. If you have symptoms, the lab values are kind of irrelevant.

Edited to add: I'm talking about a very slight decrease in meds...nothing drastic.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

My doctor has a similar approach to what joplin describes. He wants my TSH to be as close to zero as possible (it's generally 0.03ish) while keeping my Free T4 within the upper end of the range, just barely within range. And when I called them about hyper symptoms, they took it seriously and gave me a slight decrease in dosage.

Okay, so your TSH is super-low, but what about your Free T4 and Free T3?


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