My right artery in the neck has a 75% blockage-tested 6 months ago and again this week-no change except whenever I lay down my right ear has a heart beat in it-very tough to sleep-my doctor say its not bad enough to have surgery-anyone else run into this
when you say the 'Dr' are you referring to your primary or a vascular doc?also,have you even been referred to an interventional radiologist at all yet just for a consult?this would be the type of doc who would be doing any sort of procedure/surgery on you, probabaly combined with a vascular surgeon.
who does what really depends on what they decide would be the best sort of treatment plan for your particular type of blockage.in some cases,an IR doc can just place a stent and that would more or less just flatten the plaques up againt the arterial wall.thats only kind of a stop gap tho and most likely,eventually you would need that all cleaned out.
there are several ways they can do that too.i would at the very least at this point,seek out a second opinion from another vascular doc or interventional rad doc.or if you haven't even been referred out of your primarys office yet,now is the time to actually do that.you just need to know where you stand and what your options for treatment are.you DO deserve that much anyways.good luck,hope it all works out for you.please let me know how things go for you.FB
I have complete blockage on one side and 40 - 50% narrowing on the other side.
My vascular specialist said that there are many branches that compensate for the blocking so that enough blood flows to your brain.
Usually, anything below 80% (this is what I've been told) requires a blood thinner but no surgery.
I get a CT angio done periodically and am due for one soon. Also get a duplex to monitor this every 4-6 months.
I also get that heart beat on one side when I lay down. They sent me for a hearing test to rule out loss of hearing on one side (dumb test because if you hear that beating when they are testing the other ear, you can't hear what they are testing so they said I was borderline deaf in that ear which is ridiculous because I hear just fine!). One of my doctors did say it is probably the way the blood is flowing..the carotid artery is very close to the ear.
Thanks for the info-I have had a MRA by a vascular surgeon-they told me I can not have stents because I just had 2 placed in my heart arteries and the percentage of stroke is very high-I am on blood thinners along with other meds-I found out last night if I put pressure on my right side of the neck the heart beat in the ear goes away(my wife said I should try a rope)joke
