Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

Rushing sound and pressure in ear

I feel a fullness in my left ear when hearing external or sometimes internal sounds. Then almost a second after the sound has stopped, I hear a rushing sound with a strong pressure that intensifies relatively to the loudness of that rushing sound. The intensity of this symptom is also relative to the loudness of the sound causing this reaction. Typically, this is at its worst after laying down for a good period of time, or after waking up in the morning. And don’t hate me when I say this, but if I clean my left ear with a q-tip (which I know your not suppose to) I tend to cough as if an airway is being obstructed. (And when my mom would do it when I was younger, I told her it hurt in my left ear and that I could feel it all the way in my neck) But When I clean my right ear, I do not cough or feel like I’m choking. I’m not sure if it’s my tensor tympani muscle, because when I tightly close my eyes shut, I hear a loud rumbling over the left side of my head only, but not over my right. And when I yawn, I hear a quieter low rumble that’s slightly higher in pitch in both ears at the same time as the louder rumble on my left side. And when I have an episode where that annoying rushing sound/pressure symptom occurs, it feels and sounds like it’s more closer to my outer ear than the sound of my tensor tympani muscle. My doctor attempted to clean my ears, she thought maybe it was an infection. When she looked in my ears, she said that strangely, my right ear had more ear wax and my left ear looked fine. (Remember, my left side has the symptoms) She cleaned my right ear and everything was fine. But after 20 seconds or so of her squirting water into my left ear, I started to get extremely dizzy, felt weird, and felt as if I was going to panic. So she stopped instantly. I do not think it’s tinnitus because it’s not a ringing sound, it it IS triggered by something, it doesn’t just happen out of the blue. Another thing, I took an ancestry dna test, and it said I was a carrier of tay sachs disease. And I know that’s where your brain stem starts to deteriorate, and I that the brain stem plays a part in the acoustic reflex system. And late onset is a possibility if someone does have this. (This could be completely irrelevant and I could just only be a carrier, just thought I should include that) I also have anxiety, clench my teeth a lot, and my jaw either pops on the right side or locks up if I try to open my mouth all the way. So I have to move it in a circular motion to the left to get it to open. I think that could have been caused by braces with an overbite correction, that didn’t fully fix my overbite, or being hit in the jaw which made it lock up for half an hour. Could it be possible that my jaw is causing this problem? My mom has Tmj, Could tmj cause this symptom? I have also had problems with near syncopes, complete temporary hearing loss when I wake up, and a form of purpura with low white blood cell count in the past. Currently I struggle with panic disorder, arrhythmia, parasomnia/hypnopompic hallucinations, extreme fatigue, and this strange ear problem. I wish that my doctor ran more tests when I had insurance. Now, I currently don’t have insurance or the finances to see a doctor. I’ve been struggling with this for 6 years now and it really bothers me. Do y’all have any ideas to what this could be?
1 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
You didn't say if it felt better after you got your ear wax cleaned out.  I have to do that a couple times a year, and it's always worse in one ear than the other for some reason.  For me, it's always worse in my left ear.  And it does affect hearing when it gets bad enough, and causes pressure.  The dizziness from the cleaning is normal, but can be minimized or eliminated by making sure the water is lukewarm and not cold. If it's too cold it will make you dizzy.  Some people are better at doing it than others.  The Q tip will just pack it in even more, so only use that if at all to clean the very outside of the ear, never press anywhere near the inside.  There are ways of softening the wax but it just hardens again if you can't get it out.  Getting the ear irrigated goes easier if the person doing it uses something to soften the wax first before irrigating.  But they are in a hurry these days.  
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Thank you for reading and your quick response :) but no, it did not get better afterwards. If anything it temporarily made it worse. I have never had a problem with hearing, as if it were plugged with wax. I’ve only had a problem with not being able to hear at all in either ear within the first minute of waking up. Then my hearing gradually came back. I have a friend that regularly has to get his ears cleaned because he has wax overproduction. When I asked him about his daily experience, sadly it wasn’t anything like mine :/ The lady that cleaned my ears did not finish cleaning my left ear after I got super dizzy. She was using warm water, and I’m not too sure if she softened up the wax or not. She did warn me that if I get dizzy to let her know. I was not expecting that amount of dizziness. I felt like I was about to pass out
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Undiagnosed Symptoms Community

Top General Health Answerers
363281 tn?1643235611
Nelson, New Zealand
1756321 tn?1547095325
Queensland, Australia
19694731 tn?1482849837
AL
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Discharge often isn't normal, and could mean an infection or an STD.
In this unique and fascinating report from Missouri Medicine, world-renowned expert Dr. Raymond Moody examines what really happens when we almost die.
Think a loved one may be experiencing hearing loss? Here are five warning signs to watch for.
When it comes to your health, timing is everything
We’ve got a crash course on metabolism basics.
Learn what you can do to avoid ski injury and other common winter sports injury.