Muscle Spasm In Eardrum
An Overview of Common Hearing Loss Causes
Author: Barb Hicks - Clivir Team
Sudden Loss Of Hearing:
Most sudden hearing loss can be attributed to infection in the ear canal, usually in the middle ear where the eardrum is located. When the eardrum can not vibrate from incoming sound due to the build up of fluid, hearing is greatly impaired. Additionally, the bones of the middle ear are not able to vibrate, preventing mechanical impulses from entering the inner ear to the auditory nerve fibers.
Another way hearing loss can be sudden is due to a build up of wax, or cerumen, in the ear. The purpose of cerumen is to prevent debris from entering the ear. In this case, more is not better. In fact, it causes a blockage of sound waves from making their way through the auditory system, resulting in a degree of hearing loss. Although this may be a temporary condition, never the less, the person's ability to hear is greatly reduced.
Whether it is excessive earwax or fluid build up, the condition must be treated to restore hearing. When fluid is the result of infection, treatment must begin as soon as possible to prevent extensive damage or permanent hearing loss from occurring.
Where children are concerned, ear infection and hearing loss may not be easily recognized, particulary with very young children. The child may display some discomfort by crying a lot, but if they can't talk yet you may not know what the cause of the discomfort is. This is where body language will come into play. If you notice your child is frequently pulling or scratching at the ear, its a universal sign of probable infection. Additionally, fever may or may not be present. A delay in treatment can result in developmental delays in speech and other learning disabilities.
Your child may also show signs of not paying attention or has the TV exceptionally loud, show signs of fatigue or irritability.
Hereditary Factors:
Congenital hearing loss is present at the time of birth, a condition handed down from ancestors. It can also be due an infection during pregnancy, such as rubella, cytomegalovirus (CMV), toxemia, in addition to lack of oxygen during the birthing process.
Acquired hearing loss can happen at any time due to age, head trauma, or prolonged exposure to excessive noise. Hearing deficits can exist for months before you know there is a problem, whether you are a child or an adult.
A hearing impaired adult may complain of inability to hear and understand speech, and needing conversation to be constantly repeated. Any incidence of a decreased hearing capacity requires thorough examination by a health care provider for diagnosis and proper treatment. Your doctor may refer you to a hearing professional for specialized hearing testing and possible fittings for a hearing aid. The main goal is detection of infection or other cause that may be causing the hearing loss.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/an-overview-of-common-hearing-loss-causes-1348246.html
About the Author
Barb Hicks is a licensed registered nurse who loves to write and share her knowledge with others. She is a featured writer on Clivir.com where she shared more information about Hearing Loss Causes and Nerve Damage and Hearing Loss.
Should I be worried about my hearing?
i was getting ready for bed last night and I felt a pounding in my ear…felt like the eardrum. It happened again two more times today. Its not painful…the only way I can think to discribe it is that its like putting your head against a base drum and someone is pounding on the other side, and its really annoying too. Its like a muscle spasm..the twitching anyway. Before you ask…no I DO NOT have any kind of ringing in my ear either. Does anyone know what this could be?…i just had another one that makes 3 times today. Should I be worried?
Are there lymph nodes behind your ear?
In the past few years I realized I was forming new allergies to things like pollen, pet dander, certain perfumes that do nothing but make the lymph nodes in my neck swell, and the pressure from that at its worst gives me a headache or makes my throat feel like it’s swelling shut. This can get particularly acute in spring and fall. I’ve been battling a case all week, and this morning noticed that my eardrum was pulsating a bit from a rogue muscle spasm. While massaging the little area behind my earlobe & under my ear trying to get it to stop, I found a little knot that is tender like my nodes tend to get when they’re swollen from allergies. I know nodes are all over the place, but I’ve had problems with this ear all my life (and massage that spot since it seems to temporarily sooth it) and never felt a knot there before. Are there lymph nodes back there, or is this something else?
Eardrum spasm when I lay down: what is this and what could be causing it?
