A lot of women have experienced ringing ears during pregnancy.
Some women shrug this off because they're used to this problem.
Some new mothers, however, rush off to check with their doctors at the first sign of ringing ears during pregnancy, somehow thinking it means that there's something wrong.
So why do women experience ringing ears during pregnancy? The ringing of the ears is also known as tinnitus.
This usually happens when there is a shortage or interruption of blood flow to the brain and ears.
When the auditory system does not get sufficient oxygen from the blood flow, some nerves can weaken and eventually die.
Since these nerves are important to relaying sounds to the ear, instead of hearing just the sound that was made, you also hear after effects or a ringing echo in your head.
While tinnitus can be annoying, it is not life threatening or something that you have to get treated by a doctor.
A lot of pregnant women suffer from tinnitus, and most of them report that the ringing goes away eventually.
You might be wondering at this point what tinnitus has to do with pregnancy.
Well, as mentioned, this symptom occurs when there is an interruption of blood flow.
Ringing ears during the pregnancy may be caused by stress and a significant rise in blood pressure.
As the blood pressure goes up, there are sometimes interruptions in the blood flow.
Ringing ears during the pregnancy can also occur if you eat too much sodium, particularly junk food.
The excess sodium in the body can make you feel sluggish, which will also slow down your blood pressure and cause the ears to ring during pregnancy.
In short, high or low blood pressure is one of the leading causes of ringing ears in pregnancy.
Should you be bothered by the ringing in the ears during your pregnancy? The answer is no.
Ringing in ears during pregnancy is considered normal.
There are ways to alleviate it, such as distracting yourself by opening windows if you're in a room, or listening to music at a very low volume.
You should only be worried about ringing ears during pregnancy if there is a pain in your ear or if you notice that the sound is getting louder.
These may be signs that it's escalated into something serious.
But if it's just a low level buzz, you can relax.
This will not have a negative effect on the child that you are carrying.
Ultimately, ringing ears during pregnancy is something you can dismiss.
Worrying about it may only aggravate the condition as stress can cause irregular blood pressure, which in turn can cause that ringing to become louder.