Bubbling/Popping in the Ear

[albertalbert]

This is annoying! When I go to sleep at night it's fine; but after a few hours I find that if I'm lying on my left side I get woken up by "popping" sounds or "bubbling" in my right ear. It sounds like bubbles are going through liquid and then popping when they come to the surface. I have to turn over and sleep on the other side (but inevitably turn over once I'm asleep and get woken up again).

I saw the doctor who said my ears looked clean. I tried some proprietary ear cleaner and it helps a little but not a lot.

Whether it's related or not I don't know, but I find that if I use a cotton bud to clean my right ear it causes a tickling in the back of my throat and if I use a cotton bud for the left ear it makes my eyes water and can be very painful in my ear.

Hmmm... any ideas? Perhaps something better to clean the ear?

Many thanks!

[albertalbert]

Thank you - I will try some steam as you suggest and see how that goes. Many thanks for your suggestions.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

The same sensory nerves which supply the ear supply the throat also, hence the referred feeling. It's normal to have that sensation. There are tubes called 'Eustachian  tubes' which connect the middle ear to the throat, this balances the air pressure in the ears. This tube can get  blocked due to infections of the throat, which can give lead to a feeling of fullness in the ears. This can also result in infection of the ears. The blocked ears can be opened up by the valsalva maneuver, where air is blown into the cheeks against a closed nostrils, this sometimes helps to open up the tubes. Steam inhalations and warm salt water gargles can help clear the tube. Please discuss this with your doctor am sure he will provide further assistance.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.