Dear Whooshers,

I am a cured whoosher and I would like to share with you my story.

I awoke one morning to the sound of my heartbeat  in my left ear. "Oh" I thought, "this is weird." It carried on all day, loud, and then the headache arrived.

That night I doped myself up with pain killer but could not get to sleep as this noise in my ear was unrelenting. A few days passed, still the same, whoosh in my ears and pain in my head so I made an appointment to see the doctor. The doctor examined my ear and could not see anything unusual so sent me away with a steroid nasal spray, antibiotics and strong pain killers.

One week later, there was no change in my condition so I went back to see the doctor. After a few trips back and forth, the doctor referred me to an ENT specialist but said there would be at least a three-month wait. This news hit me like a brick as I was in so much pain with my headaches. I was reduced to tears. At this point I decide to pay and go private.

Whilst waiting to see the specialist I went to the local A&E department as the pain in my head was unbearable, all they came up with was to go and calm down and have a massage!?!

Anyway, I was fearing for my sanity so I said to my husband “this is so loud, can’t you hear it?” He put his ear to just below mine and I saw his face drop. He could hear it. I phoned my mum and put the phone to the spot behind my ear and she could hear it over the phone.

When the time came to see the specialist he did a nasoscopy and a hearing test, all was fine but he could also hear the noise through a stethoscope. As I could not afford to carry on the
investigation privately I went back on the NHS and was sent for an MRI scan. The results of the scan didn’t show up much and was then referred to a wonderful man at Addenbrookes Hospital. I was sent for a CT scan and angiogram.

After five minutes of having my angiogram I had a diagnosis and a plan of action. I had a dural av fistula of the left transverse sigmoid sinus. They could put in a stent and block it off with some sort of glue! I wasn’t making it up! It wasn’t al in my head! It had a name and they could fix it.

I had the operation which didn’t go quite to plan (they ended up putting another couple of stents in somewhere as my tubes were very narrow and I had mild intercranial hypertension as well) but awoke to the sound of sweet silence.

That was six months ago; I still have a few weird head-achy pains but no whooshing. It took me about a year to get it fixed from the first symptoms to the operation which isn’t too bad compared to some of the stories I have read on your site but you have to fight and hard.

Love your website, It gave me hope when I needed it and hope it continues to give people the strength to do the same. Never give in x

For more information about dural av fistulas see neuroangio.org and the other cured whoosher stories about this cause here, here, and here.