Middle Ear Problems?

[SleeplessSoul]

Please can anyone tell me if you have a middle ear problem such as an abnormal tymp test, can that cause constant rumbling low tones non stop? No high pitches or ringing either.
I can't find an answer anywhere. What if one ear is stiffer than the other on the test?
I don't have any issue with my right ear, no T -nothing.
I don't know where to turn and I can't sleep for three months now.( Just a couple of hours a night.)
Two ENTs , oral surgeon, neurologist, spine dr and primary care dr. And suffering with scary sounds all night.
All I want to know is can middle ear stiffness cause this or just give up now?
Please help me deal.....I keep crying from sheer exhaustion. I fear
Losing not only my mind but my 20 year career.
Thanks.

 

[Chelles]

What do you hear? I have middle ear problems my stapedial muscle spasms and makes a noise like someone tapping on a microphone. My ear also feels stiff and like it's been pulled inside. It started with my right ear now it's happening on both ears. I don't know if this is similar to your situation but maybe the noise you hear is your tensor tympani muscle or the stapedial muscle contracting in your middle ear?

 

[SleeplessSoul]

Hi Chelles
First of all thank you for taking the time to reply. I am in desperate need of help. I have followed some of your posts because I think when I searched the forum for answers, your name would come up.
I thought of the muscles being in spasm , like yours. My sound is two things: the constant fluctuating low tones like an organ pedal being played. Very very low. Then yes when I walk around sometimes it sounds like someone is tapping on a microphone and it has the hollow sound. That was a very good description.
It's the bass pedal sounds that are so disturbing. I just came home from the neurologist and he is going to do an MRA on the blood vessels in the brain , because he said as you age, the vessels can become rigid and make sounds right next to the auditory canal. Also he is testing for temporal arteritis with bloodwork to see if there is some inflammation in the arteries.
He took the time to listen to the unusual symptoms that are only on one side.
I am sorry your spasms went to the other side. Do you know what causes it? I mentioned the stiff middle ear and he did say that if those muscles you mentioned are is spasm it can definitely stiffen the eardrum but didn't say how to treat it. I am on clonopin just for sleep but it has no effect.
So that makes sense that if your ear feels stiff it would be because you have the spasms. Are the constant or intermittent? Does it ever settle down and why do you think you have it. Do you have other sounds too ?
I really appreciate your response since it seems like my problem is a little more unusual than most on here and I can't seem to connect with anyone who has the same sounds.
The dr did say it's not really pulsatile tinnitus because it isn't in sync with my heartbeat but I can change the tones with certain head and jaw movements.
Please tell me more about your sound and if it keeps you up at night or scares you.
Thanks so much.

 

[Chelles]

@SleeplessSoul I'm sorry you are going through this I know how horrible it is. I have diff sounds in my ear depending on how fast the muscles are twitching sometimes it's like a slow tapping on a microphone other times it sounds like air is getting in my ear like the sound of wind if that makes sense. I also have regular tinnitus that sound like tv static but is not that loud and doesn't really bother me. As far as what I think is causing it my doctor said it might be magnesium deficiency or some other vitamin/mineral. I have my own theory I think my neck or jaw muscles have a big impact on it this weekend my right ear has been spasming on and off (the spasms are intermittent but can last for days) today I woke up with a toothache and a bump on the right side of my gums and turns out it's my impacted wisdom teeth. I think there's a connection there do you have your wisdom teeth? I've tried flexeril a muscle relaxer but didn't really work. It's hard to get my doctor to really see what's happening since my ear isn't twitching when I went to see him. Sometimes when I can't sleep at night I put an earplug inside as far in as I can and that seems to absorb some of the twitching or I wear headphones w fan noise. Tell me when did you first notice your ear problems? Do you feel movement in your ear?

 

[SleeplessSoul]

Chelles, it started a few months ago with hyperacusis and ear pain and maybe some fluid. That all went away and was left with the low humming tones.
And yes sometimes it feels like someone is blowing in the ear and I can feel it making noise and it does ache.
I don't have Wisdom teeth but I do have root canals and crowns on the affected side. I also found out that my jaw has an Anterior dislocation but on the opposite side where that ear is ok. I do have neck pain on the left side and pain in my jaw and head. In fact my jaw is so tight I can only open it about an inch. I have to work it open.
I do take liquid magnesium but it hasn't seemed to help. I wore earplugs for sleep for 20 years and now I can't because it amplifies the bass tones. Masking just kind of keeps me awake all night. It sounds like Edgar Allen Poes telltale heart. I hate this.

 

[Chelles]

Have you tried magnesium? That didn't stop mine but they aren't as intense as they used to be. I've had this for almost 4 months now.

