Ear Spasming/Fluttering When Talking on Cellphone

[Mike34]

Hello all:

The other day I noticed that when I talk on my cell phone in my right ear, I can feel something in my left ear spasming. I can also press on the area right below my right ear and have the same thing happen.

TTTS? I have heard it's psychological, but this seems like a physical response.

FYI, I have pressure, pain, tinnitus, hyperacusis, and a low level vibration/hum. My audiologist and neuro-otologist believe the issues stem from CNS sensitization rather than noise trauma. Anyone with any insight?

 

[PaulBe]

Its not psychological. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[rivergirl]

I agree...it's not physiological....I have vibrations, tinnitus, popping sounds ....fullness, hyperacusis....also balance issues....feeling of weights on my head.........mine from antibiotics...

 

[rivergirl]

Phsychological*

 

[Chelles]

It is def not psychological!! My ear spasms so hard sometimes that I feel my headphones being squeezed and it moves them. The pain and noise are very real!

 

[Mike34]

Thanks everyone.

Is this TTTS?

 

[Mike34]

I agree...it's not physiological....I have vibrations, tinnitus, popping sounds ....fullness, hyperacusis....also balance issues....feeling of weights on my head.........mine from antibiotics...

Sounds similar to me. What was the cause as best as you can tell?

 

[Champ]

Wish I knew, definitely started happening about a week before my tinnitus onset and has been around ever since.

Auditory system fuck up if you ask me. Good thing the scientific understanding of audio processing is rapidly getting better because we need answers as to why these things are happening in response to stimuli.

 

[Ornitoring]

TTTS or Stapedium myocloni.

I dont' understand about: "I can also press on the area right below my right ear and have the same thing happen".

I think I have stapedium myocloni..I'm very tired of this condition..

 

[Jahhsoul]

"The other day I noticed that when I talk on my cell phone in my right ear, I can feel something in my left ear spasming."

Same for me, but I feel it on my right ear when I talk in right and left ears. And I have bilateral tinnitus, could be any conexion?

 

[AnxiousJon]

I don't have a diagnosis, just advice:
Avoid whatever causes myoclonus-like symptoms; you don't want that stuff getting inflamed and hanging around. Talk on speakerphone. If it still happens, silence your phone and don't take calls; text-message your friends instead. Don't mess around with seizure-like bodily responses, even if you are curious and want to figure it out with a self-diagnosis. However seeking the medical diagnosis of a specialist(s) is a good idea. Think of it like your hyperacusis: You want to be exposed to tollerable sound, but you don't want to inflame your condition.

 

[PaulBe]

However seeking the medical diagnosis of a specialist(s) is a good idea.

Well you'd think that, but in reality it rarely, if ever, happens.

 

[maz1]

I agree...it's not physiological....I have vibrations, tinnitus, popping sounds ....fullness, hyperacusis....also balance issues....feeling of weights on my head.........mine from antibiotics...

I'd love to know which antibiotics?? I am investigating this as the cause of my own ear issues

 

[TeresaD]

I have the same symptoms (flutter or spasm) but not sure what makes it happen (maybe certain frequencies?). Happens a lot with my husband's voice

I have T, H, pressure/fullness, no balance issues.

 

[Telis]

I have this same thing but it's when I talk and mainly in my left ear. Right ear does this too but takes more sound. As soon as I speak the muscle goes into very painful spasms. It will continue pounding around and thumping until I stop speaking. This also happens with exterior sounds. I can sleep it off, reset it, but it will always continue after some amount of noise exposure through out the day. It seems to start about 6 hours into the day. It's like my ears get fatigued and start to really act up. Tinnitus gets higher, H gets worse, the spasms get more frequent.

I've had this for about two years now daily, how the hell do I treat this? I am way past the point of being anxious about this, I am however becoming extremely frustrated that it won't go away. It seems as though I'm stuck with this along with the H. I really thought these two might fade away but as time passes I am starting to have my doubts.

I have had thumping ear muscles jumping around with no sound trigger in the past. They didn't hurt, sounded like someone tapping on a microphone. This is different, it is very painful and the muscle goes haywire, like 50 spasms in a short sentence while I speak.

I have spoken to a couple of doctors and it's always the same thing. They think you are somehow crazy or anxious when you mention this.

Am I around too much noise? Am I not resting my ears enough to somehow heal something? I have extreme H, are the muscles just reacting to pain?

Any advise would be very much appreciated

Thanks

 

[lapidus]

I have this same thing but it's when I talk and mainly in my left ear. Right ear does this too but takes more sound. As soon as I speak the muscle goes into very painful spasms. It will continue pounding around and thumping until I stop speaking. This also happens with exterior sounds. I can sleep it off, reset it, but it will always continue after some amount of noise exposure through out the day. It seems to start about 6 hours into the day. It's like my ears get fatigued and start to really act up. Tinnitus gets higher, H gets worse, the spasms get more frequent.

I've had this for about two years now daily, how the hell do I treat this? I am way past the point of being anxious about this, I am however becoming extremely frustrated that it won't go away. It seems as though I'm stuck with this along with the H. I really thought these two might fade away but as time passes I am starting to have my doubts.

I have had thumping ear muscles jumping around with no sound trigger in the past. They didn't hurt, sounded like someone tapping on a microphone. This is different, it is very painful and the muscle goes haywire, like 50 spasms in a short sentence while I speak.

I have spoken to a couple of doctors and it's always the same thing. They think you are somehow crazy or anxious when you mention this.

Am I around too much noise? Am I not resting my ears enough to somehow heal something? I have extreme H, are the muscles just reacting to pain?

Any advise would be very much appreciated

Thanks

My guess is that it is TTS. Sounds similar to my situaton. My ear spasms a lot if I talk and it's also more in one ear than the other. However, in my case, the spasms mostly gets "better" during the day as oppose to you. It's always worst in the morning. Then they spasm even in silence just from moving my head/neck and yawning etc. For instance, brushing my teeth in the morning cause a lot of spasms and fluttering while brushing my teeth in the evening cause less of this. My guess is that TTS is a "bonus symptom" of H. But nobody seems to know. It might as well be the TTS causing the H, who knows? In my case the TTS was the first symptom of my H. I think it's weird that even though so many people with H also got TTS, researchers doesn't seem to be interested in looking into it. Some people got better by cutting the tensor tympani, and some got worse. Some people report that their TTS got better or left completely when they succesfully treated their H with TRT or the likes. So again, who knows really?

 

[PaulBe]

My guess is that TTS is a "bonus symptom" of H.

I like that.

I also don't think though that the potential mechanism (or potential mechanisms) of hyperacusis are really understood. I'm seeing a possible chicken and egg argument here. Does TRT actually treat TTS, causing the H to go away (as part of TTS), or does it treat the H, which removes the stimulus for TTS?

 

[lapidus]

I like that.

I also don't think though that the potential mechanism (or potential mechanisms) of hyperacusis are really understood. I'm seeing a possible chicken and egg argument here. Does TRT actually treat TTS, causing the H to go away (as part of TTS), or does it treat the H, which removes the stimulus for TTS?

Yeah, I've done the chicken and the egg analogy for this too, regarding my own situation. Same with the pain I'm experiencing. Is it the TTS causing the pain or is it some kind of deeper nerve pain because of the H? Cutting the tensor tympani is not an option for me at this point. Too much is unknown and it's not reversible.

 

[juigmo]

I feel the same (spasms and fluttering). In my case, it is in the right ear and it become worse when I have neck or back pain/tension. It seems they are related somehow.

 

[Adriel93]

Anybody gotten better on here?