I am at the end of my rope, and hoping someone here can help me. For well over a year I have had a strange thing going on with my left ear. It feels plugged,(while I can hear perfectly fine) and when it gets really bad, I can put my finger under my earlobe (right where the lobe meets your face) and push upward, and it pops & cracks and feels better for a little while.At any given time I can do this and I get a crackling noise, and it seems somehow the pressure is relieved. Sometimes just turning my head causes a pulling feeling from inside of my ear, all the way to the bottom of my jaw. I did go to the Dr. last year when all of this started, and she told me that I had allergies, which seems to be a "catch-all" diagnonsis, I really feel that this is something else, and with my hypochondria, of course I am thinking it is something sinister. I have been leary to go back to see my Dr. because my symptoms are hard to explain, and I am pretty sure I will be told it is allergies again. I do believe I have TMJ, but I really dont have many problems with my jaw. This is not really painful,more of a nusiance. I believe it is something I could live with if I just knew what it was!I should add that it does come and go, and sometimes it is worse than others, but there is always something not completely right with this ear.Anybody have any ideas??

TMJ ! It the most common symptom.I do not think you know what tmj is. They make a soft thing you put in your mouth and sleep with. It loosens the muscles and the pulling will stop. It can cause all kinds of radiating pains as well, but the soft splint really help it a lot.