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Mastoiditis

I am interested in hearing from anyone who has had mastoiditis. I have been diagnosed with it since the summer and am still waiting to see ENT Dr. This is because of lack of insurance and going through clinic. But I would like to know how long has anyone had it, what were their symptoms and what was the treatment and did it work. I can barely hear out of my left ear and am in pain alot of the time.  Thank you.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for clarifying those 2 nerves - their functions and pathways.....glad to know the differences in their sensory and motor functions.
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1061534 tn?1276702061
We are talking about 2 different nerves here.

breemarie stated that her face was "numb".  Numbness refers to sensation, which is handled in the face by the Trigeminal nerve.  This nerve does not travel through the ear or the mastoid process.

The nerve to which you are referring is the Facial nerve.  It does travel through the ear and the mastoid process, but it is responsible primarily for motor function in the face.  People generally will use a word like "paralyzed" when referring to a motor nerve that doesn't function.

It is possible that breemarie did mean "paralyzed" or even "weak" when she used the word "numb", but I went with the more commonly understood definitions.
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Avatar universal
I have chronic mastoiditis and my ENT says one of the risk factors of a mastoidectomy is that the facial nerve runs through the upper portion of the mastoid and that it doesn't happen very often, but there is a very small risk of injuring it during mastoidectomy. So ENTMD is right that it doesn't travel through the "ear", but it does go through the mastoid.  
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1061534 tn?1276702061
Agreed, those are some frightening complications.  Fortunately, they are indeed rare these days.

True numbness (loss of sensation) in the face would not be explained by mastoiditis.  The nerve that provides this function does not travel through the ear.  Relief of pain and improved hearing are reasonable expectations with treatment.

Generally speaking, chronic mastoiditis is considered a surgical disease; it often does not respond well to medicines (in some cases, when infection of the bone itself is involved, IV antibiotics can be used).

I sympathize with you in that hearing all of these horrible possibilities is not very nice when it's not counterbalanced by information specific to you...But again, until an ENT doc interprets the scan and examines your ears (including testing your hearing), there is little that anyone can really say...
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Avatar universal
Thanks for answering my questions but I've been on medical sites and these are the type of things I was seeing about Mastoiditis.  
Possible Complications
Destruction of the mastoid bone, Dizziness or vertigo, Epidural abscess
Facial paralysis,, Meningitis, Partial or complete hearing loss
Spread of infection to the brain or throughout the body . Almost every site was saying pretty much the same thing even though they said it was rare that people get serious complications and or die from it. But you can see my reasons to worry. Especially since its been going on for so long without any real treatment. The nurse who called me to come in about the results even said to me, its not good and then she said take care of yourself and was looking at me with pity like I had some horrible disease. I have been worrying ever since. Especially since the pain sometimes is a throbbing severe pain and my face does get numb sometimes.I have significant hearing loss in one ear. This bothers me.  Is that going to come back with a stronger antibiotic? They say its difficult to treat with antibiotics somethimes. What is the truth? Why do all these sites give out this type of information.
Helpful - 0
1061534 tn?1276702061
Your question is nearly impossible to answer with any accuracy, as such a diagnosis can vary widely.  Many people have had chronic mastoiditis for many years.  Hearing loss and intermittently draining/infected ears is common.  In most cases, the disease will not progress to more serious intracranial complications.  As long as you don't have acute vertigo, sudden hearing loss, facial paralysis or signs of meningitis, this is generally treated on an outpatient basis and isn't considered emergent.
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