Clicking in Ear, Feeling Like a "Tickle" in Ear Canal

Hi Everyone,

Just after some suggestions / experience on this.

I've developed a periodic clicking noise in my left ear, sounds like rice bubbles crackling.
Every now and then before these noises start up, I feel a little "tickle" type feeling in my ear.
It's not distressing me or anything, but obviously something is not quite right.

I have no pain so I don't think I've got an infection.

I have been trying a nasal spray, suspect maybe something is up with the Eustachian tube.
I can equalise my ears fine and they don't feel clogged.

I haven't been to a doctor, because I guess I want to try and see what happens first before being told I've got yet another type of tinnitus... LOL.

I know this isn't tinnitus, something must be up with my tubes, or fluid in my ear or something like that.

Also, a month or so ago, I had some sporadic "popping" in my other ear. It felt like a small muscle spasm, made a gentle popping noise and only happened sporadically. It didn't really bother me and hasn't been back for a few weeks.

Makes me wonder what is going on.

Like I said, it's not distressing me or anything, most likely something is not quite right though.
Can I have some new ears please? Lol.

Thanks for any insight you can provide. Might head to a doctor next week if I don't get some improvement over the weekend.

Thanks,

Sam.

 

Hey Sam

This sounds a lot like fluid behind the ear. I had the exact same symptoms and the ENT confirmed fluid last week.

 

@Holly1987
Thanks for responding! That's what I suspected after doing some Google searching.
What are you doing to get rid of it?
Did you have crackling / popping sounds as well?
The tickling feeling is irritating me more than the sounds.
Thanks so much!
Sam.

 

It seems for each single condition often talked about in association to tinnitus that there's hundreds of underling causes. Hundreds of conditions can be associated with ear popping, TMJ, sinus, ETD, mouth, face and throat. Some of these conditions are also connected with the nervous system as seen on the left side of this link. A list of items associated with the neck is long, but the list associated to the mouth is unreal.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/digastric-muscle

 

@Samantha R Yep I have the crackling / popping noise and also the tickling, the tickling often turns to itching. I notice it most when I'm lying down and my ear is on the pillow.

ENT said fluid from the ears can be very slow to drain and not to do anything until I have waited at least 3 months. Apparently the problem normally resolves itself although it can take up to 6 months to drain

He said if it's still bothering me after the three months there is a minor operation he can do to help drainage (didn't give details)

He also said I can try a nasal spray but it probably wouldn't do much long term.

I guess I will just wait and hope for the best! The fluid gave me a really bad spike too.

 

@Holly1987
Fair enough, no point in me going to the doctor then....
I'm sorry to hear about your spike, has it gone down?
Do your ears feel clogged?
Yeah, the procedure I read about was making a small incision in the eardrum to drain the fluid.... Not keen on that as I bet that could potentially wreck havoc with existing tinnitus (I imagine as similar to a perforated eardrum).
I notice it at times, and it's only sporadic.... just another thing to have to deal with.

 

@Samantha R my ears don't feel clogged and no hearing issues.

Spike hasn't gone down unfortunately, I'm very over it! I am hoping things will settle down.

I think the operation will be a last resort, knowing my luck with ears it will just make my T worse!

 

@Greg Sacramento
Thanks so much for taking the time to post and for sharing the link. I'll do some reading this afternoon.
Wow, that just blows my mind and to be honest, is really overwhelming. What to do?
So much can go wrong, it's quite disturbing.
Nature sure made quite a few flaws in her living creatures.

 

@Holly1987
I'd be nervous about the operation too.... especially having pre-existing tinnitus.
Ugh, it sucks.
My tinnitus had been a little louder for a week or so, then it was was very quiet last week, this week it has gone back to "normal". Had a very yucky spike on Monday (and I don't normally get them). Had to take a benzo to settle it down.
Gosh, never a moments rest with this condition. Just when I was habituating nicely, it does this and knocks me for six.

 

I have all of these symptoms as well. A crackling sensation in what sounds like my outer ear somewhere, along with an itch type feeling in the canal. They don't necessarily accompany each other either... Crackling happens maybe 5 times a day and the itching is maybe once a day. No pain with either symptom.

Recently I've been able pop something further in my ear or jaw on command. I can't even figure out how I'm triggering the pop, but it's near the eustachian tube, but not the eustachian tube, as I can pop eustachian tube by tensing my soft palate. It's quite audible too. Doesn't hurt and I'm not sure what exactly this is either.

None of these have any impact on my tinnitus.

 

@Samantha R @Holly H @housemzk Agree, it can be overwhelming. I've done a lot of research besides the list of things in the link above for cracking and jaw/popping, sore jaw, ear fullness, ear pain, high pitch T, sore throat/ glands and the list is long.

Just a few things could be spasmodic torticollis when tilting the head where the shortest SCM muscle is placed in the opposite direction. It could be digastric, facial nerve or accessory nerve. It could be oromandibular dystonic or mucositis. C1 C2 is possible. It could be the sternocleidomastoid, masseter, pterygoid, scalene or zysomatic. Sometimes it has little or nothing to do with sinus or ETD which isn't a problem for me. The ERs in my area have been full for a year with those with ETD and sinus problems. Sinus conditions can be caused by a dental procedure.

I just came back from my dentist who's office is closed today so he spent close to two hours with me examining and talking. He thinks that my whole mouth problem, including TMJ, is being caused by my neck and lower front jaw pressure. I have finally been able to get an appointment with a cervicalgia and facial tinnitus neurologist, but it's not until late August. He's the only one in Northern California.

