Hi All -
You know how you get an adrenalin rush like when you're the passenger in the car and the driver stops suddenly to avoid hitting a deer seen in the headlights just yards from your front bumper? Well when that or something like it happens now, post surgery, I REALLY FEEL the blood surge through my temporal arteries (well I think it's the temporal arteries). Before surgery, I didn't experience this sensation with sudden fright - I felt a lurch in my heart but nothing in my head. Was I just weird before surgery and normal now or is it the other way around? Does anyone else feel that sudden, warm surge of blood to their head when suddenly frightened?
Kim

Hi Kim,
 Yes, I can feel the surge you are talking about.  But of course since I am unilateral I only feel it on the left side!  Actually what I really feel is when my heart is beating fast and hard.  I HEAR it very loudly in my left ear.  
  But I've also found that I can hear it as if the volume has been turned up, and not always when I'm excited or when the adrenalin is rushing.  I will hear it when I am calm.  While still calm, in fact I won't move at all, I can concentrate and within a few second the drumming will subside.  
  I recently had a bout of vertigo that lasted about two weeks.  By the time I went to the specialist the dizziness was gone, but they did all the tests anyway, including a series of hearing tests.  When I told the specialist about the surgery and the hearing of my heart beat.  She said it was amazing we all didn't hear it on a regular basis.  Since the temporal artery is so close to the ear canal.  I figure since the artery has probably grown to meet the larger blood flow requirements feeding the MCA it is simply larger, louder and closer to my ear.  
   Carol

hey wow i found this comment really interesting carol!

"When I told the specialist about the surgery and the hearing of my heart beat.  She said it was amazing we all didn't hear it on a regular basis.  Since the temporal artery is so close to the ear canal.  I figure since the artery has probably grown to meet the larger blood flow requirements feeding the MCA it is simply larger, louder and closer to my ear. "

that makes so much sense about the larger artery and blood flow creating more noise! the whooshing i hear CONTINUOUSLY is really very loud.. particularly when lying down to go to sleep at night when all is quiet. and if i have been naughty and had a big night out drinking (i'm young!) then it squeaks and squawks.... slightly disturbing.. an actual mechanical sound, my boyfriend can hear it when he puts his ear to mine... quite odd!! often quite an annoying sound!