Sounds like you have been having a rough time. Mine have popped but not nearly that much and it is usually from excess fluid in the ears. Have they tried giving you a steroid shot to help dry up the fluid.

No, they haven't mentioned that. Did you have that done?

I may have to bring that up next visit. Thanks for the suggestion.

For about a year I have had a popping in my right ear. I went to the doctor (emt) and he said that everything was fine and gave me some nose drops that didn't help at all. The emt also gave me a MRI to check my sinus, but still couldn't find anything. Now it seems like my right side of my neck where my glands are is getting larger. I'm concerned. My dentist said I could have TMJ. I don't know where I go from here. I have to hold my ear and open my jaw to pop my ear. I do this about 5 times an hour. I would love some relief if anyone has any answers...

I have exactly the same problem
constant popping in my left ear
Doctor laughs it off, been given nasal sprays etc, and been suggested steam methods.
Nothing works, been happening for over 2 years, I find it very annoying. It can also get quite painful when there is a build up of pressure.
Did you manage to find answers and/or a solution?

Well after years of different nasal sprays, tubes in the ears, allergy testing, etc...it turns out I have a mild allergy to milk and wheat. It is incredibly difficult to eliminate both from your diet but I found out that milk is the one causing my ears to pop. I am a huge fan of dairy products and just can't completely eliminate it all from my diet, but by cutting back I've noticed the intensity of the popping and the frequency drop.

I'm still convinced I am one of like three people in the world with this problem. It's annoying and sometimes painful, and the doctors just laugh it off like it's a neat trick

a food allergy? how strange, i'd have never associated the two together!
yes i feel like the doctors just laugh it off
and i'm searching for answers

the other day it disappeared for 2 hours, first time in around 2/3 years
it was heaven, but incredibly strange, and then it came back

I'm the third person. My ears have been popping when I swallow for 2 months now. This has happened to me in the past, never for this long, and has always gone away on its own.

I'm going insane.

My ears have been poping the last 2 days but its from an ear infection and it is no fun And I cant imagine this going on for as long as you guys are having it. Good luck to you all I feel for you...Barkeep37

I can't remember how long this has going on for. but i just remember after getting off the plane and my parents telling me just to pop my ears. but then i realized that my ears always sound like a crack when i yawn or swallow. this is very annyoing. and i dont kno what to do! is it a build up of ear wax or something? plus one time while the plane was landing my ears were hurting very bad when no one elses was. i was wondering if that could've been a result of wax build up.. HELP PLEASE!

I have exactly the same problem. My ears have been popping off and on now for years every time I yawn or swallow and it seems to be getting worse as there has been no respite from it for about a year now. It gets even worse when I use ear plugs to listen to music, when I chew gum or when I yawn. I've been to the doctors many times with no luck. I've tried all the ear drops and put up with the can't be bothered attitude from several different GPs. I don't think they know what it is, how annoying it is or what to prescribe. Someone suggested holding my nose, taking a breath and blowing to releive the pressure but this make things worse and feels realy uncomfortable. I'm sniffing all the time or holding my nose while and sucking in as if I were trying to take in air to aleviate the discomfort. However this only gives temporary relief, and as soon as I swallow my ears pop again! I'm also begining to think my hearing is affected now as I'm constantly asking people to repeat what they've said. There must be someone who knows what this is or how to help as it seems more common than I thought...?

I had this problem, and posted in this forum some time ago about it, but I will do so again in hopes some of you can understand what's going on with your ears.

After a particularly bad plane landing while on vacation one year, my left ear popped, i had some pain, and it stayed plugged for about three weeks. After that, it started to pop on and off during the day, and at night quite often. It's extremely annoying, but not painful. Just that constant popping. I went to an ENT and was told that there is a flap that connect between the tube leading from the inner ear and the throat, and it is getting stuck. This causes a buildup of pressure, when then creates the ear popping. Unfortunately, there isn't anything you can do except pinch and hold your nose closed, then try to blow, which forces the air to pop the pressure in your ear. It's not much help, but in time this should go away. In my case it took TEN YEARS to finally leave me. But thank goodness it's gone now. So hang in there, sooner or later it will stop, unless it is something more serious for you.

