When You Swallow, Do Your Ears Pop Every Time?

Evening everyone

I created a post the other day about my distorted hearing, which varies on a day to day basis, but I've got a question for people, when you swallow, do your ears pop every time and if so is it numerous pops or a single one, and also, sorry for so many questions, how loud is it?

 

Yes Nick!
all the time, everythign i swallow both ears pop!
D:

 

Mario, how loud is it? Mines so loud people sitting next to me can hear it from my ear, is started to hurt me now its getting so loud

 

Every time for me too, I think they have always done this. People sitting next to you can hear it? I don't think that's your e tubes making that loud of a noise, I'm pretty sure thats impossible.

 

Hi @Telis, its definitely my tubes recorded it on my phone last night when they were clicking a few times after I swallowed and they were going nuts, just recently my left ear had started doing it more and it's matching up with my hearing distortion which started when it happened, I've had distortion over the course of my tinnitus but it normally goes away, this time it's sticking round

 

My left ear (the REALLY bad tinnitus one) is the only ear that crackles when I swallow.

 

It's strange because some people don't get it and other people do, and like you said your bad ear crackles, there must be a connection somewhere

 

both ears crackle everytime, about 3 pops, sometimes several pops. It doesn't really bother me.

 

Weird. I don't know how loud mine are, they sound kind of loudish but I don't think that people next to me can hear it. Mine sounds like your ears popping when you fly, nothing out of the ordinary but they pop every single time I swallow and (my right ear) a lot of the time when I chew. I get distorted hearing too but I'm not sure if it's because my ears are blocked up or if it's from my T and hearing loss. Does you voice sound loud and echo? I've been trying steam twice a day for about a week now. I'm not really concerned about the popping and cracking noises when I swallow, trying to see if the steam reduces symptoms like fullness, ear pain, dizziness, tinnitus etc. but I'm pretty sure clearing the ears up and loosening the sticky tubes would help with the constant popping as well.

 

@Telis, I've never flown so can't compare I'm afraid, no my voice doesn't sound loud or echoey its outside sounds, could be anything the kettle boiling it echoes as do things like plastic bags, so across high and low sounds, I never used to be concerned about the popping either but it's got so loud since I've had tinnitus, do you remember if yours got louder when you first got your tinnitus?

 

It never used to bother me but it's really loud at the moment and is as if i can feel the loud pop reverberating off my ear drum

 

Na, it's definitely not louder since T. It's just the tubes stuck together, when you swallow they open and unstick monetarily. I have fluid in my ears as well, maybe you do too? This could cause some strange distorted hearing. Either way, if you can get to a steam room it should help.

I recall being in hot humid places on holiday (in the past prior to T) and not hearing the popping. I remember thinking it was strange not hearing it at those times as I was so used to it.

 

I'm wondering wether I've got some mild hearing loss what's distorting the sound of them, I went and received a hearing test the other day but it came back normal, I understand what you mean about the fluid in the ears because I imagine if the tubes aren't working properly because they are partially blocked I suppose it could affect the eardrum movement slightly, how do you know you have fluid in your ears?

 

I had my doctor take a look. I guess that aren't draining properly.

 

Are they clicking though? As my doctor before told me if they click they are opening ok, don't think many doctors know much to be honest, well not the people I've seen anyway, can I ask if you're tinnitus is quieter in the morning?

 

Do you mean this crackling sound like you have after shower or swimming? I do have it all the time when I swallow and I know I never had it before my tinnitus. I also have ear fluttering(this is maybe what you really meant) and I also never experienced it before my tinnitus. My ear drum will react to sounds when people talking or when I talk.

 

No I meant the ones you have when you swallow yeah similar to when you go swimming I guess, I don't get them when I get out the shower though, yes I have similar feelings of it reacting in the morning which is strange

 

I also do not get it when I am out of shower, it was just an example but I think I understand the sensation you have

I just created similar thread like this the other day. I do wonder why this is so common in T sufferers. Does it bother you so much?

 

At the moment it's really hurting when I swallow, not really sure what's causing it telis said it could be fluid but I'm trying to get to an ent but in the UK it's a waiting list of about a month

 

I have been to 5 different ENTs for bunch of times but no fluid, nothing in my case. I also had a MRI but they could find nothing. I also have some ear spasm but I think I had them before my Tinnitus came. I think the mechanism behind T is something that also mess with our ear muscles. I would not be suprised if it is the cae because I also developed some pulsatile T when I was having T for almost 3 months.

 

Other people can hear mine sometimes too. Only yesterday in fact my partner told me she could hear my right tube cracking with each swallow when she was sitting next to me. I never used to have this until tinnitus started and it isn't just because of the tinnitus that I notice it - it is so loud it would be impossible not to have noticed it.

