Anyone else having inner ear spasms?

It started almost one month ago.
It’s a like a drum thumping sound in the right ear, like strong vibrations, both heard and felt, intermittent, pulsatile but not in sync with heartbeat. It happens for some seconds (1-5 thumps, rhythmic, slow or very fast) then it stops and starts again.
It gets worse when yawning, burping, chewing, swallowing, talking and jaw movements in general, and on exertion.
It’s extremely disturbing.
I don’t know if there’s any correlation, but it started the day I unsuccessfully tried to do nasal rinse, while leaning my head to the right.
From what I searched it seems like MEM (Middle ear myoclonus).
Has anyone of you experienced it?
Thank you in advance

I get all kinds of odd noises from my bad ear.

  • My tinnitus is persistent so these odd noises are on top of that hiss.

  • Clicking is the usual one that comes in spasms. I have a hunch it’s a reflex of the muscles to try and clear any gunk in the middle ear.

  • I get a kind of brief muffle sound occasionally.

  • Pulsative tinnitus often occurs after too much sugar or caffeine.

  • Moving my jaw sometimes causes a cracking sound (probably of dried mucus, ew! I suspect) which can then lead to a squishing sensation (but not always). I get this in my good ear too but much less regularly. This suggests its natural, just hadn’t noticed it before?

However, I appear to now have compensated from a vestibular perspective so if you can learn to ignore these funny noises, you will feel better about it.

Hopefully they will go in time. In the meantime try to ignore them and focus on interesting things.

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Yep, I’ve had it in my “good” ear several times. Like James, I always suspected it was muscle spasms and the body’s natural mechanism to clear the wax out, or possibly equalize pressure. I never gave it a lot of thought after the third or fourth time it happened.

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Thank you for your answer and perspective, James!

Is your tinnitus bilateral or in the ear in which you had the accident?
A lot of us (myself included) seem to suffer from TMJ problems and it’s possible that this contributes to the intensity of perceived tinnitus.
Another contributor as you stated seems to be anxiety levels.

I also have 4 kinds of tinnitus.

  1. “BACKGROUND”
    Vacuum cleaner type of tinnitus.
    High pitched. Constant. Stable. Both ears

  2. “BUZZING”
    Constantly alternating, fluctuating.
    Like a kid constantly presses and un-presses a buzzer. (And whenever the I’m having dizziness zaps throughout the day, that kid goes nuts!)
    Used to be episodic, now becomes chronic.
    Right ear

  3. “PULSATILE” “WHOOZING”
    Rhythmic vibrating sound, in sync with heartbeat.
    Sounds like there’s a cell phone vibrating in inner ear.
    Episodic, happens a lot lately when getting up from bed in the morning. Seems to be closely associated with ear pressure.
    Both ears, usually not at the same time.

  4. “THUMPING”
    The one described above. Right ear

I also get weird episodic almost loss of hearing for some seconds, and while this happens all forms of tinnitus seem to pause too! Then it all comes back.

Also episodic exacerbation of tinnitus for some seconds, where it becomes extremely loud for some seconds, again with almost loss of hearing, until it comes back to baseline again.

Like a lot of you I also have fluctuating ear “plugging” so I need to pinch the nose and do the valsalva in order to feel them unplugged for a while.
And the same all over again…

It’s so great that your vestibular symptoms are mostly under control now!! :slight_smile:
Could the possible fistula window have healed by now? Or maybe your brain learned to adapt and compensate through neuroplasticity?
Either way, I hope that you continue to feel better and, if possible, get a full recovery.
Thank you again for your insight :slight_smile:

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Thank you for your answer, @TexOkie !
Yes, it’s possible for it to be an ear pressure issue.