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Fluttering In Ears: Warning Sign

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Anonymous

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Not sure how to word this without sounding barmy! Since I was in my 20's I've experienced fluttering sensations in my ears, a little like having a butterfly beat it's wings inside your ear, very quickly :? ... usually only one ear or the other, rarely both together, and only lasting a few seconds at most... anything from a couple of hours to a day before a natural disaster such as a major earthquake or volcanic eruption takes place. My son, now aged 13, has started experiencing these sensations also. Does anyone else get them?
 
I get this too, and sometimes I get a very painful sensation akin to having an ice pick jabbed in my ear. In both cases the sensation only lasts a few seconds. I haven't noticed any sort of correlation which would make the sensation predictive though. I think my sister got/gets it too, although she went to the doctor about it. I can't remember what she said it was (but it was NOT Menieres [sp] disease).
 
Yup I get them as well, always thought its like a "tick" [ the fluttering of an eyelid] just in my ear. Do you get it more often when you are stressed?

In my family we also have the famous "strings" and "swords" that go straight through our head and only last a couple of seconds...
 
I've not had the ice pick sensation (sounds painful!). This is more like the air inside the ear vibrating very fast. I've had both my ears and my son's ears checked, both were given the all clear too.
 
I know the feeling you mean, but I can't say it's ever been a premonition of a natural disaster. I used to experience the same thing on a regular basis at work, several times a day. It was always only in my right ear but it could get pretty painful and was quite worrying for a while, to the point where I considered seeing a doctor.
Eventually I realised it only happened just after the toilet had been flushed. The building I worked in was ancient and the plumbing made some very strange and very low sounds. I figured there was a frequency in those sounds, possibly even outside my normal range of hearing, that resonated somehow and set my eardrum going. For me at least, mystery solved.

Have you found that you get this feeling in one particular location? If yes, is there something there that could be causing very low frequency noises?

If no, I got nothin'.
 
I don't get them in a specific place - I can be walking down the High Street, in a pub, lying down in bed - but I tend to get most of them in my left ear. I noticed the occurances of earthquakes/volcanic eruptions happening shortly after getting the fluttering because I was doing a project for a science course. What you've said about low frequency waves sounds right. Do you think it's caused by the tectonic plate movement?
 
Never had the ear thingy although I do suffer a "icecube bouncing in my tummy" sensation which always puts me on my guard.
 
My eardrum fluttering must have a different cause than y'all's, as it is definitely associated with pressure applied to my heel. No, I can't explain it, and I can't reproduce it at will, and it has no discernable follow-up. It just happens sometimes.

So ear fluttering would seem to have a variety of causes, and the case of one person can't be extrapolated onto the case of another with any degree of certainty.
 
I get this ear fluttering thingy sometimes too. I've usually put it down to a kind of muscle spasm such as you sometimes get in your eye when you are tired.

I've never noticed any link to earthquakes etc... not that we get that many here in Birmingham !
 
Could it not be that the first time you noticed it the following event was a coincidence, and since then you never remember it happening unless something occurs afterwards?
 
I remember a family holiday on the Isle Of Mull. I must have been 12 or so, I can't recall exactly.
But what I do remember is trying to get to bed - lights out in a cottage in the middle of nowhere - but not being able to because of this loud fluttering noise that appeared to be right next to my head.

I wasn't good with moths or butterflies as a child, and to be honest, I'm still not madly keen on them but they don't bother me.

Now, seeing as I freaked out somewhat, head under the duvet type affair, hands making sure there wasn't anything near me, I'm certain I didn't have a moth in the room. Lights on and checked etc. But it was still there. My screams brought my parents running!

Who knows what it was, maybe it was the wee people.

But yes - I have had flutterings that I can't explain too!
 
Fair point, Hokum, but no. I always 'keep my ears open' for something happening after I get the fluttering... my son tells me when he gets his (quite often we'll both get it, at different times, although we're in different places). It's quite noticable, and I always tell my partner when it happens.
 
Thanks for the link, Leaferne. Have read through the messages posted there, and although the fluttering in the ear seems to be what my son and I experience, it isn't for a prolonged length of time - couple of seconds at most - and neither of us suffer from tinnitus or hear strange noises.
 
I've had the fluttery ear thing for so long that I'm not worried about it.
In my case, I think it's just a muscle twitching inside the ear.

I seem to have trained my inner ear muscles over time, and can make the bones inside click at will without having to swallow. This seems to be useful as a means of stopping the 'fluttering' effect.
 
I remember seeing a documentary once about a lady that suffered terrible migraines for the week leading up to the Mount St Helens eruption/explosion. Changes in geomagnetism perhaps, ala Michael Persinger?

Peace and Respect
Greg
 
I've got bad eczema at the moment and I get the fluttering thing, mostly in my right ear, when I have a good scratch! I'm assuming it must be a nerve related thing.
 
by coincidence I had this fluttery ear thing a couple of nights ago, I assumed it was blood pressure related for no good reason. Due to my indollent lifestyle no doubt!

no MD on the forum?
 
I'm almost positive this is the sound of a pigeon or quail taking off. I used to hear this at random times thru-out the day up in the forest near my old home. Anyone there will tell u its a bird. They effect the air preassure a bit (doesnt take much) and u hear a pulsating and speeding up sound like a flutter. It does it even from a long distance away you wont have to be anywhere near the bird. They've got big wings. Very weird sound tho.
 
Really? :shock: Because I've had these flutters while in the middle of downtown Ottawa and Pittsburgh, or in a car or at work, and I doubt a pigeon or partridge could have gotten into my apartment here without the cats noticing.

I hate partridge anyway; a friend and I were nearly killed when some took off under our horses' feet, and while I felt many sensations at that moment, fluttering in my ear was not among them.
 
I seem to have trained my inner ear muscles over time, and can make the bones inside click at will without having to swallow. This seems to be useful as a means of stopping the 'fluttering' effect.

I do that to stop the fluttering also :)
 
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