Vision Blackouts, Heartbeat in Ear, Headache: Brain Condition
If you’re been suffering from blackouts, headaches and hearing your heartbeat in your ear, this could mean a serious brain condition.
In fact, just one of these symptoms can be caused by something serious affecting your brain. (more…)
Ascites, Jaundice, Mental Impairment in Chronic Heart Failure
Suppose an elderly person with chronic heart failure starts getting ascites and suddenly develops jaundice and change in mental status.
The triad of ascites, jaundice and visible ascites (even mild) is often associated with cirrhosis of the liver caused by excessive alcohol consumption. (more…)
Pain in One Eye with Movement: Brain Tumor? Aneurysm?
If you have pain in one eye when you move it, this can have many causes and unfortunately, two can be a brain tumor or an aneurysm. (more…)
Blurry Vision that Alternates Eyes: Tumor, TIA, Dry Eye?
If you’ve been experiencing blurry vision that alternates eyes, what are the odds that this could be caused by a tumor or transient ischemic attack, vs. a more benign cause? (more…)
Hearing Every Tiny Movement of One Eyeball: Causes & Solutions
If you’ve been hearing your eyeballs move — does this mean you’ve gone bonkers?
Or is this an actual phenomenon that’s recognized by doctors?
It Has a Name
“Hearing every tiny movement of your eyeball is called autophony,” says Kaushal M. Kulkarni, MD, board certified ophthalmologist and neuro-ophthalmologist in private practice in New York.
The term “autophony” translates to one’s self being the only person who can hear something going on with their body.
When the sound seems to be coming from inside an ear, it has a more specific name: tinnitus.
But hearing the movements of one eyeball is certainly not unheard of in the medical world.
Cause of Hearing an Eyeball Move
This can be a most bothersome symptom that’s difficult to escape from, since we have to move our eyes in day to day life.
“This is most commonly caused by a condition called superior canal dehiscence syndrome,” continues Dr. Kulkarni.
“This is a rare disorder of the inner ear caused by a thinning or complete absence of a part of the overlying temporal bone.
“It is usually something you are born with, or could occur after trauma.
“In addition to hearing your eyeballs moving, you may hear your own voice as disturbingly loud and distorted, creaking and cracking of your joints, the sound of your footsteps when walking or running, your heartbeat in your ear (pulsatile tinnitus).”
Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome
SCD can also cause problems with balance and hearing. Dehiscence refers to an opening in a bone.
In addition to hearing one’s eyeball move, SCD can also make a person hear their eyelids blink.
There actually is nothing wrong with the eyeball itself. It’s just that SCD “amplifies” the sounds created by the tiny movements of the body.
Treatment
The treatment specialist would ideally be a certified vestibular physical therapist, even though the diagnosis would be made by a medical doctor.
If hearing one’s eyeball moving around or lids blinking is unbearable and impossible to habituate to, the patient can discuss surgical plugging of the dehiscence with their doctor.
Dr. Kulkarni specializes in providing refined medical and surgical eye care, and has a special interest in optic nerve regeneration. He completed subspecialty training in neuro-ophthalmology at the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, FL.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Freepik.com, master1305
Headache Pain When Moving Both Eyes: Can Be Emergency Condition
Do you feel headache pain whether you move your eyes right, left, up or down?
Under certain circumstances this can mean an emergency situation. (more…)
One Pupil Is Dilated, Cheek Tingling: Likely Causes
If one pupil is noticeably dilated, especially if your cheek is tingling, this is a medical emergency. (more…)
One Eye Suddenly Turns Inward in Young Child: Brain Tumor?
There’s the woman who thought the reason her young child’s eye was turning inward was “cross eyes” but it turned out to be a brain tumor. (more…)
Clicking Sound When Blinking Your Eyes: Causes and Solutions
Do you hear a clicking sound with every blink of your eyes?
Maybe it happens only sometimes or with nearly every blink – and it’s not only impossible to ignore.
