For the past seven months, I have been suffering horribly from a trauma to my left ear. My ear feels plugged and tender, sometimes there is snapping and popping when I swallow, sometimes I hear myself breathing followed by a hideous pop and I experience this maddening twitching and thumping in my ear. Sometimes this even happens in my good ear. Two days ago, I was awakened by a thumping sensation in my good ear. This lasted for ten seconds. Then, my left ear began twitching and thumping, first mildly, then severely to the point where it kept on thumping with my ear drum moving back and forth. This was the worst attack ever. In despair, I called my ENT. He saw me later that afternoon. He believes that this is being caused by palatal myoclonus (muscle spasms) and myoclonus of the middle ear muscles. I have an appointment with him tomorrow about having the offending muscle injected with botox to paralyze it. He also prescribed me 2 mg of Rivotril (Clonazepan) to try and stop the twitching and thumping when it happens. If this doesn't work, he may prescribe more powerful anti-convulsants. He may even perform an operation in the middle ear to sever the offending muscle. I hope that these treatments will get rid of the dynamic nature of my eustachian tube dysfunction. Having my ear constantly plugged and tender is unpleasant. It is the snapping, popping and thumping sensations that are unbearable. I feel my whole ear drum move. My life as I knew it is gone because of this. Is there anybody out there who has been treated for this same condition? I would like to hear from them.

Nathan,

I really feel for you and I understand how you feel. I have been going through something somewhat similar but not as severe) to what you are describing and I know you must be in agony. I experience this loud thudding in my ear that only occurs when I am on the verge of dowsing off. I be about to fall asleep, and than a single, loud THUD occurs. Than I get sleepy again, start dowsing off, and than THUD. This goes on, over and over again throughout the night. I get very little sleep and this has been going on for over 5 months. This is also accompained by some sort of drainage which goes down my throat that I can't cough up or blow out of my nose.

I am saying all this because of some things you have said makes me wonder if you experience a head injury. My symptoms started after I experienced a cerebrospinal fluid leak (csf) which was spontaneous. Normally these leaks occur after someone experience a head injury or head trauma, but mine came out of the blue.

The doctors are stumped in my case, and I am not sure if you have received a definite diagnosis. I consulted with a doctor over the internet who believes that I am leaking csf down my throat and that it is going into my ear as a result of lying down. Than he thinks the walls of my eustachian tube are sticking together and that the thudding sound I am hearing is the eustachian tube popping back open. But none of the doctors I have been able to verify this.

All the doctors I have seen have not been able to acertain what's wrong with me, and they are mystified. I am wondering if you have experienced any leakage through your nose or ear, which resulted from a head injury. If you do not find any answers with the doctors you are seeing (ENT), and you experienced a head injury you should consider seeing a neurologist or neurosurgeon.

Again, I am not certain if you received a definite diagnosis but I can't imagine what you must be going through. I probably havn't been much help but I think it is always best to consider all the possibilities. I often feel like giving up and I imagine you feel the same; but DON'T GIVE UP. Keep trying to seek out a doctor who can help you.

Rita

The trauma to my left ear was caused by it being struck by an open hand. At first, I feard brain injury, but it turns out that only my middle ear and eustachian tube are damaged. My ENT is looking into possible treatments: anti-convulsant drugs, injecting the bad muscles with Botox and as a last resort, severing the middle ear muscle that is causing the twitching and thumping. It sounds to me like you are suffering from almost the same condition. See an ENT, describe your symptoms in detail and mention Palatal Myoclonus and Myoclonus of the middle ear. These are problems that all ENT's should know and treat. I wish you the best of luck. I finally got my general practitioner to allow me to take 30 mg Empracet (Codeine/Acetaminophen) up to 3x a day as needed. My ENT prescribed me 2 mg Rivotril (PMS Clonazepam) a muscle relaxer and sedative 3x a day as needed. The two of them usually work well together except for the worst episodes. They make me spaced out, but that is far better than suffering!