Different sounds I hear are as follows:

Single loud bang - similar to someone clicking their fingers about a foot away
Squelching noise - like squeezing a wet sponge
Sticky noise - like pulling adhesive tape off a surface
Series of pops - I guess a bit like bubbles popping

There are others, but these are the main ones.

Whenever these noises are louder, the tinnitus is significantly worse (and I mean goes from a level that I can reasonably cope with, to really intrusive), but no eNT I can find will acknowledge the two conditions are related - even though they clearly are. In fact one eNT, even though he is highly regarded, said there was zero relationship between middle ear problems and tinnitus, even though the NHS website clearly acknowledges that there is.

 

As you have fluid in your ears, have you thought about getting tubes? If the fluid is drained your T should improve significantly. I know you have really loud Tinnitus.

 

Owen do you get distorted hearing when your tubes are that bad? Yours loud all the time?

 

Although I know the cause, I'm not clear on the mechanism behind why I developed tinnitus. It is some sort of inflammatory response, but whether or not that inflammation affected soft tissue close to the cochlear, the nerves, the cochlear directly, or the brain - who knows (certainly not the eNTs I've seen). I did however develop terrible allergies and nasal discharge, which fits with blocked and swollen tubes.

I used to have distortion and actually thought I was going to go deaf, but the level of inflammation was so severe, that I think that was perhaps more related to inflammation around the cochlear and nerves, rather than Eustachian tubes themselves. I don't really hear distortion any more - not that I'm aware of anyway.

The loud clicking in the tubes comes and goes. At the moment, I would say the volume of the tubes clicking is probably "normal", or only just slightly louder. I have become more aware of it because of the problems, but if I listen to it when I swallow, I would not call it intrusive. It seems to be without reason that it becomes a lot louder. Most of the time my right tube doesn't click at all and it is actually a good thing when it does as that increase ties in with the tinnitus becoming quieter.

When I wake in the morning, it always sounds very squelchy in my ear if I yawn - and in fact the more "wet" it sounds, the worse the tinnitus - pretty much a 1:1 relationship. I have tried sleeping upright and struggle with it, but when I do, it is nowhere near as bad in the morning - a pretty obvious sign that it is lack of drainage rather than sleep itself, but none of the 3 eNTs I've seen connect the two.

The perceived amplitude of the tinnitus itself has significantly reduced over the course of the last 12 months - since I stopped taking Levothyroxine - and all the other hideous conditions that came with it have completely gone, but it has been painfully slow. It used to turn into a screaming whenever I tried to lie down in bed. Even when bad now, it is not the same as it was and the perceived volume is probably less than half what it was a year ago.

 

I have read that this is the symptom of having Tinnitus not ETD dysfunction ETD being a red herring ,I know the clicking you get ,I can sort of make a volountry back pressure in my throat an make it happen.

 

I'm not sure if you're responding to my post, or the original one. In my case, I was diagnosed with ETD back in June of last year, but this was 6 months after I started with symptoms - my GP didn't see fit to send me with any degree of urgency (he is caring like that!).

However, exactly the same symptoms as I had back then come and go now - intermittently. There probably is some truth that it is associated with tinnitus, but when I talk to others and get down to the specifics, significant differences become apparent.

These include:
Explosive volumes of banging when swallowing.
Post nasal drip.
A thick yellow discharge from my right nostril (the right ear is affected) - even though I have been told I don't have sinusitis.
Intermittent tinnitus - sometimes, it completely goes for a few hours - even in a silent room.
A feeling of fluid in the right ear sometimes - such that if I palpate tissue around the ear, it can be heard by others as well as by me.
Yawning produces a really loud squelching noises in my affected ear if I have been lying down.
Nasal washes get rid of my tinnitus for a bit - although they seem to make the symptoms at night worse.
The tinnitus sounds are endlessly changing.

...to name but a few...

...and the trigger for tinnitus was inflammatory, not acoustic in nature and was accompanied by appalling nasal discharge - if you hadn't had any other information, you would have thought that I had an appalling cold for over a year.

Isolated, I would tend to agree, but all of these combined (and more) still leads me to believe that it is at least exacerbated by ETD, even if not the only issue.

 

Hello Owen fair dos buddy I get that ,,,when I saw my private ear dr he reccod this have you seen it?

http://www.medisave.co.uk/ear-popper-pro-surgery-for-ear-pressure-relief.html

The home version is on amazon at £99

 

Thanks for the link. I have seen such things before (I think I may have seen the home version you mention on Amazon myself). I bought an Otovent around this time last year and back then I could reliably inflate the balloon without a single ounce of air finding its way into my middle ear. Now, like the other symptoms, it seems to be intermittent. Sometimes it will work very easily, whilst at other times I just can't get air into my ear - it is all very odd.

Oddly, I am never able to get air into my ear first thing, but this morning I accidentally popped my ear when gently blowing my nose - I think this is a first in nearly 2 years, although I am reluctant to get too excited just yet (What a stupid thing to be excited about!?!?!?)