 

[SleeplessSoul]

Yes but I will have to increase my dose. I just tried a Valium too.

 

[Chelles]

Did the Valium work? I try to avoid yawning and burping which it isn't easy to do ugh I hate it

 

[SleeplessSoul]

No it didn't. It was only 2 mgs. Ativan maybe works a little better on calming ME down but not the noise.
I wondered why every morning when you wake up you get that uncontrollable urge to stretch the neck and jaw area and that really sets the humming off. I hate it too.
But the worse time is in the night when in bed trying desperately to block the sounds out and getting anxiety over not sleeping and noemi will function the next day at work.
It must be so hard having small
Children who depend on you to be there for them. I give you credit for staying strong.

 

[Chelles]

Ativan made me really dizzy so I don't take it anymore because I can't function when I take it. Is your sound there 24/7? And I totally agree in the morning I can't stretch otherwise the thumping will start with a rage. Have you asked your doctor to see if maybe you can have middle ear myoclonus? Maybe they can start you on a muscle relaxer

 

[SleeplessSoul]

I have been thinking about the middle ear myoclonus and a lot of or is starting to make sense. I am so glad you reached out to me.
I thought about when it first started I was waking up choking so badly that I would dry heave. That motion of almost throwing up put a strain on the front of my neck and throat muscles. I also have meck issues in the front from thyroid surgery and in the cervical disc disease so there is a lot of tightness in my neck and in my jaw.
When you said yawn. Burp, stretch, all those things rang a bell with me. Certain motions, talking loud, laughing hard using the throat muscles make the humming worse.
Muscle relaxers give me headaches but I noticed when I take the clonopin at night I would get more settled down becasue it is a drug that works on the muscles and its a seizure drug technically.
So last night with the Valium and the clonopin (low dose of each a few hours apart) helped quiet the noise enough for some sleep!
So I am going to try to stay on the path of trying to heal the neck in whatever ways I can to see if the tightness is a factor. I do believe you have helped me sort at least one part of the puzzle out because I kept saying it's not a ringing in the brain but a physical sensation that has triggers. Mechanical.
I think I did mention that I have tmj with a slight dislocation of the disc in the the jaw. I may also have a blood vessel problem somewhere in the brain that is causing me to hear the constant up and down humming. Or it actually could be the musclea spasming so fast that it sounds like that thumping with tones.
I don't know and wish I did. I know you said you think your wisdom teeth could be a part of it and it very well can be.
Does any of the throat neck muscles ring a bell for you? Also, crying , which I have done a lot of of the past few months tightens up my neck so hard that it's hard to swallow. I think that's where the stress and anxiety aggravate my condition
I have thought about acupuncture and Chiro with gentle tissue massage to see if that may losen things up at all. My last thought is gabapentin which doesn't agree with me but someone else on the board mentioned tegretol which is also a seizure med that could help?
Ideas or thoughts on something that may have triggered your spasms?

 

[Chelles]

I honestly don't know why my spasms started but when I cry or laugh it makes the spams worse I also have trouble swallowing since I have thyroid problems and it's enlarged. I feel very tense my neck jaw and my whole head. When I took the muscle relaxer I noticed my jaw n neck muscles felt like they were being stretched. In your case maybe the tmj is causing the spasms

 

[SleeplessSoul]

My daughter's thyroid is enlarged too and she has trouble laying flat. Her throat feels likes it's closing up. She also sometimes take a muscle relaxer to ease the tightness. Do you know why your thyroid is enlarged?

Yes, laughing and crying make it worse. So something in the palatine or throat muscles and the jaw and neck.

The tmj doc said that the jaw gets worse and tight starting from the neck and then upward. The jaw ususally doesn't start the neck tightness.

I am surprised that you got a diagnosis so quickly. I think mine is a little different in that I hear that rumbling low humming too and doctors just kept calling it tinnnitus when it could be either pulsatile, myoclonus, or objective.

I wonder if myoclonus, or these spasms are something you can habituate to, or not?

 

[Chelles]

Honestly I don't know how my doctor dx me so fast since my ears weren't twitching when I went to see him I'm pretty sure he took a guess. I believe middle ear myoclonus is considered objective tinnitus since there's an actual physical cause for the noise. Did your doctor check you for palatal spasms? Is the muscle in the back of the throat and is connected to the ear and when it spasms it causes a click constant sound. I don't think this is what I have since I saw a video on YouTube of someone who has it and I don't think that's my case. My thyroid is enlarged due to Graves' disease an auto immune disease that attacks the thyroid. Have you had an mri done?

