ear suddenly stuffed

[ForumGal]

Dear all,
How to look up these symptoms?
1) suddenly one ear feels stuffed, blocked, rings. This lasts for
hours/days. No obvious trigger.
2) that ear, when the outer rim is flicked, produces a metalic sound (a
clang) inside the ear (audible only internally).
3) that ear rings constantly
4) dizziness does not accompany this experience

Assuming this is a nerve reacting to something . . . ?

Many thanks,
Margaret in Boston
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[Shannon Nelson]

Hi Margaret,
How long has it been going on--that is, when did it *first* start, and
how often does it come back?
Shannon
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[Nandkumar Sanglikar]

These symptoms are indicative of accumulation of wax in the middle chamber of ear or some blockage of the ear canal. If the cause is clinically ascertained as wax accumulation, treatment can be as simple as treating the ear with drops to loosen wax for easy removal. I think it is best to get the cause ascertained from a trained ENT. Sanglikar

ForumGal@aol.com wrote: Dear all,
How to look up these symptoms?
1) suddenly one ear feels stuffed, blocked, rings. This lasts for
hours/days. No obvious trigger.
2) that ear, when the outer rim is flicked, produces a metalic sound (a
clang) inside the ear (audible only internally).
3) that ear rings constantly
4) dizziness does not accompany this experience

Assuming this is a nerve reacting to something . . . ?

Many thanks,
Margaret in Boston

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Rosemary C. Hyde, Ph.D.]

Sanglikar's suggestion is right on. I've learned this a couple of times
after remedies didn't work -- the problem was impacted ear wax, and the
required remedy was basically surgical -- removal of the wax. Here a clue
to that might be that touching the outer ear affects the noise (by slightly
moving the wax or changing the shape of the external ear canal relative to
the wax?). Obstruction from impacted earwax does come on suddenly --
there's a passage through the wax and then, at some point, it closes up,
suddenly causing the obstruction and noises.

Rosemary