Feeling of Fullness in the Ear?

I also have it. Mainly right ear. Comes and goes. ENT said I had no ETD.

I'm looking into Tensor Tympani Syndrome. I have a lot of the symptons. Hmm...
 
Hey guys! My fullness is back......it comes and goes all the time, the longest iv had it was 3 month. Now it is back again, had it for 2 weeks now, hope it diminish soon... :/

My ear speicialist tooled me once that the fullness might be caused by a loss of frequency in the hearing. Yet i belive it is caused by a muscle in the ear (iv read about it long time ago, a muscle in the ear can cause this ear fullness). The muscle can have a hard time to realese the tension. I think it might be caused by hyperacusis.
 
I have had this for 8 months and while my annoyance with Tinnitus has dropped, I still have the feeling in my left ear.

However, its pretty obvious to me that there is some sort of physiological issue at hand causing this. My left ear makes a constant "popping" whenever I flex the muscles in my jaw. It's feels almost as if there is a small wart in my eustachian tubes or something because the airflow out of my left ear feels partially blocked especially compared to my right ear. The ENT of course beamed some light into my ear and said there was nothing and I'd probably forget about it, but guess what, he couldn't see that far into my ear and frankly couldn't see inside my head, so I'd take what he said with a grain of salt.

I'll set up an appointment with my PCP and see if she has any ideas. She put me on a Flonase equivalent in hopes that it would help, and while it did open up my sinuses a bit, I still have the issue remaining.
 
I have fullness or a feeling I can't "pop" the ear that has acoustic trauma, as well as tinnitus and hyperacusis. The fullness comes and goes, but I notice it more when I'm around a loud noise or dehydrated. I wasn't particularly worried about this, since the tinnitus and noise sensitivity are more bothersome, but this pressure in my ear came on with the other issues and the ENT just says it looks fine. The Tensor Tympani Syndrome symptoms sound pretty spot on in my case.
 
There is some evidence and speculation that this feeling of fullness and/or pain is caused by an overworking of the tensor tympani muscle inside your middle ear. The fact that the little muscles in your middle ear are greatly affected by serotonergic activity lends credibility to the stress and "over thinking" hypothesis. This phenomena can happen in one ear, or it can happen in both.

http://www.noiseandhealth.org/artic...;issue=63;spage=117;epage=128;aulast=Westcott

Tonic tensor tympani syndrome (TTTS) is an involuntary, anxiety-based condition where the reflex threshold for tensor tympani muscle activity is reduced, causing a frequent spasm. This can trigger aural symptoms from tympanic membrane tension, middle ear ventilation alterations and trigeminal nerve irritability. TTTS is considered to cause the distinctive symptoms of acoustic shock (AS), which can develop after exposure to an unexpected loud sound perceived as highly threatening. Hyperacusis is a dominant AS symptom. Aural pain/blockage without underlying pathology has been noted in tinnitus and hyperacusis patients, without wide acknowledgment. This multiclinic study investigated the prevalence of TTTS symptoms and AS in tinnitus and hyperacusis patients. This study included consecutive patients with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis seen in multiple clinics. Data collected: Symptoms consistent with TTTS (pain/numbness/burning in and around the ear; aural "blockage"; mild vertigo/nausea; "muffled" hearing; tympanic flutter; headache); onset or exacerbation from exposure to loud/intolerable sounds; tinnitus/hyperacusis severity. All patients were medically cleared of underlying pathology, which could cause these symptoms. 60.0% of the total sample (345 patients), 40.6% of tinnitus only patients, 81.1% of hyperacusis patients had ≥1 symptoms (P < 0.001). 68% of severe tinnitus patients, 91.3% of severe hyperacusis patients had ≥1 symptoms (P < 0.001). 19.7% (68/345) of patients in the total sample had AS. 83.8% of AS patients had hyperacusis, 41.2% of non-AS patients had hyperacusis (P < 0.001). The high prevalence of TTTS symptoms suggests they readily develop in tinnitus patients, more particularly with hyperacusis. Along with AS, they should be routinely investigated in history-taking.
 
Hi,

Along with my tinnitus came a feeling of fullness in my ear. It feels sort of full and blocked. There isnt anything in it (that's visible) as I've had it checked a few times now. During my research (endless trawling of the Internet) I've only seen one or two mentions of this feeling.

Does anyone else have it? Does anyone know what it is?

Yes I have it but not necessarily as a constant thing. I don't know what it is, maybe pressure from somewhere?
 
Hi, reading these posts with interest. Know how draining ear fullness is, I get it on the right side and find it hard to speak through - does anyone else have this problem and any suggestions on how to counter that? Also I was wondering if cutting out alcohol and caffeine would help reduce ear fullness? Thanks.
 
Hi,

Along with my tinnitus came a feeling of fullness in my ear. It feels sort of full and blocked. There isnt anything in it (that's visible) as I've had it checked a few times now. During my research (endless trawling of the Internet) I've only seen one or two mentions of this feeling.

