Thumping/drumming in one ear

Posted by kerryf88 @kerryf88, Mar 15, 2019

It started about a week ago, I was walking my dog and suddenly I hear this rapid drumming sound in my right ear, twice, it doesn’t match my heartbeat at all, the second time it happened I covered my right ear with a finger and it’s gone. And since then I’ve been having occasional rapid thumps (3-4 thumps) in the right ear, maybe once or twice a day or sometimes none in a day, no common trigger, just happens randomly during the day. I don’t know why? When the thumping happens it feels like that ear is partially blocked like under water.

I’m currently experiencing slight dizziness due to bad postures from a few weeks ago, which leads to sore neck and shoulder, not sure if this could be related?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Support Group.

Yes please let me know how it goes! I'm scheduling to see another ENT soon. I suspect I may have middle ear myoclonus, so I called and asked an office near me if they would know how to treat it, they said yes, so I'm hoping they can. I'm hoping they will actually help get rid or minimize it instead of trying to mask it by prescribing muscle relaxers or something which doesn't actually help the issues. I don't have insurance at the moment so this is the biggest issue, however if botox really does work then I think I may have no other choice.

REPLY
@calg

Yes please let me know how it goes! I'm scheduling to see another ENT soon. I suspect I may have middle ear myoclonus, so I called and asked an office near me if they would know how to treat it, they said yes, so I'm hoping they can. I'm hoping they will actually help get rid or minimize it instead of trying to mask it by prescribing muscle relaxers or something which doesn't actually help the issues. I don't have insurance at the moment so this is the biggest issue, however if botox really does work then I think I may have no other choice.

Jump to this post

Did they tell you about your treatment options when they said they can treat it ? But yea muscle relaxers did nothing for me nor did the alprazolam. It may give you a little relief as in terms of relaxing and getting a little piece of mind but both of those medications aren’t something you want to be on long term, you’ll then end up having two problems on your hands, dependence for controlled substance and also still dealing with your ear issue. I’ll definitely keep everyone posted on my treatment. I recommend you see a psychiatrist and let them know this impacted your life cause it sure did for me. I believe that if we all can’t get treatment for this and if there is but they don’t work then it should count as a disability.

God Bless.

REPLY
@zoomer925

Did they tell you about your treatment options when they said they can treat it ? But yea muscle relaxers did nothing for me nor did the alprazolam. It may give you a little relief as in terms of relaxing and getting a little piece of mind but both of those medications aren’t something you want to be on long term, you’ll then end up having two problems on your hands, dependence for controlled substance and also still dealing with your ear issue. I’ll definitely keep everyone posted on my treatment. I recommend you see a psychiatrist and let them know this impacted your life cause it sure did for me. I believe that if we all can’t get treatment for this and if there is but they don’t work then it should count as a disability.

God Bless.

Jump to this post

They did not mention what treatments they have, but I'll see. If all else fails I'm also going to try acupuncture and chiropractor. I wanna say when I was seeing a chiropractor the thumping was a little less, but it also just seems to have gotten more frequent over time anyways so its hard to say. I'm just in the mindset that I refuse to give up , there is no way I can live with this, or at the very least I can't live with how frequent it happens now. Wakes me up almost nightly at this point.

REPLY
@calg

They did not mention what treatments they have, but I'll see. If all else fails I'm also going to try acupuncture and chiropractor. I wanna say when I was seeing a chiropractor the thumping was a little less, but it also just seems to have gotten more frequent over time anyways so its hard to say. I'm just in the mindset that I refuse to give up , there is no way I can live with this, or at the very least I can't live with how frequent it happens now. Wakes me up almost nightly at this point.

