Thumping/drumming in one ear

I got these symptoms suddenly one morning and it woke me up from sleep. I've noticed them occasionally. My two theories on the cause are 1) My high cholesterol or 2) I've been listening to white noise at night, maybe a little bit too loud. #2 is the main reason I am posting here. Curious if anyone else here listens to various forms of white noise or sound for long periods of time? Maybe that could be a contributing factor, perhaps I'm never giving my ears a chance to rest and it's causing some strain in there? I've turned the volume way down at night and I haven't actually experienced it again in weeks. It would be alarming if white noise was a common tool we were using to block out the thumping sound in our ears and it was actually contributing to making symptoms worse through some kind of strain/overuse. But, equally compelling to me is that I need to lower my cholesterol through healthy diet and exercise, high cholesterol seems to damage all sorts of things in the body. Appreciate any feedback if anyone else thinks white noise for long periods of time could be a contributing factor, and also just wanted to throw that out there as a possible caution for others. Lastly, this doesn't really add much to my main question, but just for the sake of telling my whole story, another strange trigger for me is hearing fast clicking sounds, like if I hear someone reeling in a fishing pole suddenly my right inner ear starts thumping and fluttering uncomfortably and I want to get away from the clicking. Maybe its so strained that particular sound sends it into a spasm. Best of health to you all!

This is such great information. I recently started sleeping almost sitting up. It seems that if I don't allow a pressure to build up in my ear, it helps with the thumping. And you are right. It is so fast, it was no where near the beat of my heart. I thought I was hearing all four chambers beat. My husband told me that wasn't possible - I believe him.
I appreciate your sharing your information. I must say that I can sleep on either side of my head and no thumping, as long as I am sleeping upright. I am OK with that. It is so much better than waking up nervous from this rapid thumping. I do still feel pressure in my ear. The ENT and GP both see no physical fluid, but there is definitely pressure there to me. I appreciate all the support. I am seeing one more ENT next week. Hopefully I will have similar response - that it is nothing major to worry about. In the meantime I have started addressing salty foods and stress. My family doctor did ask that I lose a few pounds and add more fruits and veggies to my diet. (My BP was a little higher than I have ever had. She attributes it to stress from work and diet.)

Hi,

I see it’s been a awhile since you’ve written this so I hope you see my reply. I use white noise every night, admittedly on my phone and held right near my ear. I developed a sudden loud flutter in my ear recently, seemingly out of nowhere. It was constant for nearly two days and has slowly decreased to intermittent. I find noise significantly increases the flutter whereas the silence decreases the thumping. I saw an ENT who confirmed it’s one of the small muscles behind the eardrum having a spasm. I’ve stopped using the white noise, started taking magnesium and was prescribed a muscle relaxer to help ease the spasms. It’s been so distressing to have a constant drumming in the ear and worrying that it’ll never go away. Best of luck!

When my ear was thumping both my PCP and the ENT specialist recommended Flonase to help clear my sinus. I was just curious if any of your doctors recommended trying flonase?

The muscle relaxer does not seem to be helping with the spasms but only with calming down my anxiety about this situation and with falling asleep. The flutter comes and goes now for five days, regardless of anything I’ve tried. Only noise makes it much worse so I try to avoid loud situations.

By the time I got to the ENT my thumping had disapeared so he couldn't have heard it. But prior to my appt my PCP and Audiologist mentions trying flonase. All I know is I used flonase for a week and my thumping disapeared. My ENT could only guess by the time he saw me.