But it brings to mind what kind of deadly disease might be causing this oddball symptom. (more…)
Acute Liver Failure Secondary to Heart Failure Always Terminal?
In acute liver failure (hypoxic or ischemic liver) that’s caused by chronic heart failure, the damage to the liver is not intrinsic to the organ but rather, the result of chronically poor blood flow.
An intrinsic problem might be a blood clot in the liver, toxicity from drugs, poison from mushrooms or a viral infection.
But a structurally normal liver can suffer injury over time from reduced blood flow due to a weakly pumping heart.
Poor blood flow to an organ is called hypoperfusion. In chronic heart failure it’s the kidneys that usually show signs of poor function (via the creatinine blood test).
Normally, cardiologists do not wonder how the liver is doing in chronic heart failure patients; they are more concerned about the kidneys because these much smaller organs are more likely to suffer insufficiency due to hypoperfusion.
But it happens every so often that in some chronic heart failure patients, their kidneys, though insufficient, are stable over years, but suddenly their liver crashes.
- There’s no history of alcohol, and tests for hepatitis viruses are negative.
- A CT scan shows no intrinsic issues such as cancer.
- The diagnosis is acute liver injury driven by poor cardiac output.
The aged weak liver has finally given up the good fight against years of hypoperfusion.
When this happens, is this acute liver failure—especially in a very elderly patient—always terminal?
After all, how do you fix hypoxic liver in this case? Double the heart’s ejection fraction with a safe pill? This medical technology is nowhere in sight.
“Acute liver failure is used to described a severe form of acute liver injury that is defined by the presence of certain clinical findings,” begins Daniel Motola, MD, a top board certified gastroenterologist and hepatologist providing same-day and next-day services in NYC with Gotham Medical Associates.
• Hepatic encephalopathy (cognitive impairment due to liver failure)
• Elevated INR > 1.5 (measure of blood clottability)
• Evidence of severe hepatic injury marked by highly elevated liver enzymes (aminotransferases).
• In some cases the liver enzymes may not be as high as expected, while the other two clinical findings are clearly in place.
Dr. Motola continues, “The term ‘acute liver failure’ is used to describe the above findings in someone without cirrhosis or known pre-existing liver disease (usually not known for <26 weeks).
“Acute liver failure is not universally fatal; close to half or more of patients will survive without the need for a liver transplantation, provided the underlying cause is treated.”
And therein lies the problem: underlying cause. If it’s chronic heart failure in an elderly person, the only way to remedy this is to give a pill that magically causes the heart to de-age and be as fit as it was many years ago.
Though cardiac function is considered “improved” when a diuretic drug removes fluid around the heart, this isn’t improvement per se, but rather, removal of something harmful to the heart (surrounding fluid).
Yet this procedure is sometimes deemed “improves cardiac function.” That’s like saying removal of a heavy backpack from the back of someone with severe spinal stenosis improves spinal function.
“If a person has acute liver failure from heart failure, which results in low perfusion state, the failure could be terminal if the heart failure is not treated,” says Dr. Motola.
Heart failure can result from factors other than an old heart getting weaker over time. It can be caused by a heart attack or a viral infection.
In the case of an elderly person whose heart has been declining with time, there is nothing that can rejuvenate this old weak heart with a very poor ejection fraction (amount of blood pumped with each beat).
So when hypoxic liver or acute liver injury eventually occurs (and it can show clinically over just a matter of days), this is terminal, end state organ failure, especially since acute liver injury will lead to acute kidney injury: end stage multi-organ failure.
If you are interested in a consultation with one of Gotham Medical Associates’ gastroenterologists please call 212-227-3688 or book online. Our staff will be happy to assist you, your family member or friend.
In addition to his liver transplant expertise, Dr. Motola offers expertise in chronic liver disease, GERD, IBS, colon cancer screening, endoscopy and disorders of the bile ducts and gallbladder.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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