 

[SleeplessSoul]

I dont have a clicking sound and your twitching sounds very physical. I have that kind of muscle twitching throughout the rest of my body though. (I kind of know how that ear fluttering feels as I have had that a few times years ago but it didn't last.)
I had an MRI on my tmj, and last year before this all started, on my cervical spine. The brain MRI is coming soon, but it's an MRA of the arteries, not the actual brain.
I really wonder if the Graves Disease is sending messages up to your ear....when I had my thyroid out, it was very painful at the ear level.
So far, I am losing my hope since I dont have days where it's silent and when I am at work, I can kind of ignore it but once I get home, that is all I can hear.
Is habituation possible for this condition?

 

[Chelles]

It can be yes I think your brain has the capacity of ignoring a sound once your body doesn't react negatively to it. When I first got the regular tinnitus in my left ear I was depressed I panic and cried for like 2 months I thought for sure my life was over I prayed that it will go away and eventually it did. Don't get me wrong if I concentrate and try to listen for it i hear it but my brain no longer listens to it I believe this is what habituation is all about. My spasms aren't constant I have days of silence and days of torture so it's a bit harder to habituate. There is a surgery for middle ear myoclonus when the doctor cuts the muscle that's twitching but idk somehow that scares me.

 

[SleeplessSoul]

I am still in panic mode. I don't have to concentrate to hear it and I am depressed every day, especially from lack of sleep. It's just so foreign, the sounds, so bizarre and low, and am hoping that somehow it either gets softer or my brain stops wondering what it is and why it's tormenting me so much.

That surgery scares me too. I don't think I would do it if I had days of silence. I think yours will clear up eventually. You sound like you are pretty strong and positive.

 

[Chelles]

Are you using any masking when you go to sleep? Have you tried earplugs? They help me somewhat also the fan noise helps me sleep better.

 

[SleeplessSoul]

I think that is part of my problem. I had worn earplugs for 20 years at night. If I put them in now, I can hear the rumbling exclusively and I can't fall asleep with that.
Masking is hard for me because I was used to sleeping in total silence, so any air machines, sound apps, tv, or humidifiers running annoy me and get on my nerves. And man they are shot!
I keep trying though...I loved my earplugs --was addicted. Perhaps they ruined my ear?

 

[Chelles]

I don't think earplugs would ruin your ears at least I hope not because some nights I sleep w earplugs and I try to jam them as much in as I can because it seems to stop the spasm just like when I put my finger in my ear it stops the spasm. My advise is to try to pick a sound and try to get your body used to it once you associate the sound w sleep your body will make it into a routine.

 

[SleeplessSoul]

You have super good ideas! I will pick a sound.
The ENT told me a long time ago that earplugs wouldn't hurt my ears and I kept wearing them.
I used to shove them in there too. Lol. You are funny. But your spasms may be different than my sound because I can hear my sound with an earplug but not as much with the finger in there pressing on the bone.

 

[Chelles]

I can still hear my spasm through the earplug too but is not as loud sometimes I feel like shoving it in there and taping it so it can't come out lol I don't recommend it tho this is when I get desperate on my bad days. Have you tried going to a neurotologist? Or an otologist? I think that's going to be my next step maybe they can find a better treatment Maybe botox in the muscle but that still sounds scary to me

 

[Ornitoring]

Hi, I have the same. 5 years with this.
I haven't any problem in thyroidor or in my mouth.
I think took this for acoustic traumatism.
Now I should eat Valium. My vibrations/fluterings are bad and they cause to me inflamation in my ear.
About Botox i don't know...
Surgery.. my doctor could cut the stapedium muscle but perhaps the real problem is in manlleu muscle. how I can know it?? Any specialist? Any test?? It is seems a probability. If you cut the second he said to me is probably decreased audition. if you cut the first is probably increase hiperacusis...

I need more information and real specialist with this.

Thanks.

 

[Chelles]

@Ornitoring are your vibrations 24/7 or do they come and go?

 

[Ornitoring]

The vibrations comes when appears noise and this is constant, for fatigue.

I think I haven't autophony but Im not sure...
I need use earplugs but after a time using it the muscles becames tired, inflamed, be tense and start to fluttering.
Which kind of earpluggs do you use?

Do you had acoustic trauma?

Thanks

 

[Chelles]

Mine don't react to noise my ear twitches on it's own or most of the time when I yawn burp or stretch. I use normal foam earplugs when they twitch at night so I can try to get some sleep. Have you tried magnesium?

 

[Ornitoring]

I eat grains, plant and legumes very often. I imagine this ir more biodisponible than suplements but I should to try but I have read Mg suplements .. not usually stop myocloni.

 

[Chelles]

Well the magnesium didn't stop mine however I don't get it as strong and loud as it used to be, I take every little help I can get.