Ear fullness and jaw joint pain

[douglast]

Since the beginning of Aug, I have expereinced some issues related to my ears.  It began with complete ear fullness.  Went to internist, and he gave me Rhinocort and said to take Sudafed.  It then appeared to go away for 2 weeks.  Then it returned, but not to the severity as the first time.  I proceeded to an ENT who peformed the test analyzing the pressure in the inner ear canals.  Came back negative.  I have continued to use the Rhinocort along with Sudafed and Claritin D.  I then began to experience slight jaw pain in the area below the ear.  Hurts when I chew.  Internist xrayed my jaw to rule out TMJ, and that came back negative.  He has no other suggestions.  I went for about 1 1/2 weeks until this past Monday, with no feeling of fullness or anything.  The slight jaw pain was still present.  On Monday, it begun to feel not normal again.  I don't necessarily have ear fullness, but the area  behind my ears near the jaw feels odd inside.  Almost like they are swollen.  It is hard to explain.   I am at a loss of what do do next.

[sickforyears]

I have exactly the same thing!!!  For 3 years, I have been trying to get some doctor to take me seriously, that there is something wrong.  I can't focus, see straight or hear, at times.  They all think I'm crazy!  I have this fullness in my ears and it never goes away.  I get pain in my jaw area, in my eyes and in my sinuses.  I've had numerous sinus infections.  When they did X-rays, there was nothing to note.   When the weather changes or we go up in altitude, my ears can't regulate and the 'brain fog' gets even worse.  I've been termed as a severe depressed patient and put on meds.  I just want to be better and your stupid meds aren't going to make me better because the cause is still there!   Who wouldn't be depressed when feeling like this right?

[SusanneWalker]

For the past two weeks I have had pain/ache behind my jaw right below my left ear. I was hearing popping and swooshing sounds, an occasional hacking cough (from what I assumed was sinus drainage and dehydration), random bouts of vertigo and disorientation, and fast forming film and grit in my eyes. Finally gave in and went to see my doctor when I got tired of not being able to chew on that side, was in constant pain, and was having problems seeing because of the grit.

He said it could be any number of reasons (ear infection, tooth/gum infection, eye infection, unknown allergies) that cause drainage down the back of the throat and cause the eustachian tube to swell closed. It feels similar to an over swollen lymph gland which explains the pain when I press on it. I have allergies in early fall and spring but not summer so he doubted it was that, and I had just been to see the dentist and had no jaw or gum infection.

Because the symptoms for every possibility are the same he decided to treat everything. Since I dislike "heavy" drugs except as a last resort he told me to get eye drops (Similasan) in case of a low grade eye infection (I wear contacts and occasionally suffer from dry eye so it is possible there is a scratch on my cornea), Singulair (he also said zyrtec, sudafed, or claritin combined with ibuprofen could work) just in case it was allergies from dust where I work etc, flush my sinuses regularly with saline, use a fluticasone propionate nasal spray every night before bed, prop up on pillows so the drainage will go down a different part of the throat, and drink extra water and hot tea with honey and lemon. With the exception of the nasal spray these are all over-thecounter/homeopathic treatments. It sounds like overkill, but I have been doing this for a day and a half and the worst of the symptoms have already gone away though there is some tenderness still behind my jaw. If that doesn't clear up in a few more days I'm to go in and get a low-grade antibiotic and prescription ear and eye drops if we agree they are necessary to clear up any residual infection my body can't handle on its own.

[destinyawaits]

chewing gum is not a good idea because if the pain is from teeth grinding in the sleep, or tjm than it will only make everything worse.

[stuckinthemiddlewithu]

I have been "affected" by this for 5 years. At first I thought the dizziness?vertigo was due to stress at work and shrugged it off. I first noticed it on a routine trip to the grocery store near my home, I got out of the car walked up to the median that divides the the parking lot and the store and I couldn't move. I noticed that I was having problems focusing on things, people and spaces.
I didn't notice the ear/jaw pain because it wasn't noticeable at first, well when compared to my dizziness/vertigo. I saw my doctor and was diagnosed with depression with anxiety attacks, was put on Paxil and left to figure the rest out on my own(as usual). The medicine made me not care so the panic attacks were almost completely gone but the symptoms were still there. I was put on Wellbutrin, and Zoloft with the same results.
That's about when the ears started to not feel normal and was told they were fine, it was all in my head.
The feeling is not just a fullness, for me it is like someone left the door open. I have fluttering in my ears, ringing, pain when I sleep fully on my ears(like down the inner cartilage to the jaw bone), lots of wax drainage, clicking in my right side, terrible pain when I eat any tomato based foods, and a itch in my ear.
I started having panic attacks because I just couldn't focus visually or auditory, if i was in out and people were moving and talking I would feel like I was off and a panic would start. These have increased over the last 4 years and have been labeled "agoraphobic". This is bull crap! I have developed a defense mechanism to the dizziness/vertigo that starts when I am moving around(particularly outside of my home).
If i go outside and it is hot and humid, I feel like I am not acclimated/off balance , if I am in a store and a screaming child is near me, loud radios or low frequencies, fast movements(people or things), if i have to stand for any length of time( this I think is caused by my shut-in status), and wide open spaces make me feel off and have a feeling of panic or just plain pass out.

I do have depression because I want to get this resolved and get back to my life, this is so aggravating!!!! I have looked up so many solutions that I am on the verge of screaming if I don't get some relief from this. I am a smoker but don't touch alcohol and I eat healthy. My appetite during the last 2 years has decreased drastically due to the depression but I have been working on building it back up again and trying to exercise regularly.

Is anyone else having this problem? I am gonna make an appointment with an eye doctor to have my eyes checked again and then start again from there.

[pwueb]

I started with dizziness about six months ago. I have ear fluttering ear fullness, swollen lymph nodes that swell and go down. i often feel light headed if I put My head back in a chair. One doctor told me so don't put your head back. So helpful! My vertigo only lasts a minute or two but I feel off balance often when walking. Because the vertigo is in short bursts the doctors tell me I am not a candidate for any head positioning exercises as it could worsen the vertigo.Humid days are awful i can barely stand up outside. I have been to two different doctors both prescribed allergy meds and flonase stating eustachian tube dysfunction as my problem.. They seem to help a little. I am now on Daypro for inflammation. I have had RA and Fibromyalgia for many years so I don't know if this is just a new symptom of not. Two weeks ago I went for lymph node drainage that helped for a few days. Right now I am trying acupuncture no results so far. Even the humidity caused by boiling pans on the stove causes  dizziness. My life has come to a complete standstill and I wonder how long before my support system vanishes. I am used to pain and constant fatigue from my fibromyalgia but this is so much more debilitating.

[GimpGirl]

Wash U? wow. They are hesitant to do much. And Midwest Neck Surgery---also basic ENT has one doc that will label you a psych case if he can't figure things out. Try Mercy but avoid their docs assoc with Midwest. They have plenty of others.

Possibly SLU, for a diagnosis, not ongoing treatment. They do tests over and over since they are a teaching hospital.

Hope you find a good one and let me know, I am looking.

[mjl73]

Have you had an auditory examination.  Do you have tinnitus?  If so, you might want ask your ENT about Menieres.  Typical symptoms are tinnitus, aurol fullness, vertigo and hearing loss in the low frequency ranges--at least at the beginning, the hearing loss is progressive, but it is the attacks of vertigo that usually are the most debilitating symptom.