HELP! Pain under right ear

[jeannette533]

I have been experiencing a dull but constant pain under my right ear for almost a year now. If I push or massage the hard lump ( cervical lymph ) under my ear and massage upward toward the ear lobe and slowly open my mouth at the same time, I can feel drainage down my throat and I hear a cracking noise ( not every time, just more often than not ). It also feels most of the time as if I am tightening the muscles around my ear as someone would to wiggle the ears but I am not tightening them. I can't stand it any longer and cannot afford to go to the doctor. I don't like to take any medication at all but I finally got sick of it and took Ibuprofin every day for about a week. It was the best week I have had in a year and it made me realize how seriously this is affecting my quality of life. I also get frequent headaches. I have looked all over the internet and cannot find one other person who has talked about this. I am desperate for answers.

[Spaceystac]

Wow that is interesting that they found your scoliosis like that!
Glad that I could help, it wasnt until recently that I found out what my lumps were.
I have osteopath doctor and he can do adjustments of the spine. I am going to talk to him about things I can do to reduce the pain so If I find anything out treatment wise, I will let you know. I am hoping he can adjust it back into place.

[jeannette533]

Thank you so much for the information. I do have scoliosis. My youngest child is 1 and it seems that my problems started after giving birth to him. I had my other children natural but I had to have a c-section with him. The anesthesiologist tried to give me an epideral that did not work and when they finally took me in for the c-section, another anesthesiologist gave me a spinal block and he is who discovered that I had scoliosis.  

[Spaceystac]

I think I know what you are talking about. I too have lumps, just under the ear behind my jaw bone. It was always a very tender spot for me on each side. I noticed the left side bump was way larger than the other side. And the left side would often give me sharp random pains now and then.  
  I asked many doctor's what could be here causing this? No one could really answer my question with confidence.   Recently I was doing some physical therapy for my neck issues and my therapist touched that spot so I told her about the pain and not knowing what it was.  She told me I was feeling the part of the C-1 vertebra, or the side bones of the similar to the spinous process you feel when you press on the bones of the back of your spine. Usually this isn't prominent or tender, but my spine is out of alignment, but I have mild scoliosis.
  It is hard to say if this is the same thing you are having but mine is a very hard bony lump. If it is, maybe your top vertebrate is out of alignment, causing you pain and some sort of fluid exchange. Possibly pressing on your ear causing fluid to back up in it, then you press your vertebrae into place again and the fluid drains...I dont know.

Here is a link to info on the C-1 vertebrae, hope this helps!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_vertebrae