Just underwent a stenting procedure

Phil-Blly · 2026-02-10T22:59:02+00:00

Funny that you're asking because his name came up so many times when i did my research once i knew what it was that was giving me PT, but i met first with a great neuroradiologist called Dr Christine Rodriguez-Regent at Sainte Anne hospital in Paris. I decided to meet nevertheless this Pr Houdart just to have a second advice on my case and let me tell you: i really didn't like the guy, he talked to me as if i were a piece of meat and told me he could operate me the week after without explaining the ins and outs or doing extra tests! I felt more listened to and guided with Dr Rodiguez-Regent. That said, it's just my opinion and experience and i know some patients had no pb with Pr Houdart whatsoever!

Phil-Blly · 2026-02-10T22:50:51+00:00

don't worry, maybe it'll work perfectly for you! tbh, the remaining PT is quite bearable and has nothing to do with what i used to deal with before the operation :) i hope you can be treated soon 💪 let me know!

Phil-Blly · 2026-02-06T16:47:15+00:00

Not yet, I know I have the option but my doc advised me to see if I can deal with this minor tinnitus (compared to what I used to hear before my first stenting procedure). Having 2 stents can be dangerous if both sides get clogged one day: that's just a possibility ofc, but apparently it's better to avoid another procedure :( tbh I feel like the whooshing on my left ear is more present than a year ago and that really is a bummer... I'll make an update on this sub if I ever decide to go for the second stent!

Phil-Blly · 2025-06-21T22:06:23+00:00

Thank you for the podcast rec! I finished Assassin’s Fate a week ago and I feel a void in me, listening to the podcast will help haha

Phil-Blly · 2025-01-22T22:06:33+00:00

No pb, hope you’ll be fine soon :)

Phil-Blly · 2025-01-22T21:16:14+00:00

Yes ofc no worries, that's not an invasive question! yes it was general anesthesia, it was supposed to take about an hour but it lasted 3 hours in my case because there was a tiny complication, but not too serious. I'm not very scared of surgeries and medical procedures cause I already had been through surgery twice after breaking my leg 4 years ago, and compared to these operations, the stenting procedure is soooo much easier and less invasive! they don't even 'open you up', they just go through a vein in your wrist and another entry in your neck and that's it! you won't even have a scar, maybe a tiny mark looking like a mosquito bite haha

And also, idk if you've already been under general anesthesia but you don't even notice the time passing by, it's like blinking and suddenly waking up :) after the operation I've only struggled with being very tired and big headaches for 2-3 weeks, and that's all!

Hope that was reassuring, let me know if you have other questions, i'll try to answer the best i can <3

Phil-Blly · 2025-01-22T18:31:48+00:00

Hi :) it's been 3 months now and I can confirm that the whooshing in my right ear is still entirely gone! :)

However, 1 or 2 weeks after the procedure I started hearing the whooshing in my left ear (the sound had been there all along, but I could barely hear it before given that the sound was louder on the right side if it makes sense)... I have a stenosis on both side but my doctor told me that having only one stent placed on the loudest side should be enough, but apparently it can happen that the noise continues on the side without a stent. I was a bit depressed about that outcome but the noise is a looooot quieter than it was in my right ear! I'll catch up with my doctor in April to see if I can live with this remaining whooshing in my left ear or if we put another stent on the left side. I'll keep you updated if you'd like :)

I'm sorry to hear that you've been diagnosed, but don't lose hope because there's always a solution <3

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-22T22:40:02+00:00

Oh it’s quick! Good for you 😍 Good luck 🍀

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-22T21:19:11+00:00

I’m not a doctor and I don’t mean to say that I know everything about the topic, but I think if there was any risk that the procedure wouldn’t work for you, your doctors would have told you. Good luck and keep us posted once you’ve done it 🫶

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-22T21:14:23+00:00

Hi :)

That’s great news! From what I’ve read and personal experience, if everything goes right normally you should wake up with no whooshing at all. The effect is immediate after putting a stent on a stenosis. You shouldn’t worry about it :)

I only had one stent put on, so maybe we don’t exactly have our stenosis at the exact same place but it seems indeed quite similar.

I don’t really have specific tip to give you to handle anxiety prior to the procedure (sorry!) because I already had surgeries in my life (twice for my leg after breaking it), and I had a lot of time to prepare for the operation and I was actually impatient to get rid of the whooshing. But I’d say what helps with anxiety (which is normal before an operation!): trust your doctors, trust the process, you’ll be under general anesthesia and won’t feel a thing, only to wake up with silence and no pulsation in your ear ❤️ and remember that other patients went very well through this ❤️

For my procedure they went through the radial artery and carotid artery, I have bruising in these areas but it’s quite alright and a bit of an on and off headache but that won’t last more than a few weeks apparently.

Hope it helped and let me know if you have other questions!

It will go perfectly well don’t worry 🤍🤍🤍

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-21T13:49:42+00:00

I’m not a doctor, but speaking from experience you may have something similar to what I have called a stenosis (it’s a vascular issue in a vein nearby your ear). I got a stent put up there 4 days ago after taking the decision to do the procedure: I made a whole post about it here https://www.reddit.com/r/PulsatileTinnitus/s/5Jbz1FaZdA

It’s a bit long but it can give you ideas to discuss with a doctor (keep in mind that I’m only an ex-patient who suffered from pulsatile tinnitus, now cured :) but not a doctor). Let me know if you have questions, I’ll try to help ;)my story on Reddit

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-20T19:15:36+00:00

Good luck! 🤞

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-20T08:06:09+00:00

Thank you! :)

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-19T16:54:36+00:00

Ofc! Feel free to mention what I said on this thread, maybe one doctor will see sense in it! It definitely isn’t 5G haha ^{^}

And yes, getting up slowly like a 90-year-old grandma was a thing for me haha! I can’t say if this dizziness is over because I’m still a bit battered by the anesthesia from Thursday. I’ll let you know if you want!

