Feeling/Hearing Pulse or Twitching in Ears

[Kevin1234]

Hi I'm Kevin from Singapore,

I'm not super sure if this is related to Tinnitus, but recently whenever I try to sleep on my side with my left or right ear against the pillow, after a few minutes of lying down I can begin to feel a heartbeat like rhythm or either a muscle spasm like feeling. I would also like to mention that whenever this happens, my neck also feels a bit stressed out with muscle spasms or something. Is there a cause/treatment for this? This happened recently, and only occurs late at night when I attempt to sleep with my ears against the pillow.

 

[Karen]

Hi, @Kevin1234

It could be either pulsatile tinnitus or tensor tympani syndrome. Pulsatile tinnitus is usually constant, but I have heard of people who only hear it at night. I have pulsatile tinnitus myself, but I can hear it all the time. I've had a number of tests, but a cause has not been found.

Tensor tympani syndrome is a sort of muscle spasm within the ear. For this syndrome, it's possible that a muscle relaxer could be helpful in treating it.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[lapidus]

Hi I'm Kevin from Singapore,

I'm not super sure if this is related to Tinnitus, but recently whenever I try to sleep on my side with my left or right ear against the pillow, after a few minutes of lying down I can begin to feel a heartbeat like rhythm or either a muscle spasm like feeling. I would also like to mention that whenever this happens, my neck also feels a bit stressed out with muscle spasms or something. Is there a cause/treatment for this? This happened recently, and only occurs late at night when I attempt to sleep with my ears against the pillow.

It sounds like Tensor Tympani Syndrome. I have it and I've experienced exactly what you are describing with the ear on the pillow. However, my TTS is mainly because of my hyperacusis so it spasms when I hear a sound that I don't tolerate but I did have this spasm too for a brief period. It stopped after a while and I don't know why. Maybe it was because of anxiety?

 

[Kevin1234]

Hi guys,

I'm not sure if it's TTS but I don't necessarily feel the pulsing on my eardrum, but more of towards the outer of my ear canal (basically entrance of ear). If I were to push my ear canal I would be able to feel a very little pulse gradually forming after few seconds (so I suppose the spasms have reduced). Thanks for the information, and I forgot to mention that before this happened; I happened to be doing some shoulder exercises with weights which could've caused the spasm?