Vibrating eardrum, pulsating sensation, on and off.

[Jon82]

Hi there,
about 5 or 6 weeks ago I started getting a vibrating feeling in my right ear. I thought it would pass but it soon got to the point of real annoyance, flaring up at night and lasting til the morning where I would get up and it would go away.
I got sick of it so I went to the doctor who checked my ears and said that it did look sore in there and perhaps I had an infection so they prescribed a low dose of amoxicillin.

I took about 1/3 of the dose and stopped because the symptoms went away. I didnt like the side effects (bad stomach) so I stopped taking it since the vibrating had stopped.

The vibrating came back though after a few days, and it became a constant sense of vibrating. I was back to the doctor and he prescribed a greater dose of amoxicillin and advised me to finish it, which I did this time. Great, no symptoms for the last week.

A couple of days ago however, the symptoms started again, and yet again, only at night. I went to bed with the annoying banging and awoke to it, only for it to go away during the day.

The doctor did tell me that it would take maybe 6 weeks to clear up, and since that time period has not yet passed, should I still be experiencing those vibrations? I think it has been about 4 weeks since I last went to the doctor. Things were going ok until it flared up again; is this to be expected?
Could this issue be an anxiety issue, since everytime I think 'hey, my eardrum hasnt bothered me at all recently',
it starts flaring up again?

[Denis396]

I have had the same problem or similar problem. My right ear was making a loud thumping noise and would wake me up in the morning. It was loud and irregular. The sound it made was like if you put your finger on the piece of skin just forward of the ear canal and push in and release. It makes a thumping sound. That is what I was hearing.
I finally figured out how to fix it today.
I was thinking it was caused by muscles around the ear and have tried acupressure on the muscles forward and below the ear. They were very tight but I got no relief. Today I tried inside the ear just aft of the ear canal.
There was a very tight muscle that felt as hard as a bone but with constant pressure for about 2 minutes it started to relax. And gone was the annoying thumping.

Hope this helps.

[VicrMac]

Well we are quite a lot with this problem. It all started since using mobile phone technology close to my ear, so I am not longer using it without speaker on. Its a combination of past hearing use and abuse: loud music, loud bangs, drilling, swimming, ear infections, wax, poking you name it I've heard them all. My left ear is the one with the thumping while both left and right produce the constant ringing which I've learnt to live with it. I am now also switching off the router at night (wireless) and mobile phones too!. I discovered that changing posture helps in my case, as it appears that being tense/anxious can trigger it. Thanks to all who shared the experiences.

[FelipeTheGreat]

I have it in any position and not only when laying down.

I have to agree that coffee seems to make it worse and also when with a hang over it can be even worse.

[IainO]

Hi, there. \o
Does anyone here use buds (The audio kind)?
I prefer using headphones to listen to music on my phone. Since buds seem to never stay put, in my ears. But since mine has developed a loose cable, I switched back to using buds again. And have noticed the pulsing has started in my left ear again.

[SirRiDoK]

I thought I was going crazy when this started happening to me but I'm glad I thought to google it and found this post. Ozone I'm sorry to hear you been putting up with this for 21 years..well 21 when you posted this...I see that was in 2010. I did see another post above yours also describing it exactly as it's happening to me but yours was crazy.. Anyway I don't know how things worked out for you but for you and the rest and any future readers I wanted to put in my 2 cents.
    Mine started about a month ago in my left ear and feels like a monkey bangin a drum (monkey with no rythm) Anyway it only happens to me when periodicly through the day and I'm starting to think it's from my neck. I have had neck and back problems for about 10 years but recently due to the neck pain I've been using the smaller of my two cervical pillows and when I wake up in the morning my neck and all the muscles down toy shoulders are tight and knotted up and my neck all the way up to the base of my skull is locked up.
   When I lay down it stops and always seems to happen when I'm up and moving around especially when I'm looking down. For the past few days I've also been having this uncontrolable sensation like when you pull your ears back and flex some muscle in your head and it makes like a swooshing noise for a few seconds and then gradually fades. It acts like a muscle flexing so I'm assuming thats what it is but before I used to have to try to make it happen and now it seems like when I'm laying down it happens when I blink or when I think about it without trying to do it.
  The only other thing I can think of that's changed when this started was a couple weeks before hand I made myself a removable partial denture. I had a couple bottom mollers pulled and the one above started dropping down so I made the partial to be a little on the tall side so I could try to gradually push it back up. In the process I realized how far off my bite had become because of these teeth missing. I'm always chewing on the left side (happens to be the same side as the thumping) and after wearing the partial for a few days my bite straightened out and instead of only hitting the partial side, both sides of my teeth were hitting. So I basicly reshifted my jaw which brings me to the TMJ or muscle spasm theory.
   But then again it was weeks without wearing the partial before it started. I tried using some wax drops marine ear or whatever...and it didn't help but I did notice since putting the drops in both ears now I occasionally get tingling and itching in my ears. Maybe it's a combination of my neck and my jaw I don;'t know but I'm leaning towards my neck problem.
Im 32 years old
I don't drink
I smoke and chew back and forth trying to quit smoking
my blood pressure is fine as I see a pain doc every month n just went today.
I take pain meds but have been for 6-7 years
I have 2 herniated disks in my lumbar (low back) and 2 bulging in my cervical(neck)
I do tend to clinch my teeth when I sleep but never had pain from it

  I'm still leaning towards neck because I also used to be able to crack it both ways when it got real sore and now it hurts to try and I haven't gone a day in over 2 weeks where I haven't woken up without severe pain and stiffness in my neck and shoulders. I actually think there are a lot of posters above me that should think about seeing a chiropractor for your neck and see if that helps...there are a lot of nerves that control a lot of things in your head that are in and through your cervical spine. I am going to either go get a deep tissue massage or see a cracker quak and get an adjustment and see if it helps. I'm curious if you figured anything out Ozone?  BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOU! I can be reached at SirRidok at aol *******...     God Bless!

[rpuck]

I stumbled across this page because I am having the same symptoms as most everyone on this page.  However, my eardrum vibrates to sounds and syllables!!  Odd, I know.  Whenever I'm talking with someone that has a deep, "bassy" voice, it will vibrate to EVERY syllable that the person says.  The really bad thing is that my manager AND my husband are the worst because of how deep their voices are!  So, when I'm talking with either one of them, all I want them to do is STOP so the vibration will stop!  I tend to turn my head and will even stick my finger in my ear with hopes that it will help.  I feel like I miss half of what they are saying because all I can concentrate on is wanting them to stop talking!  It mainly happens at night (when I'm home with my deep-voiced husband) which makes me think it's something to do with the barometric pressure or something - I have no idea!  

Does anyone else have this same "syllable-vibration"?  If I missed it, I'm sorry, but there are so many posts that I had to scan through them but didn't see anything addressing syllables!