Constant Ear Popping

[emrnyc]

For the past couple of years, I've had a constant popping/crackling in my ears.  I hear it when I swallow, yawn, etc.  I went to the ENT and he did a tympanometry test that came back normal, but said the he could hear the crackling when he listened in my ears.  There may be a problem with my Eustacian tube or, better yet, the muscles behind it.  He said there isn't much to do but maybe try an antihistamine which hasn't worked.  Even though its not life-threatening, its very frustrating to live with this!  Is there anything else, at all, to do to get rid of this noise?

[hoathy21]

IM GOING CRAZY!! CANT BELIEVE SO MANY PEOPLE SUFFER FROM EAR POPPING!! PLEASE HELP IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING THAT DEFINATELY WORKS!! i have been suffering for 3 years now everytime i swollow both ears pop its making me feel dizzy not myself and im im sure its causing anxiety and im always sleepy!! im going to try all your information on curing it i am currently going back and forth from the hospital and not getting any further :(((!!!! please help!!!

[csubs]

Tons of people have same problem, I think this is environmental. I had started having this problem in the fall and winter, in summer it goes away.  I had this exact same ear popping noise last winter as well, it does drive people insane in a quiet environment, it is better keep ear engaged with tons of other noises such as music, TV and so on.

[yorkere]

Correction to what I posted above:

Patulous Eustachian Tube DISORDER is ET patency
Eustachian Tube DYSFUNCTION is ET blockage...

Please forgive my errors....

Robert

[yorkere]

Jubal; et al, it was amazing to me, when I was making a series of consults with ENTs several years ago, that they actually had NO clue as to what to do for me....it seems to be a hugely common lament from those who suffer from this thing...

I can provide only my own experience...that it can get better over time...the problem is being able to identify what the root cause might be:

Either it's Eustachian Tube DYSFUNCTION (Patency of the ET)
Or it's due to ET DISORDER (ET Blockage)
or BOTH at the SAME TIME!

Robert E. Yorke

[susie197702]

I agree with you about these ENT'S!

[Jubal_Lee]

You're not a hypochondriac, as that is pretty much what I've been dealing with for the past few months.  Went to an ENT today because even though it has gotten much better, it is still persisting.  The ENT however seemed like he didn't have a clue and just wanted to charge me a bunch of money.  Mine has been slowly getting better over the past few months by being as calm as possible and listening to 'new age' and Tibetan buddhist type music for healing and meditation.  As it was the constant bad sound of harleys that hurt me, I figured some calming good sounds may help, and they have way more than a trip to the ENT did.  I guess all the prayers have helped as well. :).  I'm just glad I saw through his BS, and didn't let them put me through the ringer.  Blessings of good health to all those so out of it, they had to come this site for their ears.

[susie197702]

You know the more I am on this web site the more I am thinking that the ENT'S need to go back to school ha lots of them do not know the answer to most of people questions on their ears!

[kieran92]

Very interesting topic we have here, with a lot of good advice too.. I'm a 21-year old male who has recently given up a very unhealthy lifestyle. For the past 6-8 months, with steadily increasing ferocity, my ears and head pressure have given me problems with no let up. By that I'm meaning having to force my ears to pop every 30 seconds or so, and every time I swallow. After seeing 4 ENTs over 3 different countries (I was travelling at the time) the general consensus was to use a decongestant, nasal spray and do regular inhalations morning and evening. To my dismay, the steam and medicines didn't really help at all, but it's getting better and better the more I exercise and watch my diet.

The ABSOLUTE WORST thing you can do when suffering with this is to force your ears to pop, either by pinching your nose or moving your jaw creating the few sacred minutes of relief. All that happens is this becomes necessity - having to pop your ears forcibly more and more often - and eventually the ear drum is damaged irreversibly. Picture a drum skin on a snare drum perhaps, with enough adjusting the skin is going to get frail and damaged, which is exactly what happens to your ear drum.

So, my advice to anyone who's reading this is to get checked by a doctor, and if they find nothing seriously untoward (like they didn't with me) your best bet is to start living a more healthy lifestyle. Mine seemingly stemmed from a nasty acid reflux problem. Try forget about it, and it'll eventually go away. The best thing for now is for you to know that you aren't alone going through this daily hell inside your head, and there is a solution.

Oh, and a medicine called pan-d for acid reflux does the trick.