Ear Fullness Gradually Progressing as the Day Goes on / Certain Activities Make It Worse

For the past couple months, in the mornings I wake up with either no or slight ear fullness in one or both ears. At first I chalked it up to some sort of sinus issue, as I have a lot of allergies. But the fullness gradually progresses as the day goes. I've formed this habit of constantly trying to open my eustachian tubes to equalize the pressure. I can do this without plugging my nose or anything. I notice the more I do this, the more the pressure seems to build up.

I also notice certain activities make it worse. After wearing earplugs I notice a lot of pressure the rest of the day. Also after talking and listening to Zoom meetings in my office, which is pretty echoey.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I know it's pretty common to have ear fullness after an acoustic trauma, but this is just daily and it fluctuates depending on activity. I also hope I'm not doing anything that is causing daily damage.

 

I have been on a roller coaster like this. I started with the usual fullness but it has turned into cracks and pops, fluttering, low frequency hum, and coming and going if fullness without correlating to anything specific. I work in a factory and it’s loud, I have tried with and without ear protection and it doesn’t seem to make it difference. I almost feel like the fullness comes on as anxiety increases. The busier I am, the less the fullness is around but as I slow down and maybe sit at my desk and have time to think about my ear problems, it seems like it comes on stronger.

I don’t know why but I feel like a steroid would fix the issue, unfortunately I was never given any early on. Also, I don’t have acoustic trauma, mine is from Wim Hof breathing exercises.

 

@kingsfan, I experienced the same, for a long time. It did slowly, gradually (with setbacks) get better over about 1,5 years.

I've stopped equalizing pressure (Valsalva maneuver). In my opinion the fullness gets better for most - measured by the month.

 

Yeah, I have this problem. The intermittent fullness that feels like sinus issues but isn't really.

It may be due to muscle contractions around the ear. It happened the other day after wearing Peltor muffs to use a loud blender. They were on tight, and then I felt the ear fullness for a few hours after taking them off. So maybe it's constriction of an artery or a vein around the ears? Or maybe it' due to pressure changes in the middle ear? Mine's always worse when outside in the heat, and seems better in cold places like grocery stores. It also does not correlate with tinnitus loudness. Usually when the fullness is there, the tinnitus is slightly softer.

 

Anyone get better with steroids?

 

I've been on steroids a few times, but I honestly don't remember if they helped or not.

I sneezed earlier, during which I usually cover my ears because it echos throughout my office. However, I was holding something in my hands so couldn't, and had immediate ear fullness. Now after going to supermarket for lunch, with earplugs in of course, my ear fullness has increased.

The other evening I went to a Hibachi restaurant, which can very loud with spatulas banging off the grill and such, and had absolutely no ear fullness when returning home.

I have absolutely no idea what the culprit is. As long it isn't a sign that I am further damaging my hearing, then I guess I'll be okay with it, though it is very annoying.

I'm going to try Flonase for a couple weeks and see if that helps.

 

Bizarre, but unfortunately I kind of have an idea of what you’re talking about. My ear fullness initially seemed to be driven by noise exposure but not all noise and not all loudness. It really fluctuated but couldn’t pin it only on something specific.

 

Yea I really have no idea. It first developed when I was at Best Buy and turned on a sound bar thinking I had turned it down. Ever since then it's been like this. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm hyper-aware of it and constantly looking out for it.

I tried Flonase for a few days, but I have had to stop as it increased the loudness of the static sounds I have tenfold. I feel like my head is going to explode, it's so loud.

My right ear is now doing this crackle noise when I swallow, and when I put in a foam earplug it sounded like I was pushing it through rubber bands in my ear. Really weird stuff going on.

 

Do you feel like the muscles or tendons in your ears are really tight then?

I find if I put my finger on the outside of my ear and move it around I get crackling in the "tendons".

My ear feels more stiff overall, it's crazy. Things have slowly been getting better over the last two months. I haven't been able to find an explanation yet.

 

Yes, if I stick my finger in there, so it forms some suction, and then wiggle my finger around, I can recreate that nasty crackling sound.

 

Be very very careful with this! Read up on kiss of deaf... The suction can cause irreversible damage by pulling on ear drum, ossicles and inner ear.

I used to do this often years ago... Luckily no damage.

Shaun.

 

Now the same ear is itchy today, making me believe it's Eustachian tube/fluid thing going on.

 

What I have found is I had a ton of swollen muscles and nodes of pressure all around the sides but particularly the back of my head just above my neck. But I had no idea for like a year, one day I just realized how "thick" and tender certain areas were when I started poking and prodding. I've freed up a lot of it myself, but still plan on getting some kind of professional massager to give my noggin the works, too.

