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.

[volitile24]

start from the beggining i would wake up my eyes would be crusted shut alot of pain in my eye it was like it was puss like wierd stuff it would end up in strings across my eyes and i would have to get it out or it would cause great pain i was constantly crying not on purpose then a red bump thing appeared on the side of my eyeball i waited like a week and a half that whent away did not go to a doctor of anykind now 3 weeks later started with a acheyness where my colar bone is and then i got sick congested coughing and ear discomfort I whent to the doctor and explained to her about my eye problem perviously and current symptoms she said i had a throat infection all she did was had me say ahh then she prescribed Azithromycin 50mg tablet never said to check back with her or anything im suppossed to take this three days in a row once a day then she said it keeps working after that for 7 days. i took it the day of my app not really a difference i woke up today with no hearing in my left ear i could hear my heartbeat in my ear pain and going from laying to sitting to anything i can tell stuff is moving around in there my ear has gotten worse since starting anti biotics should i go see her again or wait longer the ear pain has now made the whole left side of my face tender  hurts to chew and i feel out of place at times like my world is tilted on its axis and almost forgot to mention randomly my eye will get stuck open or close and i also explained this to my doctor at my app. any suggestions.

[mayanksymbi]

Even I am facing the same issues.Can it be related to throat cancer?
I am bit worried but dont have the guts to go to the doctor and check whether I am having some sort of cancer because of smoking :(
Please advise

[john22311]

I first started having similar issues to the ones mentioned about 3 years ago.
On and off ive had pressure in the jaw below the ear, ear pressure and occasional pain, slight swelling to the lymph node (all on the right side)

If I remember rightly it started with really bad acid reflux, anxiety was (and still is) an issue, not sure if those two are related though!?!  

I remember one night a few months after my reflux issues, I had this pulsating in my right ear and it felt 'full' as if i needed to pop it and the other symptom was pressure in my jaw below the ear.

I only had that pulsating that one time and it lasted for about 15 minutes, but at this time my anxiety was the worst its ever been, actually now i think of it i have experienced this pulsating feeling when i get shocked but only for a second.

Other things which maybe related is, i do grind my teeth sometimes at night especially after drinking alcohol. The day after drinking i have noticable pressure in my jaw and my lymph node seems swollen slightly.

These are the facts,

Im a smoker
Drinker
Suffer anxiety / stress
Suffer acid reflux
I sometimes have seizures (muscle spasms)
I'm a worrier!

My doctor was giving me medication for acid reflux, i stopped taking medication not long ago because it eased up a fair bit, some changes i made were,
stopped drinking and smoking
stopped eating fatty foods
exercise regularly
ive taught myself to manage my anxiety.

One thing that is interesting is this, at one time i used to panic and think i had something really wrong with me all the time and this actually made it worse.

How about this:
A few weeks ago i actually almost cut out my anxiety and was exercising a lot and i didnt notice any of my symptoms at all for a couple of weeks . Great!
Last night i drank about 7 beers and smoked about 8 cigarettes, I woke up with a major jaw ache and had anxiety all day and its worse than ever.
I've also had a dry throat all day. But actually i think its anxiety and stress that makes it worse than anything else.

My plan is to actually give up smoking and drinking all together and exercise daily and continue to manage my anxiety and stress and see how things are in 6 months.

So there you go, im no doctor but i know my issues and i know whats helped me. Obviously Im not suggesting this will be the case for others but make some changes in your life and it might improve your symptoms, you never know.

[my_ear_is_killing_me]

My right ear has been killing me off and on for more than 3 months. The pain is excruciating, the jaw and bone behind my ear extremely sensitive to even the lightest tough, and the opening of my ear .... I can't even touch it w/o crying. I went to the MD twice, two different MD's actually, and was told that my ear's fine, there's no infection. It was suggested that I not wear the headset I'm supposed to wear at my work (I answer phones all day) as that may be causing it.

I haven't worn the headset for 2 weeks, and the pain is still there.

It'll go away completely for a day or two (sometimes 3) and this last time I thought it was really gone. But today, it's back full force, feeling like an icepick is jamming thru my ear.

I've tried eardrops for earaches, also drying drops, heat, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, vicodin, ice....NOTHING HELPS.

What is going on?

[now_I_will_be_spammed]

I currently have the same issue..back of the jaw, right under the ear feels swollen..problem is, I know what caused it the very first time it happened to me as a kid..I was blowing up a long skinny balloon without stretching it first and air was forced into the inside of my cheek/muscles through those saliva holes at the back cheek..

now 31, I just woke up with the same feeling but, I don't recall, as unfortunate as this sounds, blowing anything..although, I DID smoke some weedand I blow it out the window with a bicycle seat post, I can't be certain but, I may have almost blew the smoke out before getting to the window and held it in, kind of like holding in a sneeze..so that actually may have been what forced the air into my, for lack of a better word, jowels..

I don't really know what to do to make the semi-pain/uncomfortableness go away other than pressing on the swollen glands/muscles to try to force some air out, not too hard..I don't really know what's going on in there and I don't want to "pop a balloon" of sorts inside my face..

I have noticed myself over the years to be susceptable to this condition at different times with different levels of pressure inside the mouth/lungs..from that first time I gave my all and almost passed out from trying to blow up that balloon so hard, to trying to stiffle a cough at the last second by keeping my mouth shut, to even blowing out a candle once..

the holding in a cough situation might have been the culprit this time but, it didn't bother me until this morning..usually it's noticable quite quickly..

either way there is no reason to be bothering a doctor with such issues..

[Mordechai888]

Have you by any chance been lying in bed with your head on a pillow so your jaw is touching your chest for a long period of time?  This is how I got it and I knew that's what I was doing before I came here.  When I read all the med advice I thought I bet it's just that wacky position.  I am now ready to wait for it to disappear. I also use earplugs.