Wishing everyone the best.

 

@Greg Sacramento - you are a wealth of information and have given me a lot to research with your own research. I always look forward to your insight with other members and you've helped me navigate my own issues with neck, jaw, and spine issues as I attempt to identify the cause for my problems. @Greg Sacramento - Can I PM you?

Please keep us posted on what you find out with the neurologist.

 

@housemzk Hi, yes, I would like to share discussion between us. Thanks

 

@housemzk
Thanks for commenting and for your feedback.
My clicking is much more regular, though at the moment, it's behaving and I've been able to sit here peacefully on my computer.
I said it wasn't bothering me, but it's starting to irritate me.
I am going to see a doctor and rule out (or in) fluid. It does feel like there might be something in there. Like you though, it doesn't seem to be affecting my regular tinnitus either.
I wonder what is going on.

 

@Greg Sacramento
Your posts are so insightful and you clearly are very intelligent and spend a lot of time researching. I value your input tremendously.
When I first noticed the clicking, I was using a straightener on my hair. Both hands were up behind my head at the time. You've got me wondering if something may have happened with my upper back/neck when I made this movement....
I really hope not, but it's certainly a possibility.
Thanks again,
Sam.

 

@Holly1987
Sorry to keep bothering you with this....
How did your ENT diagnose the fluid?
I went to my GP today, he said eardrum was a bit red with some wax on it. He thinks this is causing the crackling noise I'm hearing.
So, I'm going to dissolve the wax and see how I go.
I specifically asked him whether he thought there was any fluid and he said no.
I'm not sure how he can be certain of that though.
I'm going to get rid of the wax as a first step, but typical me, always trying to organise a Plan B.
Is your spike settling down yet?
Sam. x

 

Hey Sam

No worries I don't mind answering, I actually have no idea what he used to be honest. It was an otoscope but he put something on the end. It actually really hurt, he put it in really deep. He straight away said "ah I see lots of fluid" he did this in both ears.

 

Spike is still the same I'm getting so over it!

 

Hey lovely!

To establish if you have a middle ear effusion (fluid behind the drum), you can get an audio to do a tympanogram. Painless and simple. When Ive had MEE, it has self resolved, but annoying.

Other thing I was wondering was if it is TTT? In that case, mag, benzos can help relax the muscles in your ear.

 

Hey @DebInAustralia do you remember how long yours took to self resolve?

 

@DebInAustralia
Thanks for replying! x I was going to chat to you about this when we next spoke.
I'm hoping it's not TTTS.... I've bought some mag anyway, just in case. I'm thinking it's not as the crackling is all over my ear, doesn't feel like it's in my ear, if you know what I'm saying. That first week of me getting tinnitus, I'm sure I had TTTS and it doesn't feel like that did. That was like a fluttering deeper in the ear then the low hum would start up.
Did you have cracking with your MEE?
I have my stash of benzos, as you know. It's not really bothering me, so I'll just wait and see. It kind of masks my other tinnitus. LOL.
Doc said there's some wax build up and the ear drum looks slightly irritated and that's the most likely cause of the crackling, so going to remove that and see how I go. Just made an appointment with audiologist for Thursday, so will have a chat to them and get the tympanogram.
Fun and games, hey.

@Holly1987 Sorry to hear not getting better. Must be linked to the fluid, makes sense that until that resolves, your spike might stick around. I think it's a good chance when your ear fluid resolves your spike will too.

 

For anyone reading this and wondering what happened, the crackling noise has stopped. I didn't do anything - it stopped by itself.
Thank goodness was starting to annoy me!!

 

Yeah sometimes noises come and go. I've had pulsatile T visit for a few weeks, and then it went away... What a crazy affliction.

 

@Samantha R mine stopped too, it hasn't done it for over a week now. Spike has also reduced quite a lot.

It's such a relief.

 

It's such a rollercoaster! So many ups and downs.

 

@Holly1987 I'm so glad yours has stopped and the spike has settled down for you. I had a feeling it would.
@GregCA I have no idea what the heck caused the crackling! The GP saw a bit of wax, no fluid apparently (but not sure how they can be certain of that by just looking in there?). If it was wax, then the sound wouldn't just go away without the wax being cleared I wouldn't have thought.
Sounded like Rice Bubbles crackling loudly in my ear - I couldn't mask the sound and it was starting to stick around too long for my liking.
The other ear was making popping sounds on random days, that would come and go, but hasn't been back for a while. What the hell is going on?! Scares me though, so unpredictable and unexplainable.

 

The ear drum is generally translucent, so you can typically see if there is fluid behind the it (although it's not 100% reliable since some fluid is not very thick and sometimes transparent too, so it's harder to spot through the ear drum). Anything before the ear drum (wax, debris) is very clearly visible with an otoscope.

 

Just an update for anybody who's following this:

6 days ago I had a routine appointment with my neuromuscular dentist related to my mouth orthotic for TMJ issues and mentioned the crackling sensation I was experiencing a few times a day in my bad ear. After a couple of mobility tests with my jaw she said that my lower jaw was shifting too much forward when chewing. She made some adjustments to the orthotic to better stabilize the jaw and mentioned that adjustments should help with the crackling sensation over time. And she was right! Took a couple of days but the crackling has been considerably reduced. Say 90%? Admittedly I didn't have too much faith in this being corrected so I didn't press for a detailed description of the mechanics behind this correction.

Most of the crackling I experienced was either while chewing or shortly after a meal/snack.