Ear Feels Like It's Full of Something, Tinnitus Gets Louder When I Shake My Head or Walk

[Buzzy1]

Hi

I've had tinnitus for 38 years. Manage well mostly, but at the moment my left ear feels like it's full of something. If I shake my head the tinnitus gets louder as it also does when I'm walking. Sometimes it seems to fill up and the tinnitus goes super loud and then it feels like its emptying. My left ear has a dull ache in it at the moment. I wear 2 hearing aids for loss of high frequency.

My question is could there be something wrong with the internal mechanisms of my ear? I've always felt that things don't feel "normal".

Thank you for any information you can give me.

Kind regards.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Hi
I've had tinnitus for 38 years. Manage well mostly, but at the moment my left ear feels like it's full of something. If I shake my head the tinnitus gets louder as it also does when I'm walking. Sometimes it seems to fill up and the tinnitus goes super loud and then it feels like its emptying. My left ear has a dull ache in it at the moment. I wear 2 hearing aids for loss of high frequency.
My question is could there be something wrong with the internal mechanisms of my ear? I've always felt that things don't feel "normal".
Thank you for any information you can give me.
Kind regards.

@Buzzy1, it's very hard to know what is going on without the benefit of a full evaluation. I do not think you have an ossicular chain disruption or anything like that. But the pattern of a feeling of fullness with a consequent increase in tinnitus volume followed by resolution when the fullness "empties" is somewhat suggestive of a Eustachian tube problem on that left side. My suggestion would be for you to see an ENT for a proper evaluation.

All the best with it -

Stephen M. Nagler, M.D.