Ringing Along With Sudden Ability to Pop My Ear Without Effort

Hello everyone,

I suddenly developed T one night in my sleep. The ringing is bearable.

1- Thing to note is that I suddenly have this ability to 'pop my ears' whenever I wish. (I never could do this earlier).

My ENT says that its a good thing that I can pop my ears. If I couldnt, THAT WOULD BE BAD.

2- Also, whenever I flex my jaw wide, I can hear a faint 'cracking' or 'clicking' noise on the right side. (Interesting because my right ear is ringing).

3- Next to note (I dont know if its un related) is that I can see a transparent spot when I look into the sky. My ENT said to forget about it. Its just white blood cells and that everyone will see spots in the sky if they concentrate.

For some reason, I believe these symptoms lead me to believe that my ringing will go away if I take the right steps.

For the time being, I have decided to take an Xray of my Jaw to see misalignment or anything else. Should I also do an MRI to be sure nothing else is the case? (My ent thinks I dont need an MRI).


Any help will be appreciated.

**I feel we all should ACT and keep trying to understand our symptoms and figure out a way to treat the underlying cause thats causing the T instead of "living with it forever" or till some magic medicine comes.


Cheers all....pls reply and guide me.



Neil

 

Also,

I have made some major lifestyle changes.

1- Firstly and foremost....I try and be positive and keep laughing how much ever possible. Listen to music, play PS go out with friends.

2- I am exercising regularly. I know exercising wont improve the ringing....but I do not want any more burden at a later date like BP etc.

3- I have quit my extremely stressful derivative trading job and started a job in financial research. The good life now workwise!

4- Taking vitamin tabs with eternal hope that something someday will get cured and the ringing will stop.

5- Positive thinking that a magic medicine is on the WAY! Man discovered a way to reach the moon....surely it cant be very difficult to 'Mute' this ringing.

 

Hi Neil991, I hope you get better man, and you're in early stages so you could look at the AM101 trials. My T started in a similar fashion, 3 months before you. Unfortunately for us, this is not a condition doctors are familiar with or understand very well, specially the ones we go to. Things get better with time man, so don't worry. We have great members here who are willing to lend a supporting hand along with a few Doctors to answer your queries. TT pretty much feels like a big family these days. Everyone is so helpful. Hope your T goes away, but for now, take care.

 

Welcome @Neil991. I'm sorry to hear that you're having inflammatory issues; sudden ability to "pop" ears is a sign that there's an underlying inflammatory (infectious, systemic, or allergy-driven reaction) in or around your ears, particularly your Eustachian tubes. The cracking of your jaw is also representative of muscular inflammatory issues, and is quite common with people who are dealing with either ETD or TMJD, both of which can cause or aggravate Tinnitus. Fortunately, both of these conditions (and inflammation in general) wax and wane over time and can be managed.

@VaR is spot on. Very little is known about Tinnitus in general; the only consensus gathered by the American Tinnitus Association is that Tinnitus is a symptom, not a cause, and that the symptom is very challenging to diagnose. I'm going to assume that high stress (including lack of sleep, poor exercise/nutrition, and possible immune-compromised circumstances) led to the onset of your Tinnitus. Is your Tinnitus high-pitched and in both ears? Do you hear an oscillation (not a pulsing, but a growing loudness/quietness in sync with your heartbeat)? I've learned that this is a sign of inflammation, similar to the "pounding" of a pounding headache that people get.

MRIs are have no real drawbacks associated with them (just make sure you are wearing earplugs when you're inside), and as long as you're not claustrophobic, I encourage you to have an MRI/MRA done of your head, ears, and neck, as this can rule out any serious condition. Most likely, you're not going to find anything -- and inner ear / middle ear inflammation the likes of which is responsible for this won't be diagnosable, but you can at the very least sleep more comfortably at night knowing that you've done everything that you can. Also, I'd be interested in hearing about your jaw. I was initially mis-diagnosed with having TMJD as the cause of my Tinnitus, but a maxillofacial surgeon disagreed and indicated that while I have some inflammation in my jaw, it's not severe enough to be causing the persistent Tinnitus.

In most cases of inflammation, there are usually multiple factors, however, and getting better sleep and treating yourself better will cause the symptoms to improve in time. Consider as well if your inflammation may have infectious causes -- ask your GP to try a 10-day regimen of antibiotics (amoxicillin) and prednisone to see if this helps; you should notice significant improvements by the 3rd or 4th day.

 

Neil
Welcome to the site! Glad to hear you are doing the right things! @Kaelon has offered some great advice and information (post #4). It is a symptom; but what is the cause? Ugh! Many etiologies, one phenomenon.

I was told the same thing about MRI (by my ENT) but I got one anyways (just for the sake of propriety).

You're doing the right things and it does make a difference in your ability to deal with it as well as make it go down. I'm hoping for a cure too.

Mark