Jump to this post

Yea I have rough nights as well my mental health has gone done the drain. I forgot to mention I did chiropractor as well and sadly I didn’t get the results that I wanted to get. How ever I haven’t tried acupuncture but I would like to give it a try and actually tell them what I’m experiencing so maybe they can do the method more near the ears. It’s worth a shot but I’ve tried so many things I feel hopeless 🙁 I hope this Botox treatment works well for me I herd good things about it and my doctor says his patients with tittnitus and Hypercusis have found relief from it. He also said if it fails we’re going to do a MRI around the jaws of my mouth that connect to your ear how ever he said if all else fails he’s going to help me get qualified for disability cause I can’t really do much anymore I never have the energy for one and when I do something and the ear starts bugging me I get so fed up I can’t focus I can’t do much. It’s impacted my life so bad 🙁 I can’t enjoy anything anymore it’s really sad but I try.. if you’re interested in my doctors his name is Dr Andrew Berman of Beverly Hills. He accepts people with insurance or no insurance and the botox treatment with out insurance is only $400.

REPLY
@zoomer925

Yea I have rough nights as well my mental health has gone done the drain. I forgot to mention I did chiropractor as well and sadly I didn’t get the results that I wanted to get. How ever I haven’t tried acupuncture but I would like to give it a try and actually tell them what I’m experiencing so maybe they can do the method more near the ears. It’s worth a shot but I’ve tried so many things I feel hopeless 🙁 I hope this Botox treatment works well for me I herd good things about it and my doctor says his patients with tittnitus and Hypercusis have found relief from it. He also said if it fails we’re going to do a MRI around the jaws of my mouth that connect to your ear how ever he said if all else fails he’s going to help me get qualified for disability cause I can’t really do much anymore I never have the energy for one and when I do something and the ear starts bugging me I get so fed up I can’t focus I can’t do much. It’s impacted my life so bad 🙁 I can’t enjoy anything anymore it’s really sad but I try.. if you’re interested in my doctors his name is Dr Andrew Berman of Beverly Hills. He accepts people with insurance or no insurance and the botox treatment with out insurance is only $400.

Jump to this post

Oh wow, thank you! I will definitely reach out. I'm in Anaheim so not terribly far from there. I'm sorry chiro didn't help. And I hear you, it really is starting to affect me greatly. At first it would just happen here and there for an hour or two, and its just gotten worse which scares me. I'm young still and I don't want it to debilitate me but its starting to get to that point. I hope for both of us something works. I was also wondering if possibly my jaw does have something to do with it. Once I get insurance I do plan on having that looked at as well. Please let me know how the botox goes!

REPLY
@calg

Oh wow, thank you! I will definitely reach out. I'm in Anaheim so not terribly far from there. I'm sorry chiro didn't help. And I hear you, it really is starting to affect me greatly. At first it would just happen here and there for an hour or two, and its just gotten worse which scares me. I'm young still and I don't want it to debilitate me but its starting to get to that point. I hope for both of us something works. I was also wondering if possibly my jaw does have something to do with it. Once I get insurance I do plan on having that looked at as well. Please let me know how the botox goes!

Jump to this post

Oh sweet if you’re in Anaheim definitely reach out to him don’t sleep on it.
Look into covered California as well I got blue shield thru them and only pay about 70$ a month for a PPO.

