Full Ears Go Away If I Touch My Face

Hi @Greg Sacramento. How are you doing?

I don't know if you recall me telling you about my C2 tenderness and C5/C6 bulging disk issues a few weeks ago? Things have gradually gotten better and the pulsatile tinnitus (if that's what I have as it's a feeling and not a sound) has decreased a fair bit although still there.

I have had full ears for a few weeks but if I touch my cheek (even gently) it goes away.

First thing in the morning when I'm relaxed (or it's quiet) everything is completely normal - no pulsatile tinnitus, no full ears etc - but once the day gets going it all begins to kick in.

Do you think this is all related to neck stiffness or does this sound more like an actual ear issue to you?

I thought my eustachian tubes were blocked a few weeks ago and I pulled my ears out gently and opened my mouth (as per a video I'd seen on YouTube). A few days after this I had major ear pain and even my jaw felt really stiff so I could hardly open it. This took a good 48 hours to settle down.

I have an ENT appointment coming up soon but I'm really at a loss as to what to tell him as everything has been so confusing. To be honest I don't really want to go to ENT if they're going to do an MRI as I had one on my neck recently and the sound was terrible. I'm sure I felt worse after that for a couple of weeks. I only really want an MRI if these issues are likely to be caused by anything 'nasty'.

I hope you don't mind me asking your opinion but I really valued the advice you gave me before?

I guess what I'm asking is can an issue with the cervical spine and neck tension/trigger points cause the ear to feel full and with ear pain and some very slight sensitivity?

Thanks. x

I should also add that sometimes my hearing can be sensitive to certain noises too. The TV is no problem but something like a sewing machine is irritating.

Fullness is in both ears too so I guess anything nasty is highly unlikely...... Would you agree?

I have major trigger points in my traps - just on the top of my shoulder. I've been reading online about how trigger points can affect ear fullness but I didn't know if that would also affect the sensitivity too or does fullness and sensitivity go together?

Sorry to bombard you.

 

@Vicky17 Hi Vicky - I'm glad to know about your improvement. I remember our conversation and I was going to write you to see how you are doing. From what you just said about your jaw and ear pain received from an YouTube exercise, I still think that your primary is peripheral nerve fibers within your neck around your C2. This will mess with the jaw and facial bigtime. Peripheral nerve fibers and occipital nerves will need slow careful treatment of stretching.

Place a warm not hot washcloth on your neck before treatment for a minute. Then slowly relax your shoulders with good posture. Slowing and gently lift your head and neck up straight for a few seconds and then relax. Repeat only three to five times the first few days. After treatment place some cold to your neck. A bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel for a minute. The jaw: You will need to try this before touching the jaw. Slowly and carefully massage the digastric muscle, but only the part above the adam's apple. Then I will give the rest of the digastric exercise that connect to the bottom of the jaw that connects to your SCM muscles. YouTube is safe for digastric muscle exercise. I viewed all of them.

Refer again to what we discuss before about your discs and PT. It's going to be all good.

 

Thank you for coming back to me so quickly. You have no idea how much hearing your good advice is calming .

I agree wholeheartedly about the nerve fibres. The fact that the right side of my face feels slightly numb would corroborate this too I'm guessing? I think I get panicked sometimes because things take so long to sort out and then I begin to wonder if there's something else going on.

Could these nerve fibres cause the sensitive hearing and fullness too? I don't have it all the time - just occasionally.

I have a panic and then decide to rebook the ENT appointment I cancelled and then think about how much of a mess I must sound, and how theres so many things going on that I don't know how they'd actually make a diagnosis without testing me for absolutely everything. Then I decide not to book the appointment and then wonder if I might be missing something.

I have been using an icepack (wrapped in a sock) on the right side of my face for quite a few days and it seems to temporarily stop all the problems. The PT and fullness is almost non existent in the morning too which I guess is down to relaxed muscles.

Enough about me! How are you doing? x

 

@Vicky17

I was able to knock my T of both causes (onsets) to almost a non issue for 4 straight days. From extremely severe to almost I can't hear it. Then I started bending my neck too much and it increased again. I have hearing loss, but most of my T is travels a different pathway. I do have a great amount of mouth and facial pain due to damaged nerves in my gums from dental. I'm taking some glucose metabolism and regenerate antioxidants, but it really doesn't help.

 

Great news that you had 4 days of relief! I’m sure you’ll get there again.

I too think my recurrence has been down to bad posture again. I’m doing a sewing job at the moment for a corporate company and I think it’s the head forward posture that has made my ears feel full and sensitive again.

Do you think the nerves are anything to do with trigeminal nerves? I think mine is related but I don’t think I have TN as apparently it has people writhing around in pain until meds kick in.

Have you tried taking B12 and/or turmeric? x

 

Forward head posture causing muscle spasms in the back and neck is the number one cause of somatic tinnitus.

The trigeminal nerve is weird. It can relate to nerves where the myelin sheath is damaged. Besides the mouth, pain can be caused by touching the face, ears or even the forehead. Facial and the mouth is the most complicated area of the body besides the brain.

Neck problem injuries usually lead to the jaw and facial or they can both happen at the same time.

As far as vitamins goes, I take a little of this and that on occasion, but I take just 50mg of magnesium chelate/calcium once a day for neck muscles.

The sternocleidomastoid muscles are also weird. They can relate to almost anything in the head - ear fullness, eye pain, red eyes, teeth, facial, headaches and the neck.

 

I think touching my face and ears is half the problem as I tend to touch them to stop the pulsing. This is obviously exacerbating the nerves . I need to learn to leave them alone. Perhaps I’ll just tie my hands behind my back .

I’ve been taking turmeric, magnesium and B12. I’ve only just started but if it makes any difference to my nerves I’ll let you know. x

 

@Vicky17 Hi Vicki: Checking back to see how you are doing. Is the right side of your face still a little numb? If so does clenching your jaw/teeth increase T? Is there any burning within your mouth? Your past sewing project with using forward posture may have placed some pressure on your jaw or from neck to jaw, thus exciting touch sensing or somatosensory nerves.

I will wait until you respond, but a very thin flexible semi-soft mouth guard that does not cover wisdom teeth made by a dentist may help. This type of guard is unnoticeable by others. Most barely realize that they are wearing one. This type of guard is similar to the shields used to whiten teeth.

How's your neck now?