Thoughts About Clicking & Crunching Ears When Swallowing

Does anyone have experience of this?

For over a year now I've had very loud crunching in my ears every time I swallow. It's been like this since I had an allergy-like reaction to antibiotics (azithromycin) where my head swelled up and consequently I got tinnitus. The style of cracking sound changes throughout the day, as does its volume, but it's always there one way or another.

I know the common idea is that there's eustachian tube dysfunction, and the ears / canals may be filled with dried wax or mucus which is clicking and crunching each time the ear canal moves. However I've done a lot of work clearing out and regulating my eustachian tubes and it has not helped, so I'm leaning towards a different reason for this.

I'm leaning to four possible causes:

1) ETD - as I said I don't think this is my reason as the work I've done and tests I've had (tympanogram) have not resolved it or shown it to be the problem.

2) something in my middle ear. I don't know if this would be dried mucus, or bacteria or fungus, but I don't have a temperature or illness and feel ok otherwise.

3) ear drum problem – crusted ear drum that crunches each time it moves? The few doctors and otolaryngologists I've seen have not mentioned that my ear drum looks different than normal.

4) cracked or broken ossicles - the small bones in the ears, damaged or fractured by the swelling from the initial allergy-like reaction, and due to swallowing hundreds of times a day, have not healed.

I am leaning to number 4. I'm trying to run an experiment to swallow as little as possible with added supplements of calcium / magnesium / zinc / D and more sleep to see if I can give a chance for the bones to heal. My tinnitus–which thankfully isn't so loud anyway–is always quieter in the morning and sometimes is almost not there when I wake up, but increases later in the day.

Any thoughts about this would be helpful and interesting. I have had both CT and MRI scans which have not been helpful resolving this. I haven't read much about having cracked ossicles, but nonetheless it seems the likeliest to me now after all the work I've done trying to resolve this.

 

Could be sinus problem,allergies,TMJ.
Love glynis

 

Yes it could be, but frankly you're stating possibilities, while I'm trying to work on probabilities. There's already an overwhelming surfeit of data to sift through and that's part of the problem and what causes people to panic. I've checked and have discounted sinus problems, allergies & TMJ already – they are not probable causes for the intense crunching in the ear every time I swallow.

 

Mine is also the same i have asthma since 5 years having cold when i got tinnitus

 

Hi terje

Did you get this resolved or any improvement since? I have a very similar symptom. I hear this fizzing/hissing/like fine sand moving when I swallow/yawn/turn my head sideways. Only in my left ear. I have had tinnitus for years which is fine but these additional sounds have come up since I had a relapse three months ago.
I too have speculated on the above reasons and as like you I don't think it is eustachian tube either. I am wondering is it just further tinnitus damage to the cochlea and the era is now picking up additional sounds inside the head when swallowing etc or is it that thin piece of bone that insulates sounds having been damaged or your theory about the ossicles.

Is yours a crackling sound or a fizzing hissing sound?

Paul

 

Hi I’m new to this and am experiencing the same clicking when I swallow. Did you ever manage to cure yours? Please do let me know if so! It’s dreadful.