Extreme outer ear pain: What can it be?

Posted by ellienewfan @ellienewfan, Feb 4, 2013

Please....someone help me.

I’ve visited my allergist, an ear-nose-throat specialist and my own internist.
None of them have ever heard of my problem and don’t know how to help me.

Started approx 20 yrs ago, Every couple of months I would get an awful pain on one of my ears if I had been laying on it during the night. It would happen to either ear, whichever one I laid on.

To describe the pain. It is so intense that it wakes me. Pain is NOT inside the ear but around the edges of the entrance of it. It is so painful, I can’t touch it. It will be throbbing. It also hurts tremendously behind, towards the bottom back of the ear. Can’t touch that either. The only thing that will make it go away is when I then get up and stand and within approx 30 min it is gone. I even tested it by massaging behind the ear (once I could bear to touch it) and it seemed to make pain go away faster.

The last approx 3 years, I have no longer been able to even lay on either ear when in bed because now the pain will come every time. I have learned to sleep on my back. Sometimes I would still move onto my side during night, and wake up with pain.

For last 6 months, I’ve been having pressure and achy feeling around one of the ears, even while laying on my back. Then I started getting the pain even while sleeping on my back.

I am very much afraid that the day will come when I will no longer be able to lay down in my bed to go to sleep.

I am desperate to get to the bottom of this and perhaps for first time in 20 years be able to comfortably lay on my side in bed.

My ENT doctor said my ears are healthy .... i have no hearing loss.

This ear pain, however, is starting to affect my daily living, since I don’t seem to be able to get the restful sleep I need.

I will be forever grateful if someone could pinpoint this. thanks.

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Nibor63 | @nibor63 | Oct 15, 2018

If you are willing to try anything, try a medication Meloxicam. This has been amazing for me. No more ear pain.

1luckytexan | @1luckytexan | Oct 15, 2018

In reply to @allisonv "I’m 38 and have been experiencing this pain since I was about 17. The thing that..." + (show)

Interesting idea on the ear plugs.
Do your ears get red and warm to the touch? If you were to pinch the lobe or the top part of the ear, without shifting the ear's position, would there be pain? Or is the pain in/around the ear canal/opening when you shift or push the outer ear?

patandpete | @patandpete | Oct 15, 2018

In reply to @nibor63 "If you are willing to try anything, try a medication Meloxicam. This has been amazing for..." + (show)

Thank you , I will.

patandpete | @patandpete | Oct 15, 2018

In reply to @1luckytexan "Interesting idea on the ear plugs. Do your ears get red and warm to the touch?..." + (show)

The pain is just on the outer ear rim, only when I lay on them at night, no pain when I pinch them where you suggest, and not particularly hot to touch.

1luckytexan | @1luckytexan | Oct 15, 2018

In reply to @patandpete "The pain is just on the outer ear rim, only when I lay on them at..." + (show)

OK, that's different from the pain I have. Mine isn't really outer ear pain, but 'pain at the ear canal opening area caused by touching or moving the outer ear '- even lifting eyebrows or smiling could cause discomfort but, touching the outer ear in anyway that moves it is extremely painful. Happens a few times a year, usually on the side on which I've been sleeping. Goes away after a few minutes to hours, or, recently, after doing some head/neack stretching. Lost my wisdom teeth in my late teens.
You may very well get some relief from meloxicam or need to be tested for polychondritis or some neuralgia????

patandpete | @patandpete | Oct 15, 2018

In reply to @1luckytexan "OK, that's different from the pain I have. Mine isn't really outer ear pain, but 'pain..." + (show)

Thank you .

accidentprone | @accidentprone | Oct 19, 2018

I have this outer ear pain and tenderness. Saw family doctor, dentist, and ENT. All said different causes. ENT said I must go to a neurologist because it is nerve damage from a brain injury I had in a motorcycle accident. Has anyone been told nerve damage? Can nerve damage heal? Am I stuck with pain forever?

Nibor63 | @nibor63 | Oct 19, 2018

In reply to @accidentprone "I have this outer ear pain and tenderness. Saw family doctor, dentist, and ENT. All said..." + (show)

I've been told numerous things. Even, that I am crazy, by several doctor's. Still don't know what it is. I do know that if I take my Meloxicam, I have NO ear pain. I know that I have systemic inflammation. I had an ear biopsy. Showed inflammation. Inflammation in feet, also. Feet hurt badly, too, before Meloxicam. Never took any meds. But I swear by this.

paige2000 | @paige2000 | Nov 4, 2018

I am only 18 and have been getting this pain on and off in phases since i was 16. have asked a few doctors about it and with no surprise, no one has an answer. no infection or problems, just the horrible pain that awakes me.

paige2000 | @paige2000 | Nov 4, 2018

In reply to @allisonv "I’m 38 and have been experiencing this pain since I was about 17. The thing that..." + (show)

this is the perfect explanation. i’m 18 and have got the exact same problem. i don’t have wisdom teeth though.. it only happens a few times a year for a few nights at a time.