I had to call the ear, nose, and throat doctor yesterday morning to try to get an appointment because I felt like I had something in my ear. I kept hearing tiny bubbles popping in my ear over and over since Thursday afternoon and I had a bad headache that I thought was caused by the continuous popping, which was driving me crazy. I was actually proud of myself for making the appointment because I hate going to doctors. Even though I’m a little bit of an overreactor and was imagining that I had a spider in my ear.
The doctor could see me at 2:30, so I left work early and headed over there, preparing myself for the moment when the doctor would reach in with tweezers and pull out a little spider that had been tap dancing on my ear drum.
Turns out the doctor says there’s nothing wrong with my ear. No infections, not even a build up of ear wax. But I do have two things going on that are resulting in the popping sound and the killer headache. Number one, somewhere in my sinus cavity, air isn’t getting through properly and is causing the popping noise. So I now have two nasal sprays to use. Fun.
Number two, I have TMJ because I clench my teeth too much. So I have to try to keep my teeth apart while I’m awake and make sure I’m not clenching. I know I do it whenever I get cold and I get cold very easily (so my jaw pretty much hurts all winter long), but apparently I also do it just for no reason whenever I’m not thinking about what I’m doing. I kept catching myself doing it last night while watching TV.
I’m slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a spider in my ear because that would have been a great story to tell.
You’re lucky to have a ENT doc who knows what he/she’s doing! I’ve had serious problems with my ears for a whole decade now! Every time we move, I go to the local expert who can’t figure out why I keep getting infections. I imagined worms.
I hope your popping goes away forever.
Hahahaha…now I don’t feel so bad about being slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a spider in your ear.
Gah to the teeth clenching. I relate…
((vibes))
Comments are closed.