Feels like plastic or glass trying to come through the skin

[rld42953]

My wife is suffering horribly and can't get any one to help. History: 1)she has MS 2)she just finished six weeks of vancomycin treatment for an MRSA infection 3)Various other ailments including but not limited to rheumatoid arthritis,fibromyalgia, osteoperosis, degeneration of all the discs in her back and neck, three have been removed. She is 52 years old, 5'8" and weighs 128. she has lost 21 pounds since the current problem started. Here is the problem: She has very, very, severe pain in her ear canal and the outside of her ear and neck. She says at times it feels like large pieces of plastic under the skin. At other times it feels like pieces of glass and sometimes like sand. Always it feels like the material is trying to cut through the skin of the bottom of the ear canal, (both ears). The feeling is that the pieces are moving around and she says that they feel like they are being sucked up into her head. The pain is unbearable. Because of the condition of her back and the pain she feels there she is on morphine patches 24 hours per day. Additionally she takes a lot of other pain medication. Nothing stops the pain unless she takes an oxycodone and a valium and knocks herself out. When she wakes up the pain is just as bad. We have had her to more than 25 doctors. some of them Ear, Nose and Throat specialists. None of them have been able to diagnose the problem. Biopsies have come back negative. Blood work appears to be normal. CT scan and MRI has shown a pocket of fluid and/or inflammation behind the right ear. The ENT's all say it is not significant. Had one ENT say that in his 25 years of experience he has never seen anything like her condition. Any opinions would be appreciated.

[rld42953]

Thanks for responding. We are just finishing up a trip to an infectious disease specialist and we are now going back to the neurologist since we got no positive response elsewhere. We definitely will be talking to him about the nerve pain and possible treatments.

[Nancy T]

Sorry your wife is suffering so terribly. Have they considered that the pain is due to the MS? MS can certainly cause nerve pain, which is what her ear canal and neck pain sounds like. Talk to her neurologist. There are medications for nerve pain. I've heard of people using Neurontin though I think there are others, too.

Good luck to her--I hope she finds relief.