For the past week, every time I lay down with my right ear canal being mostly vertical (when I lay on my left side, for instance), my eardrum starts to spasm uncontrollably. It feels like a muscle tic, only in my eardrum. The spasms stop when I stick my finger in my ear to try to feel them, but they’ll start again the second I take my finger out. The spasms themselves aren’t painful, but right now my right ear is in a little bit of pain and it feels like it’s from pressure.
The vibrations aren’t accopanied by any other noises, but I have been experiencing some occasional ringing in my ears in the past month or so. The ringing is high pitched and stops within a minute or so, which makes me think it’s not tinnitus (isn’t that more or less constant?). I don’t know if the spasms and the ringing are in any way connected, but I can’t help but notice that both have started around the same time.
The spasms are incredibly bothersome and are affecting my sleep!
Microbiology Case Studies, Know any of these?
Case 1
A 24-year old female automotive technician presents herself at the doctor’s office. She complains of fever and of pain in her left hand.
On physical examination, the patient had a deep wound on her left palm that was oozing pus. She had purplish, red streaks running up her left arm. She had enlarged lymph nodes at the elbow and under her arm. The patient’s skin was warm and dry.
In her history, the patient had punctured her left palm with sharp metal from the undercarriage of a “real cherry” 1977 Malibu about a week earlier. She said the wound had bled for a few minutes and she thought that she had washed it “real good” with soap and water. She had covered the wound with a large “band-aid” and gone back to work. She developed a fever about three days later. For the past couple of days, she “did not feel so good” and had vomiting and diarrhea.
1. What type of infection do you believe she has in this hand?
a. Streptococcus pyogenes
b. Staphylococcus aureus
c. Clostridium
d. Pseudomonas
e. Pasteurella multocida
2. From complaint and physical examination, which of the symptoms lead you to your choice of agent?
a. the fever and pain in the hand
b. the fever, wound with oozing pus and enlarged lymph nodes
c. the lymph nodes and red streaks
d. the warm dry skin
e. the pain, red streaks and enlarged lymph nodes
3. From the history, which of the information confirmed your choice?
a. The wound had bled for a while.
b. The wound was cleaned with soap and water.
c. The wound had been covered and had perhaps become anaerobic.
d. She had diarrhea and vomiting.
e. The cut was from a rusting car frame.
4. Which of the following is most likely to follow this infection?
a. gangrene and amputation
b. toxic shock syndrome
c. muscle spasms
d. neurological disfunction of the hand
e. arthritis
Case 2
A lethargic 22-month old black female was presented by her mother to the emergency room at 2:15am on a Sunday. The child had a history of a runny nose, hoarse cough and low-grade fever (~99F) for the past 48 hours. The mother was concerned about the forced and noisy breathing of the child. The pediatrician examined the child and found cloudy eyes and mild inflammation of the ears, but no overt signs of bacterial infection (no significant changes in the eardrums). The throat of the child was red and coated with mucus. The larynx was swollen and raw.
The physician performed a rapid Strep test and found it was negative. Throat swabs were taken for culture. The physician placed the child in a room with a warm vaporizer for about 30 minutes. This dramatically improved the breathing of the child.
1. What is the presumptive diagnosis for this case?
a. bacterial pharyngitis due to Bordetella pertussis
b. Viral pharyngitis
c. pneumonia
d. bacteremia
2. If the lab also reported a negative throat culture, which of the following assumptions can be made about the patient?
a. the patient has Streptococcus pyogenes infection
b. the patient has Streptococcus agalactiae infection
c. the patient has a lung infection
d. Streptococcus pyogenes is not the primary cause of the patient’s symptoms
3. Due to the negative strep test, negative throat culture little of no pus on pharynx, good response to warm vapor to clear congestion, we can reasonably conclude that this patient is suffering from
a. Haemophilus influenzae infection
b. Staphlococcus aureus infection
c. a viral infection
d. Neisseria meningitidis infection
4. Which of the following medications should not be used to treat this patient at this time?
a. Penicillin G
b. Ciprofloxacin
c. Tetracycline
d. All of the above
Case 3
A 68-year old patient with Alzheimer disease was brought to the emergency room by the staff of a local nursing home. He presented as lethargic with a sallow complexion. He had an admission temperature of 102.4F and a respiratory rate of 33/minute. During respiration, the right side of his chest moved better than the left. He showed dense consolidation of the lower lobe of the left lung on physical exam. A sputum sample revealed blood and a greenish color.
