My Left Ear Feels Blocked — Could Earwax or Muscle Tension from Stress Be the Culprit?

I have times when my right ear feels blocked and I have a sense of high pitched tinnitus but it usually goes away. However, today I was out for a walk and had Bluetooth wireless earbuds in my ear and they were sealed well in my ears to get good sound quality when listening to music. The music wasn’t too loud.

Anyway, when I got home and took the earbuds out I got this awful blocked feeling in my left ear. It is more noticeable when I am watching the TV and the sound from the TV makes me feel my left ear is blocked. There doesn’t seem to be any tinnitus, just the blocked feeling.

What is strange is that when I cover my ears or I put headphones on over my ears without any music on the blocked, the ear sensation goes away. When I take the headphones off, the blocked ear sensation returns.

I have been suffering from a lot of stress and anxiety in the last few weeks and have suffered anxiety and depression and panic disorder for years. I am wondering what this could be. Could the earbud have pushed earwax deep into my ear when I was trying to get a good seal or could it be muscle tension from stress? As I have neck pain and shoulder pain.

 

I’m now starting to get high pitched tinnitus in my affected ear since going to sleep and waking up. This is really worrying me now.

 

I visited my doctor to get a diagnosis and she examined my affected ear but she cannot see any dislodged wax or infection and she said my ear looks healthy. This has now baffled me why I’m getting the blocked clogged sensation in my ear and then tinnitus. Could this be psychosomatic since I am going through a stressful time just now.

 

Hi @Artmuzz,

I just got diagnosed with TMJD, apparently one of the small muscles in my jaw/neck is very tense, the specialist said that this can cause feeling of fullness in the ear. Massage may help, heat packs, or just anything that helps you relax.

Please do not sit in quiet rooms with new onset tinnitus, as weirdly tempting as it may be, it’s unnecessary torture. Try stay distracted as best you can. Avoid loud environments entirely and try not use headphone for at least a couple of months.

It’s very early stages for you, you have every reason to be hopeful. Focus on posts in the success stories section.