Hi all.
I have a constant, rapid thumping noise in my right ear only. It is driving me nuts.It is faster than my normal heartbeat. It seems to subside during the day but comes on when I am sitting in the evening and worse when I try to go to sleep. Notice I said try to sleep. My doctor said I have a bit of fluid in there and to take Sudafed decongestants. I have but still get the thumping. The only way I can get it to calm down is to apply minor,upward pressure with a finger inside my ear. I have a night guard so far for my TMJ and it doesn't seem to be helping at all. What can I do to at least get some sleep through this? Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks

Jerbear

Hi all.
I have a constant, rapid thumping noise in my right ear only. It is driving me nuts.It is faster than my normal heartbeat. It seems to subside during the day but comes on when I am sitting in the evening and worse when I try to go to sleep. Notice I said try to sleep. My doctor said I have a bit of fluid in there and to take Sudafed decongestants. I have but still get the thumping. The only way I can get it to calm down is to apply minor,upward pressure with a finger inside my ear. I have a night guard so far for my TMJ and it doesn't seem to be helping at all. What can I do to at least get some sleep through this? Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks

Jerbear
it could very well be a muscle spasm of the middle ear muscle, eustachian tube or palate.
look up middle ear and palatal myoclonus.
lib

Hi,
I have had tinnitus all my working life.It's gradually got worse as I've gotten older.I can only put it down to working in heavy engineering. anyway to what you were saying; I too have trouble sleeping sometimes.so I bought a "white noise" box,it makes a hissing noise,which mimmics the tinnitusl.I set the noise level so It's just the same level as the noise in my head,then set the timer to about an hour and put it under my pillow,I can then get some sleep,and because of the timer,I can forget about it.
Garry

Thanks all!

look up bruit or bruitt?
whooshing pulse sound
thoracic outlet syndrome - can mimic some TMJ symptoms
triggerpoints

Do you have any other sx like tight , achey neck or upper back?
any RSI, tingling or numbness of arm or hands?

Hi and yes I have a very stiff neck, mostly on the right side also, down along the jaw line. My arms will go numb quite regular but not both at the same time.

Jerry

Wow! I'm experiencing the SAME thing although it is in my LEFT ear. It started a few days ago...i've been under A LOT of stress this semester (i'm a college student) and my nose has been twitching constantly for a month. Does anyone think that i'm having a inner ear muscle spasm due to stress? Since the inner ear thing just started a few days ago, it hasn't gotten worse...and yesterday it didn't happen at all. It'll come and go and is not a heart beat but almost like a fluttering/thumping ...

Can anyone offer some insight?

Wow! I'm experiencing the SAME thing although it is in my LEFT ear. It started a few days ago...i've been under A LOT of stress this semester (i'm a college student) and my nose has been twitching constantly for a month. Does anyone think that i'm having a inner ear muscle spasm due to stress? Since the inner ear thing just started a few days ago, it hasn't gotten worse...and yesterday it didn't happen at all. It'll come and go and is not a heart beat but almost like a fluttering/thumping ...

Can anyone offer some insight?
sounds like myoclonus....can you describe the nose twitching a bit better?
i get it behind my nose, in my sinuses...i have myoclonus in ear and e tube, severing the middle ear tendons helped.

sounds like myoclonus....can you describe the nose twitching a bit better?
i get it behind my nose, in my sinuses...i have myoclonus in ear and e tube, severing the middle ear tendons helped.

it's on the bridge of my nose...on either side... it's obnoxious
what's myoclonus? is it bad?

it's on the bridge of my nose...on either side... it's obnoxious
what's myoclonus? is it bad?
its a constant muscle spasm.
do you get any popping in the ear?

its a constant muscle spasm.
do you get any popping in the ear?

Nope, no popping in my ear. It feels like a spasm... almost like the spasm that's making my nose twitch it's just in the ear.

Nope, no popping in my ear. It feels like a spasm... almost like the spasm that's making my nose twitch it's just in the ear.
yup,
look up middle ear myoclonus....its a real pain!

Hi there. I guess we are experiencing the samre things. Hope you get the answers you need. Please don't be offended, but when you are on someone's post it's OK to reply regarding that post but if you need more info, you may want to start your own thread. One reason is I subscribe to my thread and when I get email notification, I get a few replies that are for you and not for me. Just and FYI is all. I'm sure someone here can assist you if needed.
Let's hope we get the thumping ear problem fixed though
Take care
Jerry

Sounds of pulsatile tinnitus are:- thumping, drumbeat, pulse, heartbeat, whooshing. I read that only 3% of tinnitus sufferers have this type of tinnitus.

Ent doctors usually say "live with it". Not so easy to do.

Clonazepam helped me. I take 1/2 tablet with coffee (to counteract the drowsiness) & 1/2 tablet at bedtime without coffee. I sleep well & wake up rested.

My tinnitus sounds go away 80 to 90% of every day now, for the 5 years I've been taking clonazepam. Clonazepam is an anti-anxiety med and is extremely inexpensive. It also works on restless legs syndrome. My mom takes it for that.

Hello,

Just to second what the above posters have said. The thumping is almost certainly myoclonus - it can be treated with benzos - valium etc... Although be careful with these drugs. I got vibrations in my middle ear and treated it by using a mouthguard for my tmj - often the cause of these middle ear spasms, and tiny doses of valium from time to time. There is another drug gor tmj called elavil (amitriptyline) which isn't addiciting and you take every day. You basically need to find something that can relax the muscles. If the problem stems from tmj then a mouthguard and ceasing to grind or clench your teeth could do it, but it take a while to work.

best,

Hi there,

I am currently experiencing the same symptoms as other posters, on and off spasm in right ear, for three weeks now, feels like a hiccup in my ear ?!?!?
Lib I understand you had surgery to help correct the symptoms, how big of an operation was this, is it an out patient sort of thing or is it quite a complicated opp.
I have a appointment coming up with an ENT, incase of a 'live with it' kind of response are there any drugs/treatments I can demand or request that anybody knows of?
Jerbear and NicoleD have your symptoms ceased yet, got worse or are about the same? I guess I'm thinking these symptoms came out of nowhere at a stressfull time in my life, I'm hoping they will disapear when things are less stressfull...heres hoping!

go see your doctor or ent. I've had that a couple times when i've had an ear infection. theres wax and a bunch of pressure. once thats gone it stops.

Hey BundyBear,

Thanks for the heads up, I have an appointment for an ENT this thursday although I'm going to have to reschedual because I'm completing the sale and purchase on a couple of houses on Friday.

You know I think what you said is right on the money, there feels like there is some heavy presure in the ear at times, it can also get sore at certain points in the day, the funny thing is I have been a week without any problems until yesterday were I had several minutes of thuds, seemed to go away after that, todays been fine.

If there is one thing I have learnt from the last couple of months, it's that I can truley feel for people with serious tinitus, after 4 days of constant thumping with no break I got a taste of the hell they go through.

The rapid thumping is probably the middle ear muscles which can be cut by an ENT surgeon. That should stop the problem once and for all. Ask your doctor about this option.