Clicking Sounds

Wondering if any of you get a burst of clicking in your ear. It is not like ringing, or buzzing, but a few bursts of clicks and then it stops. This started a couple days ago and has come back several times. I'd rather not go back to the ENT (because I think he will probably say "you're fine") so I guess I'm looking to find out if this is just another aspect of tinnitus. I think I read it could be a muscle spasm?

 

I do not want to worry you but my sudden deafness started that way. It sounded like tic, tic, tic, about 1 every second. In my case, in less that 3 hours I was deaf on one side. Not deaf as hearing nothing (it would have been a blessing) but deaf as hearing nothing more than Tinnitus composed of multiple noises.

You may want to note the frequency to make sure it is not worsening.

If I were you, I'd go see the ENT.

Good luck.

 

Both my ears click constantly---a symptom that set in around the time my tinnitus started. It can happen on its own, or if I turn my head, or if I swallow. I believe the clicking is more frequent when my ears are ringing (which isn't all the time). I have never had this diagnosed. But even if it turns out to be middle ear myoclonus (or whatever), it's not clear what can be done!

Interestingly, sometimes when I take certain medications before bed (e.g., Klonopin, Flexeril, Gabapentin), I wake up with no tinnitus, my face feels relaxed, and the clicking is less frequent (or perhaps I notice it less).

-Golly

 

If you can wake up with no tinnitus and your face feels relaxed, that could mean that your T is caused by tension. Have you tried going without coffee and sugar for a while?

 

I have tried modifying my diet in every imaginable way (I'll post more on this topic in another thread). It doesn't seem to make a difference. I suspect my (intermittent) tinnitus has neuro-muscular origins; but I have been down the route of physiotherapy to no avail. The only way I am able to gain some control over my tinnitus is through the occasional use of medications such as Klonopin.

I have posted elsewhere that sleep is a trigger for me (it somehow turns tinnitus both on and off). In order to properly regulate my sleep, I take Remeron nightly (15mg).

-Golly

 

Yes, I have intermittent clicking in my right ear over the tinnitus.

 

Hello bells

Guess your answer may be here.

http://www.fauquierent.net/earclicking.htm

 

@carlover that does sound like what I have. It's different from tinnitus sounds, and I don't see and tinnitus or hearing changes with it. I wish I could find some trigger.
@Golly I'm glad to hear Remeron's working for you. My ENT recommended Elavil too. I need to get off sleeping pills...

 

Elavil has long been prescribed for people suffering from tinnitus. I know (from personal experience) that even at low doses, it's a great sleep drug. However, I would be interested in knowing if Elavil has a direct impact on the subjective experience of tinnitus itself. So if you choose to go that route, @Bells, let us know how things work out.

-Golly

 

Hi have to agree with carlover saw my ENT guy with the same problem and he comfirms that its your E tubes opening and closing I get mine every 5/6 times a minuite

 

That may be true (it certainly sounds about right); but is there anything that can be done about it? I often wonder whether this clicking (a physically measurable phenomenon), which some of us experience, and tinnitus share a common underlying cause. As I mentioned above, these two symptoms set in at around the same time.

-Golly

 

Hi ive had T for nearly 12 years now ,but mine set in at Christmas after a really heavy cold and its now beginning to clear

Ray

 

@RAY;

You say your tinnitus is beginning to clear? That's fantastic! In what sense is it clearing: is the volume subsiding; has it changed to a less annoying pitch; or are you habituating?

-Golly

 

sorry to mislead I was talking about the clicking mentioned further up the thread

RAY

 

Okay, makes more sense. In any case, that's still good news that the clicking has started to subside. -G

 

The theory that the clicking may be a muscle spasm makes perfect sense to me since my eye on the same side twitches quite often as well.

 

I also hear the same sound behind my eardrum clicking bursts of 5 to 6 times when I swallow, I am having this experience since 3 months, the time when my tinnitus started don't know what it is, tried nasal sprays but gives no relief, I think it's eustachian tube dysfunction, I used to have nose congestion all the time in winter, from the day it started, I do not have any nose congestion till now, my nose stays always dry instead I hear these weird sounds and clicking and fluids in my ears.

 

I have also been getting a clicking sound in my left ear when I swallow. It started a couple of days ago. It doesn't happen when I swallow food or liquid. And it's not there for the first few minutes when I wake up in the morning.

Since the noise exposure I had on 2/27, I have had one symptom after another and I think they all add up to muscle tension. My theory is this:

1. The sound near my bad ear caused me to jump out of my skin with fear. I immediately thought: "My T will be louder and it will be forever."
2. Within days, I felt a slight ache in my ear and sensitivity to sound that I didn't have before.
3. A few more days and I had tension in my jaw, like a mild TMJ pain.
4. And now a clicking when I swallow that's more annoying than everything else combined because it causes me to think about each swallow and delay swallowing as long as possible.

I think I must be tensing up with each swallow because I'm thinking "will it click this time?" (Every now and then it doesn't click.)

I feel like my symptoms are caused by muscle tension which is caused by anxiety and the only way for them to go away is to stop feeling anxiety. But I can't stop feeling anxiety because I'm always thinking about the next swallow. So I'll stop feeling anxiety when the symptoms go away, but the symptoms won't go away until I stop feeling anxiety. It's a Catch-22.