A chest x-ray showed tight consolidation of the left lung with evidence of formation of cavities in the lung tissue from cytotoxic damage. The patient complained of chills in the exam room, combined with his fever. A smear of his sputum demonstrated no acid-fast bacteria.
1. What is your presumptive diagnosis for this case?
a. viral pharyngitis
b. viral pneumonia
c. bacterial pneumonia caused by a gram-negative cocci such as streptococcus pneumonia
d. bacterial pneumonia caused by gram-negative rod such as Klebsiella pneumonia
2. Which of the following medications could be used to treat this patient?
a. anti-viral drugs such as amantadine
b. anti-fungal drugs such as amphotericin
c. antibiotics against gram positive rods
d. antibiotics against gram negative rods
Case 4
A 35-year old accountant presented to his physician with a stead
What is wrong with my ear?
Every once in awhile I hear this really strange tapping sound deep within my ear. It sounds like someone is sticking their finger in there and literally tapping on my eardrum. It’s a little muffled and it sounds like a muscle spasm, like an eye twitch but in my ear. I don’t know how else to explain it. But it’s been bugging me and I need to know….what could it be? Should I go see a doctor? Could it be high blood pressure, maybe? I am 35 weeks pregnant and this sound is pretty recent. If that has anything to do with it.
Please help.
It sounds like you should see a doctor about it – if it’s interfering with your sleep.
My guess is that you have some sort of middle ear infection or perhaps throat infection closing your eustachian tube – with resultant pressure effects across your tympanic membrane.
On the other hand, I can’t look into your ear or perform tuning fork tests across the internet, so go see a doctor.
Yeah they can feel like little pea sized lumps behind the ear, and are usually a sign of some sort of infection. Mine come up when I am run down or am getting a cold. If they persist you should get them checked out though
One of my ears has ringing, but the other has the
on again/off again sensation that you describe, sort of like the bass in another room is really muffled: but way too loud.
Talk to your doc, who may send you for hearing tests to rule out a few things; or he may send you to an Ear Nose Throat (ENT) specialist.
Could be anything like a fungus infection called swimmers ear, or tinnatus. Check with your doctor and be especially careful with meds if pregnant.
I´ll try to answer case 1 since I´m short of time
1- I believe it could be
c. Clostridium tetani
2-
c. the lymph nodes and red streaks
3-
e. The cut was from a rusting car frame
4-
c. muscle spasms
High Tech Genetic Sequencing Enables Screening For Hereditary Hearing Loss –
I hope his hearing turns out to be normal- if they do suspect permanent hearing loss, they'll usually confirm with a test called an ABR. It's totally non-subjective and measures the little guy's hearing via brainwaves (they use little sticky pads on their forehead and beside each ear, then take readings from that). Our little guy does have a moderate hearing loss and you're right- they can get bored with the booth tests! Ours have been really accurate over the long term, though.
Sensorineural hearing loss is something that can be hereditary, or caused by damage.
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It's still Batman and nothing can disguise that
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the R.N.s of MS Baptist Hospital. In 1984, I was undergoing treatment there for sudden deafness; the nurses were so nice; my brother borrowed $15 from me & took the nurse out; thunbs up he wrote me later. The same nurse later allowed my gf to have premarital intercourse with me while she watched the door. I was 18, she was 16. THE TREATMENT helped, ^5! Although I remained deaf for many months until it gradually came back, the baptist turned me on
RT Sudden sensorineural hearing loss has been called an otologic emergency.
OMG OMG I CANT BELIEVE IT then cry on the persons shoulder