painful ear, annoying tingling

[MsPhC]

I am having really sharp, shooting pain in my left ear. When the pain comes, it also goes to the side of my head. I also have jaw pain and tingling sensations on the left side of my head and neck. I have also experienced a sort of stinging feeling in my neck. All on the left side. My doctor has given me allergy pills and nasal spray. Neither helped. I'm going to an ent but can't get an appt until a month from now. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

If an ENT examination revealed nothing, the symptoms mentioned could also be caused by cervical spondylosis. You may be having a nerve compression at the cervical (neck) level. The nerve compression could be due to an osteophyte, growth or a disc. This could be causing the referred pain. A neurological examination by your doctor may confirm this. He may then ask for blood test, an x ray and if needed an MRI to find out what is causing the compression. This is usually treated conservatively (without surgery) with physiotherapy, traction and cervical collars. Please consult your primary care physician for further evaluation.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[MsPhC]

Since my last post, I went to an ENT doc and he found nothing. He sent me on to the neurologist. He tld me that it sounds like I am suffering from some type of nerve damage...neuralgia. I am now on seizure meds which he says is affective in calming the affected nerves. I went for an MRI and am awaiting the results.as of right now, the meds have not offered much help. But I am increasing the dose each week until an affective dosage is found. So hopefully I'm on my way to getting some relief.

[krende01]

Did you ever find out what was wrong?

[MsPhC]

I was diagnosed with Trigeminal neuralgia as well as occipital neuralgia. I STILL  have the pain and headaches. I take OTC meds because the Gabapentin made we feel anxious and weird.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Considering your symptoms of radiation of pain from ear, and neck pain, your symptoms could be due to temporomandibular (TMJ) joint arthritis. This is the jaw joint and inflammation of this joint can cause pain on opening the mouth and tenderness on palpation behind the ear. The pain could also be due to external or middle ear infection. Please discuss this with your doctor am sure he will provide further assistance. In the meantime you can take OTC pain medication Ibuprofen. Ensure to take this medication after food to avoid gastritis.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[MsPhC]

Thanks for your response. I actually went to my dentist first...and ended up having a tooth pulled. That was many months ago and this pain hasn't gone away and now I have the tingling. I do think that seeing a neurologist should be my next move. Your post was helpful. I looked up facial neuralgia and saw some very familiar syptoms....

[reikilove]

I was looking for info for my husband and saw your post.  It reminded me of the same problem I had many years ago.  I went to a doctor, had a CT scan of my sinuses done which showed nothing and the Doc couldn't explain it.  A friend at work told me it sounded like facial neuralgia.  I don't know how painful yours is but mine was debilitating.  I suffered through, took some pain pills and it finally went away.  My doctor also suggest that it may be a problem with a tooth.  I went to my dentist and sure enough I needed a root canal.  But because I'd waited so long, the infection ate away the nerve in my tooth (the source of the pain).  The pain in my ear was from the nerve in my tooth.  Anyway, I don't know if this helps but I do know the "pain in one side of the head down to the neck" problem very well.  Might be worth a trip to your dentist to find out.  And if that doesn't show anything, maybe seeing a neurologist would be an idea to consider.  Good luck.