Hearing Ticking Clock Occassional Buzzing with Dizziness

[dustybrown]

Hello,
This is my first time in this forum. I want to talk to you all about some new symptoms I just began having over the past three weeks or so. It all started with this loud buzzing in my left ear. It would only happen when I was talking on my cell phone and someone was actually talking to me and they would raise their voice. Their voice would buzz out of audibility for me and would tickle my ear. This started to happen more frequently.

I have always had a fullness in my ears and slightly swollen lymph nodes (drs have never thought anything of it).  I have TMJ, but have never experiences ringing in the ear or any of the classic Tinnitus symptoms, so this is really strange for me.

Ok, now my next symptom I began to get dizzy every day. Every time I would move my body I would feel a little disoriented. My heart kind of feels like it's jumping out of it's chest and my head feels like I left it where it was before I moved it. Yikes!  

Now, the buzzing has stopped and I am hearing this tiny little sound that resembles the hands of a small wrist watch moving or ticking- very high pitch ticking or clinking. Oh and all of this is only happening in my left ear. I don't have any guck or drainage coming out of my ear either. My husband took a look at both ears and he said they look perfectly clean and beautiful.

What could be causing this out of the blue??? One nurse friend of mine suggested an ear infection, so I decided to buy some Sudafed and began taking it yesterday. It seems too soon to tell if it's helping. I may go see a doctor if It doesn't help within the next day or so. What do you think it could be? I just can't stand the dizziness.

[Nancy T]

Hi Dusty. Hearing problems are not typical in MS but they certainly do happen. MS can affect any part of the central nervous system, including the parts involving hearing.

If I were you, I would not wait until July but would ask to be referred to an ENT for an evaluation of your ear issues. You really should get a hearing test.

If you have other kinds of symptoms that the neurologist needs to evaluate, your ear issues might get lost in the shuffle and not addressed properly. Thus--see an ENT! It's usually fairly fast to get in to see them, unlike the weeks or months you usually wait to see a neurologist. Good luck!

[dustybrown]

I should mention also that I am being sent to an MS MD for other medical issues I have in July. They are going to be doing an initial evaluation on me. This hearing thing just appeared out of no where. Do you ever see this type of hearing issue with MS?

[Nancy T]

See an ENT--they will send you for a hearing test and see if anything serious is going on. Some of your symptoms could be due to anxiety or just paying too much attention to your ear at this point, but the sound distortion, dizziness, and ticking definitely need to be checked out with a hearing test. You might have some hearing loss without knowing it.