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Ever since I got my wisdom teeth out almost a decade ago, I've had an issue with my ears. It seemed unrelated at first, but I think now that there is a correlation. Whenever I swallow, it flexes my eardrums like I'm trying to pop them. That seems to have triggered a new nervous habit of popping my ears habitually.
I have been to an ENT and ruled out any hearing loss, ruptured eardrum, or similar problems. It's just swollen eustachian tubes, so if I go easy on them, then in theory, the irritation should finally subside after all these years. But I'll need to work out a new way of swallowing first. The repetitive motion of swallowing my saliva throughout the day seems to easily undo my hard work of suppressing the nervous habit.
I noticed that if I have half an ounce or so of water in my mouth, then I can swallow without activating my eardrums. But if it's just a few droplets irritating my throat until it forces me to swallow, I can't. What can I do?
I don't know if you want to go this route but I can recommend Dr. Courey at UCSF, he is a specialist ENT but in voice and swallowing.
I see him quite a bit due to the trauma on my vocal chords, swallowing etc. from my thyroidectomy surgery.
He's amazing, and he has the best speech therapists working with him.
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