Fluid in Inner Ear

[Jack]

Good afternoon Rip,
Long time lurker here. Appreciate you running this forum; I’ve taken a lot away from it over the years. I am one month into the program, my second time around. I did it some years ago with decent success until I got distracted with life. A few deployments, a couple of torn ACLs, etc. Anyhow, I am back at it again and am having an annoying inner ear issue I wonder if you or the other members of the forum have come across.

Starting about one week into the program, I have fluid in my left inner ear that I can’t clear. I can hear it when I chew, yawn, brush my teeth, or any other activity that causes a change in pressure, and I have a slight reduction in hearing in that ear. I don’t feel any particular discomfort when I’m lifting. However, nothing else has changed in my routine besides starting lifting again. I also don’t have a cold, allergies, or any other condition that may cause fluid in my ears or ENT inflammation.

Have you seen this in lifters before? I think it’s logical that pressure exerted when lifting could force fluid into the ear but don’t know if this is a likely explanation as I am not an expert by any means. The discomfort overall is pretty mild and I’m not too worried about it if it is related to lifting. However, if it’s not something you or the community are familiar with in the context of lifting, I will assume it’s unrelated and will get it checked out. Thanks for you time/thoughts.

Thanks,
Jack

My numbers:
38 y/o male, all numbers are three sets of five
Squat: 215
Press: 110
DL: 210 (history of laminectomy/discectomy L5/S1)
BP: 135
PC: 125

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you actually have fluid in your inner ear -- and I assure you that your perception of this is incorrect -- then this is an otolaryngology case, not a board post.

[Chris Lippke]

What Rip is implying here is that you probably mean your middle ear, not your inner ear.

If fluid isn't draining, it might mean that your eustachian tube is inflamed/congested/not opening properly. I'm not qualified to suggest that you take sudafed and do some ear-popping:
How to Pop Your Ears: 8 Tips
and you probably need to see your doctor. Wink.
If you're unable to get the tube to open - if you don't get the fluid to move - then you will probably get an ear infection if you don't already have one.

A proper Valsalva maneuver as used for lifting won't cause (the same kind of) pressure on the middle ear.

Related post:
https://startingstrength.com/resourc...ml#post1574655