Usually when you swallow, a small bubble of air passes from your throat or back of your nose, through a narrow tube known as the Eustachian tube, into your middle ear. As it does this, it makes a tiny click or popping sound.

This action keeps the air pressure on both sides of the eardrum about equal. If the air pressure isn't equal, the ear feels blocked.

it's normal.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ask_the_doctor /earspopping.shtml

I have the same problem, my ears are constantly popping. I used to also get a lot of ear infections, and had some serious pain in my ear (taking planes used to be awful), along with ringing... turns out I had a cholesteatoma (benign tumor) in my ear. They removed it through a radical mastoidectomy.. the pain is now gone and I haven't had an ear infection, but the ringing and popping remains. I recently was told the popping might be a milk allergy and was going to try giving it up to see if it helps (i love diary so it will be hard)... it's interesting that the milk worked for you mlee09, so it gives me hope

I have this problem too, though each time my ear pops, my ear 'turns off'. I have to try pop it myself to get it to work again but sometimes if its a little dryer than normal, I get a hole in my ear drum! I've been told this is just scar tissue but it literally drives me insane!! It takes 3or 4 days to sort itself out but then i find the tinnitus is louder . . . I still get a lot of infections too in the 2nd cavity - something to do with the way he did the op! x

Me again. 7 months now with the ear popping. I've gone to the ENT a couple of times. Tells me I'm congested and don't even know it. Showed me through the camera that the structures in my nasal cavity were very inflamed. Inserted some antihistamine infused cotton and it cleared up my breathing temporarily. He told me that since my nasal passages were so inflamed, they were swelling up and blocking my eustachian tube, which caused different pressures in my ears and thus the clicking.

He gave me enough medicine to last me about 2 months. I was prescribed Aerius (desloratadine) 10mg once a day and 2 sprays of Rhinocort in each nostril each morning. Though my allergies went away and I sneezed a total of 4 times in two months, my clicking only slightly improved. I'm now taking Rupax (Rupatadine) 10mg and Rhinocort in the same dosage as the previous medicine. I'm one week into the 2 month treatment and it hasn't worked any better than the Aerius.

My ENT also checked my eardrums. They are visibly tight and "sucked in" and it takes a lot of jaw movement and swallowing for me to equalize the pressure. He told me that if I keep having these symptoms and they stay "sucked in" they will stretch out and I will lose hearing gradually as the membrane gets stretched. If this treatment doesn't work he recommends that I have surgery to reduce the size of my frontal "conchae" (part of your inner nasal cavity) to reduce the ability for them to swell and block my eustachian tube.

Though it's not gone away completely, it's gotten a little bit better. However, if this treatment doesn't work, I'll try homeopathic remedies before surgery. I've heard wonders about it.

Good luck to all, I'm on my 7th month!

I have read all the posts, very interesting. I suffer with both ears popping and ringing and also experience intermittent pain as a result. I thought that maybe it has something to do with the fact that I quit smoking after 30 years and my body is taking time to adjust. I quit in October of 2008 and the ear problem started a few months after that...I thought it was just my body rehydrating, but it has become quite bothersome (not to mention the weight gain) and I seek relief. I will try to eliminate milk as stated in previous posts and see if that helps.

For whoever says it happens when swallowing or yawning, this is probably a TMJ problem.. it's actually your jaw popping. Your jaw joint is behind your ear.

My daughter has a problem like this. For a long time we thought it was TMJ. It's not. TMJ rests in the jaw joints, which is near the top of your ear. If it's behind your ear near your neck then your problem is most likely the same as hers.

We just had a panoramic scan done at the dentist yesterday. What she saw was something that she had never seen before. Where my daughter swallows was SO close to her ears on each side that it was visible on a dental scan. And that should not be visible at all. So far what we do know is this. When she swallows it plugs her ears up and causes her a lot of pain. So it's obviously putting pressure on her ears when it's flexed/used. We have an appointment with a ENT specialist soon. I'm thinking since it's a physical problem and not something that just shrinks, surgery is probably the only real fix.

Any dentist (they are the ones who treat and diagnose tmj)will tell you that TMJ is caused/effected by the set of the bite. And that your jaw joint is in front of your ear towards the top. Not behind it. For future reference.