Hey all,
I'm new here, as a result of many factors, the first being that I can't sleep. The anxiety caused by my ear problem is.. Quite something. It's scaring me shitless infact. Secondly, I'm also here as a result of a somewhat lacking doctor, which after a one month wait for a 2 minute examination, told me that from what she could see, everything was normal, barely listened to me, gave me some nose decongesting spray and sent me on my way without as much as listening to what symptoms I had. As for the problem itself... Well here it is :

A while ago I noticed I started hearing less from my right ear. Well, after 8 years of listening to music everyday for many hours a day, let me say that this could do nothing but worry me to hell. Yet it wasn't only that. I always am feeling some sort of... Ear blockage, and it seems that swallowing, blowing my nose and so on does nothing to help. Even, sometimes when I try to unblock it by blowing holding my nostrils/mouth shut with my fingers, I start feeling some cold feeling.. Liquid I guess, which lasts for as much as a minute or so. Now and then after trying to unblock it for a while, it pops on its own, or it feels like something's moving in there. Without forgetting the near constant ear ache, which also makes my ear somewhat sensitive to noise, which makes it somewhat hard to live with when at school.

Now what worries me, is not all these symptoms, but the fact that I do not always feel them. My ear feels blocked alot of the time, but sometimes it's fine, minus the hearing part, where I still hear less. It's when I start thinking about it, and trying to unblock it that all starts happening, which I usually do everyday.

Which makes me wonder : Is it just me? Am I simply losing hearing in my right ear? Yet, the blockage feel is far from an illusion, or the liquid feel from those few times.

Anyone knows what's going on? Had a similar situation even? Is it just my mind getting the better of me? Getting a bit desperate, and my sleep schedule is thinking so too ;_;

Have you been to an ENT? (Ear Nose Throat Doc). He would be the best place to go if your symptoms are a feeling of blockage....

What other symptoms do you have

Hi ZD,

It does sound as though an ENT might be the person to see for you. I would have recommended a neurotologist but you don't mention dizziness at all. You may just have a eustachian tube problem but hard to know. I seriously doubt you are losing your hearing slowly in one ear. To my knowledge a disease causing gradual hearing loss would occur in both ears. Get an expert opinion and no doubt you'll feel better about it all and the anxiety will go with that knowledge.

Get another doctor if this one refuses to listen to you or give you a referral. There are many docs out there (your present one included) who have little understanding of ear problems unfortunately.

Best....Scott :cool:

i know these things are hard to put into words,but can you describe "it feels like something is moving in there" and when your ear is sensitive.....to what kind of noises and what does it cause in the ear....

I don't know. Sometimes it just does the popping sound on its own, and it feels like the inside of my ear just twitched. I've started using nasonex, and it did SEEM to improve a bit this morning.

As for other symptoms...

-Somehow, I can make my left ear pop by yawning, but my right one(The one mentionned in my post) remains unresponsive. Not sure if this is normal/random.

-Sensitive : Even if I can't hear as much, loud noises do cause some aching.

About all I can think about. It's real touchy, and I've been much more careful about volume, sounds and so on ever since this started.

And thank you for all the answers, ear problems are few and far between for me, and all this help is definately encouraging.

I don't know. Sometimes it just does the popping sound on its own, and it feels like the inside of my ear just twitched. I've started using nasonex, and it did SEEM to improve a bit this morning.

As for other symptoms...

-Somehow, I can make my left ear pop by yawning, but my right one(The one mentionned in my post) remains unresponsive. Not sure if this is normal/random.

-Sensitive : Even if I can't hear as much, loud noises do cause some aching.

About all I can think about. It's real touchy, and I've been much more careful about volume, sounds and so on ever since this started.

And thank you for all the answers, ear problems are few and far between for me, and all this help is definately encouraging.
well it probably is twitching, that is also what causes the popping sound. i am all too familiar with this mess. look up middle ear myoclonus, tensor tympani syndrome, stapedial myoclonus. for most it resolves on its own. for me it did not so i had surgery. it will cause all sorts of symptoms and sensitivities.
the two middle ear muscles can spasm and tense like any other muscle in the body....not bad when its your leg........horror when its in your ear.
hope this helps......feel free to read up on my posts.....after a long hard road and several misdiagnoses....i finally found answers.