Does anyone else have it? Does anyone know what it is?
Yes, I have it too. It is suppose to be eustachian tube dysfunction. Fullness of the ear and blocked feeling can be symptoms of other illness's as well. If you don't have any other symptoms I wouldn't worry about it being anything else. Sometimes an ear tube can help with the fullness blocked thing if you want to try that route. I haven't done it yet myself. I just tried the myringotomy to allow my eustachian tube a few weeks too heal. That is why I am on this forum because as soon as the myringotomy procedure was done I started having this tinnitus. So now I have tinnitus in addition to everything else. I don't understand how a myringotomy can cause damage to cochlear hairs. I wish someone would explain that one to me. I cannot find any information online about it either. How long have you been dealing with this? I've had the tinnitus for over a month now. Do you know what started your tinnitus? It is suppose to change from acute to chronic at three months. I guess if it hasn't gone away by three months that it is probably going to stick around for awhile. I just don't know if I want to stick around if it does.
 
The fullness in my left ear (the one with the bad tinnitus) comes and goes. Its the clicking sound when I swallow as of last week thats been the annoyance as it causes me to focus on the T more.

Went to walk in center to be sure its not an ear infection, said I showed no signs of an ear infection. But my left ear canal was slightly red. I don't have much faith in the NHS to be fair. I am seeing my audiologist early next month to discuss this with her and see what she says.

I am due to start on TRT and get my hearing aid/tinnitus masker next month. Hope that will help. Otherwise just something else I have to ignore.
 
I got tinnitus from loud noise, i got fullness in both ears straight after, the first time. The fullness i got was temporary threshold shift, that lasted 2 weeks after which giving me permanent tinnitus.

Second time round in October, i was exposed to loud noise again, this time the blocked, full ears took 6 hours to come on, temporary threshold shift again, the feeling lasted 5 days this time, taking my tinnitus from mild, to moderate level, i hate it so much.
 
I had the fullness years ago. A doctor prescribed pills and drops for a year, to no avail. A chiropractor looked in my ear and felt around my head and said I had congestion. He told me to grab my earlobe, pull it outward and go clockwise and counterclockwise a few times, a few times a day. I must've had faith, it looked ridiculous but I kept doing it for weeks. One day I was sitting in the car doing it while my wife was in the store, I remember it well. As I was twirling my earlobe, I felt something 'let go' and then my hearing was gone!! I scared me bad. But then I realized my ear canal was full of junk, white, icky junk. Not pus, thick white junk. I told the chiropractor later and he said, "Yup, you had inner ear infection." Now I don't know why this would come out my ear canal, but it did, and it was gross. But the fullness was gone.
 
Okay I will have to go check up with an ENT as soon as possible. I've always had tinnitus in my left ear worse compared to mild tinnitus in my right.

However for the last 7-8 days I am having this feeling of fullness and clicking sound when I swallow. No vertigo attacks that are bad or anything but at the start there were slight dizzy/balance issues when walking.

When I went to the walk in centre the guy said my right ear canal is red. Really hoping this is an ear infection rather than getting my left ear worse overall. There is no itch but I've felt slight pain before for a bit.
 
Hi all, I have been driving a long time today from north to south and back, so I had ear fullness (like on a flight). There was also a roaring noise (of course) along with it. Is this permanent too or at least this can resolve somehow?
 
Hey there! I drive for a living, 45 hours plus per week, it's hilarious my ears and noise run the gauntlet during the course of any day, depending on what noise level I'm at. It's not permament it will come and go until you learn to make adjustments. stay positive and don't worry be happy:)
 
I put this down to hearing loss when i put my aids in the fullness goes.Used to think it was eustachian tubes but its not.
I can hear ok in life but have high freq loss slight to moderate
 
I did have H also and I do think it was related to the fullness I was experiencing. There was nothing medically wrong with me as 3 ENT's told me. However, I feel the changes in my hearing (slight loss in very high freq) was enough to cause the H and Fullness. I think it was a matter of the time it took for my ears, brain and body to adjust and then it corrected itself. I was also very anxious and stressed. This lead to a lot of tension in my body and especially my head. I was having migraines, stiff neck etc and I think this may have also contributed to my fullness.
 
I did have H also and I do think it was related to the fullness I was experiencing. There was nothing medically wrong with me as 3 ENT's told me. However, I feel the changes in my hearing (slight loss in very high freq) was enough to cause the H and Fullness. I think it was a matter of the time it took for my ears, brain and body to adjust and then it corrected itself. I was also very anxious and stressed. This lead to a lot of tension in my body and especially my head. I was having migraines, stiff neck etc and I think this may have also contributed to my fullness.

I'm experiencing the stiff neck as well, It's only been about a month and a half since I really starting feeling these - and less than a month with both ears full/stiffness and what not. I'm not sure if I should wait it out...or seek TRT. If TRT I need to take out a personal loan, which is stressful.
 
started out not full, then the fullness and dizziness started. dizziness pretty much went away, but fullness still around.

onset of H: 11/18/2013
 

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