Intermittent Fluttering — Am I Dealing with Tensor Tympani Syndrome (TTTS)?

[Nathan Grove]

Hi there!

My name is Nathaniel (26) and I've been dealing with an annoying issue since yesterday morning. I woke up to the sound of intermittent fluttering in my left ear that wouldn't stop, seemingly caused by nothing. Sounds a little like someone gently tapping on my ear. I've done some online searching and it seems the symptoms are indicative of TTTS. However, it's never triggered by anything and only seems to worsen when I focus on it. If I distract myself well enough it goes away temporarily.

• I cannot intentionally trigger it in any way.
• It goes away for hours sometimes.
• Beat is highly irregular.
• Relatively quiet but nonetheless distracting.

This leads me to hope that it is only anxiety related and will resolve on it's own eventually. I've scheduled appointments with a few ENTs but I'm hoping it'll just go away by then.

Has anyone else dealt with this? What can I do for treatment? I'm stressing pretty hard about it so any advice would be so helpful

Cheers, and I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

 

[Aaron91]

Do you have any kind of general sensitivity to or pain from sound? Do you have a history of sound exposure i.e. attended many concerts or are a performing musician?

 

[Nathan Grove]

Do you have any kind of general sensitivity to or pain from sound? Do you have a history of sound exposure i.e. attended many concerts or are a performing musician?

I don't really have a history of that. I went to a couple loud concerts as a teen. No pain or anything like that, just very minor ear ringing now and then.

 

[Aaron91]

I don't really have a history of that. I went to a couple loud concerts as a teen. No pain or anything like that, just very minor ear ringing now and then.

Although I believe hyperacusis to be mainly peripheral in pathology, I think TTTS-related symptoms in particular can have a significant psychological component as they're limited to the middle ear. Without going into detail I have certain emotional triggers that can flare up my TTTS although my own primary complaint is hyperacusis.

Would you say you've had any stressful events lately, or been under some kind of chronic stress for some time?

 

[Nathan Grove]

Would you say you've had any stressful events lately, or been under some kind of chronic stress for some time?

I wouldn't say I've had any stressful events, maybe just trouble sleeping occasionally. It really feels like it came out of nowhere. It's been lessening over the days in frequency quite a bit, and actually started to back up in my left ear a little. Thank you for the responses by the way.

 

[LukeYoung]

I wouldn't say I've had any stressful events, maybe just trouble sleeping occasionally. It really feels like it came out of nowhere. It's been lessening over the days in frequency quite a bit, and actually started to back up in my left ear a little. Thank you for the responses by the way.

Hi, just wondering if this cleared up for you?

 

[Nathan Grove]

Hi, just wondering if this cleared up for you?

Yeah, it cleared up after a few days of making this post. Haven't had it since. After doing some research and talking to a few ENTs, it's basically just a muscle spasm in your ear, like an eye twitch (just 10x more annoying, lol). In the vast majority of people it will go away unless you have some underlying condition. Don't stress, it'll stop. Try to focus on something else in the meantime. I played Resident Evil 8 and went on walks to keep my mind off it.

 

[LukeYoung]

Yeah, it cleared up after a few days of making this post. Haven't had it since. After doing some research and talking to a few ENTs, it's basically just a muscle spasm in your ear, like an eye twitch (just 10x more annoying, lol). In the vast majority of people it will go away unless you have some underlying condition. Don't stress, it'll stop. Try to focus on something else in the meantime. I played Resident Evil 8 and went on walks to keep my mind off it.

It's been on and off. Has gone away before. Thanks