REPLY
@zoomer925

Hello everyone I suffer from this ear pulsing in both ears for almost id say since 2018. Woke up one morning with ear plugs in and my left ear was thumping very similar to a muscle spasm if I had to describe it, doesn’t match my heartbeat I’ve self diagnosed myself in many ways possible,from going vegan seeing if it’s blood pressure related and it still continued, I added magnesium in my diet for months and still no improvement. I don’t drink alcohol nor do i smoke. I am under lots of stress generally from the ear,It originally started in my left ear and my left ear only and now I experience it in both ears,sometimes they go off at the same time, sometimes it’s just one ear, I noticed what triggers it on demand is when I burp or yawn other then that it will spasm out the blue. I’ve done MRIs and found nothing. I went to Stanford University only to get looked at funny by a doctor telling me it’s just all in my head and I’m fine haha Dr Sherago is the man, real wonderful guy …NOT… avoid !
I then gave up with Stanford and made my way to UCSF who also didn’t really give me many options besides wanting to do surgery and I declined only cause I’ve done my research and there’s other options out there available like Botox but the doctor completely was against it which I found pretty funny cause there’s forums out there saying Botox is the best way to start prior before surgery to see if it actually targets the muscle, from there if the Botox works it’s possible surgery could work as well, keep in mind no one at the end of the day wants to do surgery so I’m not really up for it unless I had a clear diagnosis stating I’ll be okay or for say the surgery could go 80% well then that’s something I may consider as of right now most of these so called doctors with degrees just want to crack my ear open and make me worse then what I am now. I then realized that UCSF gets terrible reviews and falls I think maybe the 13th best clinic in the United States in other words your not in good hands,
That’s why I’m on the Mayo Clinic’s page cause they have a pretty decent reputation and fancy equipment other clinics don’t have. Keep in mind I’m in Northern California so I’m not 100% sure if I can just visit the Mayo Clinic,it may be my last option if I have to do surgery. As of now ! I’m seeing a doctor in Beverly Hills who actually encouraged me to not do surgery basically gave me the crazy look and we will be doing Botox soon ! If that fails he recommends these hearing aids but nonetheless he’s not up for surgery doesn’t even mention it to me nor does he feel comfortable of doing it. So far I’m diagnosed with this crazy ear pulsating that I think he may have diagnosed it as tittnitus and as well as hypercusis cause I have ear sensitivity in the left ear which is the worse ear , I can’t tolerate dishes or the dog door slamming back and fourth. If I’m in a room quiet and a plate drops for example it really makes me ear uncomfortable, no it doesn’t it set the pulsating off, it just feels sensitive. I notice sometimes when I put pressure in my ears it will stop but not right away how ever it does make it a little bit more comfortable when I do put pressure on it but then there’s the fear of me damaging my ear even more cause I’m almost convinced that it was the ear plugs that damaged my ears ! Why ? Cause when ever I use one or for say mimic a ear plug it somewhat stops. I bin suffering with this condition for years ! I’m 30 years old and I feel like a vegetable I can’t take on any big tasks I barley have enough energy to get work done during the day, it’s messed up my social life and everything else ! I’m not to sure how much I can take and I could just only imagine if I had to deal with it 24/7 I don’t think I would be writing this message right now. Sad to say but it’s the honest truth, this impacted my life to the max ! Almost to the point there’s no sense of living anymore since I can’t be normal… anyways I don’t encourage suicide to anyone, anyone out there just no your not alone

Jump to this post

Pulsating or Spasming? I had a spasming issue near my right ear and once my left ear sounded like sporadic drumming. Not exactly my ear. If it is spasming check if it is your Superficial Temporal Nerve. The nerve that goes right beside your ear. Let me know,

REPLY

So I had this issue of sporadic drumming, especially on my right ear, the whole right side left tight and tensed, and had tinnitus over that. The spasms and the drumming sound went away but the pulsation feeling still comes once in a while but slowly reduced in its intensity. It seems to be getting better. My PCP said it is a stress response and to get a mouth splint. Nowadays I feel some TMJ pain and will see a TMJ doc soon hopefully. I also felt my shoulder and neck tense and it still is tense. My neck artery on my right side started to pulsate since yesterday, it is scary, and making me nervous. If anyone had the same experience please share.

REPLY
@zoomer925

Oh sweet if you’re in Anaheim definitely reach out to him don’t sleep on it.
Look into covered California as well I got blue shield thru them and only pay about 70$ a month for a PPO.

Jump to this post

@zoomer925 Check out my response it may help. My condition got worse before it got better. It took about 85 days for my tinnitus to almost go away, and the drumming took about 45 days. Hope that helps.

REPLY
@jones911

Pulsating or Spasming? I had a spasming issue near my right ear and once my left ear sounded like sporadic drumming. Not exactly my ear. If it is spasming check if it is your Superficial Temporal Nerve. The nerve that goes right beside your ear. Let me know,

Jump to this post

It’s like a muscle spasm that’s all I can describe it, It doesn’t match my heart beat either. It’s just like a muscle spasm in the leg for say.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.