I personally believe that these muscles can rapidly contract during acoustic trauma, and sometimes are unable to just "release" on their own. It's like a weird long term inflammation.

My tinnitus is a few notches lower now, and TTTS, sensitivity, muffled hearing, and distortions are almost completely gone. Hope this helps you too my homie, you deserve some relief!

 

I should check into this, as I know everything around my head and neck is tight.

 

So just to understand you clearly, you believe that by massaging these areas you have reduced those symptoms? Do you think they could’ve faded with time as opposed to the massage? How long did it take you to free them up?

I hope you are right about this as I believe mine is somewhat related to TMJD that was brought on after the tinnitus so you could be onto something.

 

No, I was barely improving. Glacially. Everything seemed wedged real good from Nov '19 up to Sep '20 when I got this idea. I think it would've taken forever without a guiding hand. It did not take long, probably a few months of daily massages. But it took me a while to find all of the pressure points and I was taking it slow because I didn't wanna dicker myself up somehow.

I tried to localize the directions that the various ringing tones were coming from around my head. So for example I had one uniquely sharp piercing high tone coming from my top left crown of my head, and I focused on it and eventually that tone went away.

Now my tinnitus is much more like it was before the concert for most of my life, it's a constant low but evenly saturated hum across both ears, only noticeable in quiet rooms. Probably from whatever legitimate intracochlear damage I may have. Or perhaps there's more muscular/vascular/TMJ shit to work out.

 

Hell ya brother, let me know how you get along. I think if you can get any relief from any sort of physical adjustment, even if it's only temporary, that's a great sign. Means it's not pure cochlear damage imo.

I've done a lot of really dumb heavy lifting and physical labor for the past 10 years so I think that contributed to my situation. As well as years of violent coughing from irresponsibly big bong hits, lol. I think my blood flow had something to do with it too.

 

You should become a masseuse. You must have a healing touch.

 

Thanks dude. Go Leafs Go!

 

I have a friend who is constantly telling me to try acupuncture. I should definitely stop sitting around and feeling sorry for myself and try more things. Anything that can help even a little will be huge for me.

 

Good luck with the Leafs. You've got Jake and Jack. Miss those guys.

 

There are studies that have shown acupuncture to be effective for certain subsets.

 

Oh man we love them both. Muzzin is exactly what we needed at the blue line. And he's won me a few free coffees on the Tim Hortons app, lol. And shit what can I say about Soupy that hasn't been. He's showing Price who's boss!

 

Kinda sounds like a rub'n tugger, lol. I'd settle for being an official Tinnitus Talk Advocate. Unless the other gig paid me enough.

 

It was tough. We had three great goalies and one had to go. Jack is the real deal though. Bill Ranford and the whole crew with the Reign/Kings tore him down and helped him find his game and undo whatever happened to him with Dallas.

And maybe only a King's fan will get this, but it is still to this day Muzzin's fault.

 

@kingsfan, how loud did your band play back in the day? Just curious to know where you landed on the spectrum of concert volume. Between something like Slipknot (who I've read limit their shows to like 109 dB) or say Motörhead blowing the roof off at 130 dB.

High on Fire is who did me in, it was as if the sound was so thick it became part of the atmosphere you were breathing. I got the ultimate facemelting experience, their backline felt like it was slapping you in the head.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, they have a reputation for being deliberately, crushingly loud. Like Sunn O)) volume but with razor sharp mids. But Matt Pike doesn't play with earplugs and says he can pass a hearing test with flying colours in interviews. This is what made me realize I got a raw deal. If this fucking guy can play 120+ dB shows NIGHTLY, I should be able to survive just one.

 

Shows pale in comparison to the level of sound in a practice studio. Put a full band, with half/full stacks and a PA system in a 12x12 room with 1-2 hour practices a few times a week. Face melting loud.

I don't know how a lot of musicians come through unscathed, but I don't know anyone in my circle that has any problems whatsoever.

 

That's wild. So you're pretty much pumping the same dB's in the 12x12 as if you were in a whole venue? I couldn't imagine withstanding that in a small studio. The concert hall alone felt like my head was in a pressure cooker. Painfully loud.

 

A PA at a venue will definitely be louder, but it's a more open space.

I'd have the ringing ears after playing at a venue, but was always much worse after practices. Even went almost deaf once for a couple days after a rather long practice session.

 

Well I read some literature that was posted on here about clearing the Eustachian tubes: inserting saline solution through the nose and towards the Eustachian tube opening, then doing a light valsalva maneuver to get the fluid into it. It caused some pain in my right ear, the one that has been making clicking noises.

Hopefully I didn't damage my cochlea.

Guess it's time to take a large dose of NAC and Magnesium and hope for the best...