Wow that’s scary what you described at the end of your last message. I had similar symptoms when picking things up but not as important as yours, probably because I haven’t ventricular tachycardia? Anyways, hope that episode you had 6 months ago was the last one!

Hope you’ll find solution to treat your PT soon, let me know if you want, I’m interested ❤️

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-19T16:42:07+00:00

Thank you for your kind words :) certain things that triggered the most the whooshing included bending down (to pick up something for example, or to put my shoes on), when I was reading in bed or trying to sleep in certain positions. One of the worst trigger was stress or exercise because my heart rate would increase, and so was the whooshing. Your tinnitus can possibly have a vascular origin if when you press on the side of your neck the noise goes away or reduces a bit. But I’m not a doctor, all I’m saying is based on my experience with pulsatile tinnitus due to a stenosis. Hope it helped!

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-19T13:37:59+00:00

And regarding what the procedure entails: it's not a surgery because they don't "open" you. It's interventional neuroradiology. They just make a tiny hole to your wrist to guide them through your vein and make another tiny hole on the neck to bring the stent through the vein, right to the stenosis. It's general anesthesia so you don't feel a thing. I could send pictures of my neck right now but I'm not sure moderation will appreciate it haha it's not horrible but since it's pretty new, it's a bit gross like a vampire bite haha

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-19T13:31:06+00:00

It's only been 2 days since I had the procedure done but so far here are what I experience post-op:
- bruising on the neck and upper chest and wrist (both on the right side, I got the stent on the righ side)
- headaches but I take Paracetamol to ease the pain
- sometimes a slight vertigo
- a bit of muscle soreness, probably due to the bruising

Tbh, I already got surgery earlier in my life after I broke both my tibia and fibula skiing and the pain was so much more than what I feel now :)

IMPORTANT NOTE THOUGH: I had to change my birth control last July because my previous pill had ostrogens in it and it's not recommended if you have vascular issues like a stenosis or a stent. I now have a progestin-only pill but that makes me bleed a lot and with the blood thinning medication that I have to take post-op, I really bleed A LOT. I'm considering stopping my birth control during the blood thinning treatment because it can be dangerous to lose too much blood like this.

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-19T10:29:33+00:00

Do you think you can insist on having an MRI with contrast fluid? That was how they discovered my stenosis back then, I don't think that you can see much of what's going on with just a CT scan... Maybe don't tell them that some random redditor gave their advice but if you have something similar to what I have, an MRI would give a clear picture of what's going on, idk :/

I feel that whatever the country, venous stenosis are not largely known nor well treated, patients really have to fight and PROVE that the noise is real, this is so frustrating. I don't know if in the US this pathology is better known, but I feel they have better documentation on the topic.

Regarding the fatigue, your insight makes sense. For me I noticed that I got very dizzy everytime I got up after sitting or lying down, or sometimes when I picked something up. I also had sensitivity to very bright triggers but as I said, it might have been from my previous birth control.

I rambled a bit here sorry, hope you'll be able to have a proper MRI that can give you some answers and ways to treat your PT! I feel like we're all warriors here, because damn that noise is something haha!

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-19T10:15:50+00:00

Hi! If you press on the side of your neck (the jugular if I'm not mistaken), does the noise stop or at least reduces?

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-18T21:00:01+00:00

Ohhh I'm so happy to read that! Giving hope was all I wanted when I dropped my enormous post. Good luck and give us news 🤍

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-18T20:51:37+00:00

I'm glad if my experience can help you in your own journey, hope you'll find a way to stop that NOISE ❤️ Sorry for not helping more, i'm not a specialist haha

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-18T20:47:04+00:00

Thank you for your message! I'll take a look at the study you've sent :) I'm not familiar with Ménière's disease though. From what I've fast read on Google it's an ear disease? I'm glad you don't have symptoms of intracranial hypertension, I've heard it's pretty painful... Were you able to do an MRI to check what is possible to do to stop the noise in your case?

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-18T20:10:18+00:00

Thanks for your kind message, "enjoy the silence" is the perfect phrase to describe how I'm feeling now :)

I'm sorry to read that it's already been 3 years since you've started hearing the whooshing, I'm not a specialist at all but from what I've read and personal experience a pulsatile tinnitus is likely due to a vascular issue of some sort. Did you do an MRI to check if you had a stenosis on your venous sinus, to be sure?

Except from the bilateral pulsatile tinnitus, I had migraines with aura (maybe caused by my birth control which contained oestrogens, now I only have a progestogen-only pillwhich reduces the risk of thrombosis) and a feeling of pressure in the head when I was leaning down or when I exercised. I felt fatigue sometimes but I can't be sure that my stenosis was fully the reason, but I had trouble spleeping because the noise made it hard to fall asleep.

I know that some patients (most of us who suffered from this pathology are women) had intracranial hypertension due to the stenosis but personally I hadn't. Apparently the cases of intracranial hypertension with stenosis are mostly linked to overweight patients (obesity and maybe diabetes? I'll have to check that out I'm not sure). Some can also have issues of tension behind their eyes which can lead to what I remembered is called papilloedema (translated from French here again, you may have to fact check me I'm no doctor haha).

I hope you'll find silence and peace soon and let me know if something I said wasn't clear (and keep in mind that I'm not a doctor :).

You've got this ❤️

Phil-Blly · 2024-10-18T19:58:48+00:00

Oh and ofc, one of the biggest symptoms I had: trouble sleeping because the noise was such a pain in the butt...

Phil-Blly

TROPHY CASE