Pulsing Sound When I Yawn or Burp

[JayG]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone on this forum could tell me more about my PT or if anyone is experiencing something similar. I'm a 28 year old male, no other medical issues, no hypertension, no medications. It started about 3.5 months ago. It's very intermittent. This is what I experience:


1. A heartbeat like thudding for a few seconds in my left ear intermittently. I'm not even sure I'd describe it as a sound, it's more of a feeling.


2. I'm not sure if it's in time with my heart beat. When it happens the thudding lasts for a few seconds and then disappears for a few seconds and then comes back for a little while. An episode of my PT can be as short as 5 seconds to a couple of minutes.


3. The thudding doesn't really follow a pattern. It's can be a single beat, or multiple beats at a time. For example an episode can go like this: 2 quick beats, pause for 20 seconds, a single beat, pause for 3 seconds, 4 beats, and doesn't come back. I can't tell if these beats are in sync with my heart. It certainly is not as rhythmic as the recordings on whooshers.com.


4. My PT can be spontaneous, but that happens rarely. Most of the time it is initiated when I yawn or burp, but it doesn't happen every time I yawn or burp. I've noticed if I'm silencing a burp that increases the chance of my PT occurring. If I burp with my mouth open and allow it to be audible it is way less likely to cause an episode of PT. Coughing, sneezing, or hiccuping do not cause it to occur.


5. Some days the PT is more intense than others. I've gone a couple weeks at a time without noticing it at all. I think that an increase in my stress may increase the probability of it happening, but I'm not sure.


6. Some days I experience 0 episodes, some days it can happen a couple times every hour. It's usually worse in the morning, but I think that's because I'm yawning more. It's not painful, but it is very distracting and bothersome.


I want to see a specialist for this soon, what type of doctor should I see? ENT?


Any advice or insight into what my PT is caused by or how to manage it?

 

[DirM]

I used to think ringing in the ears when you yawn was what everyone experienced I had it so long. I didn't think about it and it only happened when I yawn.

Then the T became all the time, and I found it was TMJ. So I would first see an ENT and if that checks out go get your jaw alignment checked, start wearing a night guard.

 

[ZZZK]

JayG what you are describing is middle ear Myoclonus. Some of us on this forum have it. It's rare and difficult to treat.

Please see this thread
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/for-those-with-middle-ear-myoclonus.16222/#post-300227

I actually don't think it's the middle ear muscles. I think it's a form of palatal tremor or palatal myoclonus. I'm guessing it's actually the muscles around the e-tube that are going into spasm after being stimulated from the burp/yawn.

 

[JayG]

Wow thanks for both your replies. ZZZK from reading that thread it sounds very similar. So would this be considered pulsatile tinnitus at all? Also beyond being a nuisance is there any serious health concerns with it?

 

[Kim0604]

Hi JayG, I am experiencing pretty much what you described. I initially had ringing in both ears and a fullness and ENT ruled out anything too serious. Then came the PT as you described. Have you had any luck getting a diagnosis?

 

[Proteo]

After preventing as much as possible my jaw from opening during yawning or eructation, I've found that their impact on the tinnitus became rather minimal.

What do you think of my hypothesis about treating this like a broken jaw?

 

[Proteo]

My post has been moved to here.

 

[aimeemaire]

anybody find anything that has helped the myoclonus? It's driving me nuts and I can barely do life.

 

[Tami j]

This just started happening to me aftrr i burp the right ear will beat like a drum like do do pause do do its freaking me out !! What have you guys found out the reason is and how to fix it?

 

[Dorion]

I have the same issue. It seems like it's way more active in the morning. After I yawn, specifically. It doesn't hurt. It's just annoying and very sporadic. Has anyone figured this out yet?

 

[Shan1520]

Hi, i have been having the exact same thing since January this year, has anyone found any answers? It is really annoying and worrying.

 

[Justwanttoshare]

I joined for the sole purpose of sharing what I believe is the cure for this pulsing or thumping sound inside the ear. I know cure is a strong word but in my opinion it is. I noticed there a link to another forum talking about this so I will post this there as well. First I'll describe my experience so you can make sure you're even experiencing the same thing as me.

About a year ago, out of nowhere I felt a couple of weird thuds in my left ear. It felt like it was just a pulse in my ear. Totally normal so I ignored it. But then over the next few days I noticed it was happening a lot. And I noticed that it wasn't pulse-like in its intervals. It was 2 or 3 quick thuds that were faster than a pulse. Someone here described it as someone tapping a live microphone with their finger and that's exactly what it sounded like. Then one day it started doing it every 20 seconds or so. Like clockwork it would be pop pop and stop. 20 seconds later again. I started keeping my finger on my actual pulse and confirmed that it wasn't timing with my heartbeat at all. It was just random thuds. I started taking long walks for exercise but that didn't help. It started to get maddening. So I researched it and all I could find was tinnitus talk. Ringing in ears etc. This wasn't that. This was the sound of random pulses of like blood or a heartbeat but in my ear. If I yawned or burped or tried to pop my ears it would pulse.

