Afib and blood flow

Weird question...
Can atrial fibrilation cause blood flow issues in places other than the heart?

About 18 months ago or so I started having intermittent pulsaitile tinnitus. About 5 months ago I went an ENT to get evaluated. He found nothing of note, but suggested that if I wanted to, I could get get an MRI to make sure I didn't have a vascular issue in my head, though he said it was super rare for them to find anything. I never bothered, but after I started on blood thinners my GP wanted me to go forward with the MRI, just in case I really did have an anneurism or something that could leak.

I got my results yesterday, and everything was normal, except that I have a "diminutive lateral dural sinus" on the side I hear my pulse, likely congenital.

Pulsitile Tinnitus is usually blamed on some sort of blood flow issue, so I'm guessing my diminutive sinus may be an issue, but since this only started recently and is intermittent, I'm wondering if if afib can cause turbulent blood flow that I'm now noticing because of my slight abnormality. I'm curious about this as I wonder if the onset of tinnitus was when I started afibbing.... and I just didn't know it and if the tinnitus could be measure of when I am in afib.

Hi Bolimasa,

I, too, have started experiencing tinnitus, at the end of June, although it is not pulsatile but rather a constant high-pitched ringing. I think I may have had a degree of it previously, but I woke up in the middle of the night with my ears ringing and they haven't stopped since. The ringing seems louder at some times than others. I have scheduled appointments for a hearing test and a consult with an ENT in the coming weeks.

I don't know if there is a link to my afib. I recently started on apixaban but the rigning started before I began taking it.

I am wondering if it might have something to do with the program of supplementation I began a few months ago (magnesium, taurine, potassium Coenzyme Q10) - Jackie, any thoughts?

Regards,

Anne

I had Eliquis cause tinitus after almost two years on it. Reducing the dose to half dose helped. I switched to Pradaxa, which really helped. Then after about five month on Pradaxa the same thing is starting to happen. Just not as severe.
It seems about 1-2 hours after taking the medication, the ear ringing becomes intense. Then it starts to taper after a few hours.
By the time for the next dose, the ear ringing is almost gone. Then it begins again with the same pattern with the next dose.
This is the only medication I take.
The only supplements I take is magnesium.

Dr Natale said half dose of Eliquis is fine with him. Today I am going back on half dose Eliquis to see how I do.
I am hoping to have the Watchman Flex device when it becomes FDA approved and available through insurance.
I considered joining the FDA Watchman Flex trial. Technically I didn’t qualify without some creative adjustments to my Chadsvasc score of 0.
Don’t want to skews the study results either.
I also think it is best to see the study results on new medical devices before having one inside you heart if it is an elective procedure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2018 11:03PM by gmperf.

When I googled I didn't find a very strong link to pulsitile tinitus... I suspect mine is because is my small lateral dural sinus.... But since I'm 57 and I just started noticing it last year, it makes my wonder if there is another factor...and since

When I googled I didn't find a very strong link to pulsitile tinitus... I suspect mine is because is my small lateral dural sinus.... But since I'm 57 and I just started noticing it last year, it makes my wonder if there is another factor...and since I have this AFib problem I don't really notice, I wonder if that is the issue.

During my 11 years of afib - no tinnitus. About five years after my successful ablation (11 years ago) - tinnitus. No meds other than K, Mg and Taurine in less than recommended amounts. I see no relationship.

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Ken
During my 11 years of afib - no tinnitus. About five years after my successful ablation (11 years ago) - tinnitus. No meds other than K, Mg and Taurine in less than recommended amounts. I see no relationship.

Pulsitile or regular hearing loss associated tinnitus... I've had tinnitus for quite a few years now... blaming it on two much loud music at clubs during the few years after my divorce when I was in a social group with regular dance nights.... my ears would always ring for awhile after leaving this one too loud club.... one night the never quit ringing....

The tinnitus I'm wondering about now is pulsitile.... sounds like my heart beating in my left ear. This started a year and half ago. With pulsitile tinitus they worry more about vascular issues... that a an AVM, fistula, aneurism, stenosis, or something is causing turbulent blood flow that you an actually hear. They will do an MRI to look for these sorts of things.

So what I wondered is if afib changes the blood flow once it leaves the heart... .and it this explains my recent-ish onset of pulsitile tinnitus...
My MRI didn't show much out of the norm... (Apparently my brain is unremarkable LOL) But I do have the one small sinus issue and an wondering if a change in blood flow due to afib combined with that is possible the reason I sporadically hear my pulse. (If so I would suspect those without an anomaly of some sort would not have afib caused tinnitus.)

Mostly I'm curious because if that is the case it would mark the the time my afib began, and it would be useful to be able to use tinnitus as a marker for afib.

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bolimasa
So what I wondered is if afib changes the blood flow once it leaves the heart... .and it this explains my recent-ish onset of pulsitile tinnitus...

No, it doesn't change the flow. Ejection fraction may be slightly reduced, but there's no change to the flow that could cause something like tinnitus.
I very much doubt afib is responsible.

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Carey

So what I wondered is if afib changes the blood flow once it leaves the heart... .and it this explains my recent-ish onset of pulsitile tinnitus...

No, it doesn't change the flow.

May cause a disturbance in blood flow, though, particularly if accompanied by anxiety and stress.



"Pulsatile tinnitus is the type of ear noise that is perceived as a rhythmic pulsing that is often in time with the heartbeat. It can be experienced as a thumping or whooshing sound. It is sometimes referred to as vascular tinnitus because in the majority of cases, it is related to disturbances in the blood flow."

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jpeters
May cause a disturbance in blood flow, though, particularly if accompanied by anxiety and stress.

How so? What are you saying here?

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Carey

May cause a disturbance in blood flow, though, particularly if accompanied by anxiety and stress.


How so? What are you saying here?

AFIB has some correlation with dementia, probably due to disturbance of blood flow to the brain. When in AFIB, there's muscle fatique, due to disturbance of blood flow to muscles. Pumping activity of the heart declines. All of that, I would think, would be considered disturbance of blood flow ??



Another possibility is related to homones. AFIB is associated with increased levels of aldosterone, which essentially increases levels of salt in the cells, raising blood pressure.


[www.onlinejacc.org]

"Expression of MR (mineralocorticoid receptors) increased in AF, thus augmenting the genomic effects of aldosterone"

"One of these is aldosterone, which balances sodium and potassium in your blood. In primary aldosteronism, your adrenal glands produce too much aldosterone, causing you to lose potassium and retain sodium. The excess sodium in turn holds on to water, increasing your blood volume and blood pressure."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2018 11:02AM by jpeters.

Demntia is thought to be due to microclots accumulating over the years, not blood flow.

It's not clear to me what "flow" means in this context but I don't think the slight reduction in cardiac output caused by afib is enough to cause lasting physical harm. Simply going to sleep probably reduces cardiac output more than afib does.

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Carey
Demntia is thought to be due to microclots accumulating over the years

Or microbleeds. Double-edged sword.

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Carey
Simply going to sleep probably reduces cardiac output more than afib does.

Actually, can increase it, due to cortisol..which is why most heart attacks occur in the morning.

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Demntia is thought to be due to microclots accumulating over the years, not blood flow.

That's one theory. Another is that the brain cleans out amyloid plaque, but only with (preferably) 8 hour, restful, sleep cycles. Build up of plaque is associated with dementia.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2018 01:43AM by jpeters.

Interesting theoretical jam session. :-)

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Carey
Interesting theoretical jam session. :-)

Ha ha......another is a correlation between number of medications you're taking and dementia. I'd opt for eliminating anything that stresses normal functioning as much as possible.