Hearing problems are the most common reason for visiting the ENT. One of the most famous problems is when patients note that something seems to stir in the ear, but no one can name the real cause of the discomfort. This category of problems is called subjective noise, and without its timely resolution, it can provoke not only hearing problems, but also neurosis, and even panic states.
So, you noticed that something is stirring in your ear: what to do, what can it be?
Causes of the problem
Discomfort in the ears can be either very obvious - physical, or more indirect - arising due to some other, usually neurological ailments, character. In this case, the feeling that something is stirring and itching in the ear, it is cracking or making noise, can provoke many third-party factors and triggers:
- a small insect accidentally flying into the auricle;
- tick infection;
- ingress of an inanimate foreign body;
- pulsation of blood vessels;
- the presence of sulfur cork.
Insect
When you feel that something is stirring in your ear, or that a butterfly is flying over a membrane, it may be a real insect accidentally entering your ear canal. While you sleep or relax in nature, you become a target for a huge number of small pests: flies, bugs and ants. The mere presence of insects in the ear does not guarantee hearing problems unless the eardrum is injured, but discomfort can cause neurological problems and headaches.
Sometimes the insect itself gets out and the problem goes away, but in most cases it just dies there and remains inside, blocking the auditory canal. After this, complications appear in the form of suppuration, mucus secretion and the appearance of a smell.
If you are faced with such a situation, then you should immediately consult a doctor. You can try to instill in the ear canal a few drops of onboard alcohol or a slightly warmed vegetable oil - this will at least neutralize the living creature in your ears.
Ear mite
Infection with an ear mite is already a serious, although rather rare problem. These parasites prefer to settle on animals. Despite everything, the risk of infection with a tick bite is great, and it is very difficult to find its source. If the ear tick has chosen you as the “host”, you will feel that something is stirring and hurting in your ear, and other symptoms of the infectious disease may also appear.
It is the mites that gave rise to the myths that insects lay eggs in people in the ears, as they can breed and try to capture more volumes of the internal territory. If you suspect a tick infection, you should immediately consult an infectious disease specialist, since the ENT specialist is not always able to determine their presence.
Foreign bodies
In addition to living bodies, non-living bodies are also a great danger. Foreign bodies falling into the ears are divided into small and large. Small ones include hairs, bread crumbs, small dust lumps. Large bodies are parts of toys, beads, peas, balls, and other things that children often stuff into their ears. In most cases, if the item is small in size, the problem is solved by removing it with sulfur. However, larger items are much more difficult to get, including due to the high risk of injury, and in addition they add additional symptoms: itchy and stuffy sensation in both ears, pain. Due to the fact that the object blocks the ear canal, the patient’s auditory capabilities also deteriorate.
Sulfur cork
A similar effect occurs if a sulfur plug forms in the ears, which stops the eardrum. In this case, during motor-chewing movements of the jaws, the sulfur plug (any other body) moves and causes an unpleasant sensation. As if something is stirring in the ears, discomfort occurs during bending and mimic reactions.
Pulsation of blood vessels
When you understand that something is stirring in your ear, what can it be except insects, foreign objects and sulfur? Of course, physiological reasons come to mind. Sometimes unpleasant sensations are associated with blood vessels, the walls of which, under stressful situations, with changes and changes in internal pressure, with spasms of the head contract, and as a result, the vessels begin to pulsate intensely and create a feeling of movement in the ears. This symptom can tell about the formation of the pathological process.
Allergy
Another reason that you feel like something is stirring in your ear may be an allergic reaction that developed during the treatment of inflammatory diseases of the ears with drops. An allergy gradually develops into the drug and, in the end, causes the corresponding symptoms.
In this case, it is recommended to simply limit the consumption of the drug, not exceeding its dosage, and if possible, replace it with a drug-analogue.
Inflammation of the auditory tube
Auditory, or Eustachian tubes connect the middle ear cavity with the nasopharynx. Inflammation of this organ, also known as eustachitis, is a serious pathological condition, the first symptoms of which are just the feeling that something is stirring and rustling in the ear, mild pain and partial hearing loss. Of course, then all the symptoms worsen several times. Therefore, as soon as you feel the first symptoms, it is better to consult a doctor immediately.
Methods for getting rid of the problem
What do you think, if you feel that something is stirring in your ear, what can be instilled to suppress unpleasant symptoms? How can a problem be neutralized without surgery?
Firstly, you need to make an appointment with an otolaryngologist. The specialist must conduct a complete external visual otoscopic examination, and also prescribe, if necessary, additional diagnostic procedures, in particular, dopplerography - to study the operation of blood vessels.
If a foreign object of small or medium size gets into your ear, then it can be removed with medical tweezers. In this case, it is sometimes suggested to use local anesthesia, since the procedure can be painless. If such bodies get into children's ears, parents may ask the child to turn his head to one side and jump on one leg to get rid of the object. But this will only work if he has not penetrated deep enough.
If you suspect a bug, an ant, a fly, or another insect in your ear, then you can expel it yourself in several ways:
- pipette oil drops;
- rinse the ear canal with saline;
- apply a disinfectant / antiseptic;
- well, and in extreme cases - pull out the insect with thin medical tweezers.
Sometimes dripping with oily liquid can help, due to the fact that the solution is absorbed into the earwax, softens it and contributes to its easy and free excretion. At the same time, oil kills animals, which is also very important.
Another common situation is ear wax condensation and the creation of sulfur plugs. Their removal is a rather complicated procedure, which is best entrusted to the ENT specialist - while the ear cavities are washed with a special syringe into which baking soda dissolved in warm water or hydrogen peroxide is added. The cork located on the surface can be pulled out with ordinary tweezers.
There is another way that is considered controversial. Special hygiene funnels made from beeswax (ear candles) are pushed inside, set on fire and wait until the wax destroys a certain amount of sulfur, and then the remaining garbage is pulled out. But experts do not recommend this method, since there is a big risk of getting burns with it.
A much more serious cause of noise in the ear canal is the pathology of the vessels of the inner ear. A pulsation in the ears, which subsequently turns into a pain syndrome, can indicate their presence. The problem with the neutralization of the pathological syndrome is that in each case it is completely different, it requires individual diagnosis and research of the body for vascular and neurological diseases.
In case of detection of cardiovascular diseases or brain pathologies, due to which there is prolonged discomfort, and as if something is stirring in the ear, a drug course from one of the groups of drugs can be prescribed:
- neurometabolic stimulants;
- psychostimulants;
- calcium channel blockers;
- neuropeptides;
- alkaloids;
- vitamins;
- statins.
Taking these drugs (depending on their purpose and the needs of the body) can optimize neurometabolism, activate normal blood circulation, improve blood flow, strengthen and cleanse blood vessels, and remove excess cholesterol. Thus, eliminating the root cause of the appearance of unpleasant symptoms, the drugs eliminate the symptoms themselves.
Finally, if none of the above methods helped, and if something stirs in your ears, turning everyday life into hell, then the last way out is surgical intervention. Some pathologies can be eliminated exclusively on the surgical table by cauterization of problem vessels. Others can be resolved by bypass, catheter insertion, or reconstruction.