Then one night I was laying in bed watching tv and I reached over to grab my water over to my left on the nightstand. My ear pulsed as I did that. I drank my water and put it back. As I put it back my ear pulsed again. I thought hmm, so I make the motion over again and it popped again. Thud thud went the pulse each time I reached over. I realized I was able to activate this pulse by doing this. But why? After thinking about it, I realized that when I reached over, I was compressing my neck muscles on the left side so I thought what if compression of something in my neck is triggering this? I thought about it and realized that lately I had been sitting in ways where the left side of my neck was kinking. Slouched back on a couch leaning to the left, that sort of thing. Looking up at a tv or phone etc. So I sat up and decided I would try to do the exact opposite. Instead of compress that muscle I would stretch that muscle manually. So I started rubbing my neck in a very specific spot in a very specific way. I focused on the neck muscle that runs from top to bottom on the rear left part of my neck. It runs from where your shoulder meets your neck straight up to the back of your head where your hairline in the back is. I'm trying to explain exactly where because this is important. It's not the actual left side of your neck or the back of your neck. It's in between. It's the corner. So looking down at your head from the ceiling, if your nose is 12 o'clock, it would be the 7&8 o'clock position. Starts between where your shoulder meets your back and goes up to the behind your head where your rear hairline is, a coupe inches behind your ear. Basically the rear left corner of your neck. Top to bottom. About a 2 inch wide strip of muscle. First I stretched that muscle as far as I could by moving my head all the way to the front right and holding it there. Think of it as trying to touch your right ear with the front of your right shoulder. Stretch like that and hold. Then I pressed on that rear left neck muscle with my hand and with forceful traction I started to rub the muscle from the center upward and then from the center downward. As if I'm trying to elongate it. This is a bit odd to describe so basically picture trying to stretch that muscle with your hand but since you can't actually hold the muscle and pull it apart, you can only push it apart by rubbing it in opposite directions. Start in the middle and rub upward, but hard, as if you're trying to force the blood out of your muscles by rubbing it out. Then do the same thing on the other end of your muscle by rubbing it downward toward your shoulder/back. Essentially try rub it apart. But very hard. It has to sort of hurt. Like the next day your neck is sore back there. I did that for about 20 minutes and then I waited for a pulse. The pulse never came. For over a year. It literally disappeared that night for good. The next day I maintained the stretching however. I didn't stop that night. I rubbed that rear neck muscle up and down all day. For a few days. I wasn't taking any chances. It hurt too. I could not move my head around fully for about a day but that's what is needed. And of course I made sure to never kink my neck like that again. I changed the way I lay down and the way I sat. Watched tv or on my phone. Kept my neck stretched the opposite way. I even forced myself to sleep with my rear neck muscle stretched not compressed, for a few nights. But that pulse disappeared.

Fast forward to about a week ago. I did something that forced my neck to be kinked in that position again. Picture crouching down on the floor hands and knees trying to peer under a couch but for like a good half hour. Your neck gets totally compressed in the back quadrants. When I was done I sat up and suddenly thud thud thud like a machine gun in my ear. The pulsing was back. I thought ok it should go away it was only because I was crouched like that. However it did not. It kept happening at random times throughout the day and night just like it was a year ago. A couple days of that and I decided I would do that stretching again. I started rubbing upward and downward stretching that muscle in opposite directions with heavy pressure. Painful level of pressure. Did that for a good 15 minutes and ever since then, no pulsing. Again.

This pulsing in the ear, it's physical. There's something inside the neck-meets-head part of our body where if certain nerves or ligaments get compressed, they trigger this thing. Maybe it's blood vessels or who knows what but it's in there that causes it and it can be from the most seemingly harmless posture that causes that muscle to compress. I urge anyone who is experiencing this to try this rubbing exercise. It costs nothing and it may solve it for you. And think about any posture you do that causes your neck to kink and compress back there and stop that. For me, the stretching worked right away because the damage I had caused was recent. I can imagine that if you've been experiencing this for years, it may not immediately work, but if it doesn't work right away I would not give up. It may take more time to undue years of posture related muscle damage. Maybe seek the help of a friend or a masseuse to get in there and work that muscle apart but I believe that doing that is key to getting rid of it. If my directions on how to rub were not clear to anyone I have no problem uploading a sketch of exactly where and how to rub.

So I'll leave this here and hopefully this helps somebody out there to get rid of this problem for good.

 

[Justwanttoshare]

Just to add to my post becuase it won't let me edit it for some reason, my pulse was the left ear, hence rubbing the left rear neck muscle. If your pulsing is happening in your right ear, then rub the right side of your neck instead of course.

 

[Ben Winders]

This just sounds like MEM (Middle Ear Myoclonus) to me...

 

[thanks4sharing]

Hi @Justwanttoshare, I just wanted to thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience. I have had a super similar problem on my left ear (occurs every time I finish yawning, speak loudly, sing, or even stretch). I've had this since the start of 2019 and after many visits to ENTs I still had no diagnosis and no treatment path. It's been annoying and confusing because some loud sounds trigger this as well for me but I also noticed one day that it actually stops if I put pressure on the left side of my neck (the area you were referring to) even while I yawn (which is my biggest trigger). So lately I've been wondering if this is related to posture (because I have really bad posture, scoliosis, and some back/neck pain I'm trying to also resolve). Seems like this all might be related, and I really wish there was more research and information about this.

I've been working on my posture lately and haven't noticed any improvement of my left ear problem yet. But I recently started making this connection in my head that it could all be cervical posture related. Your post gives me a lot of hope. Searching online for an accurate description of what I had was a depressing endeavor. I tend to still do it every few months just in case... and today I found your post. It gave me all the motivation I needed.

I will be doing the massages your described. Thank you for your act of kindness of sharing. As a random stranger on the internet, I just want to say how much I appreciated reading your post.

Thank you.