Ear pain when swallowing

[saidinstouch]

Hey all, was just wondering if anyone else has ever experienced ear pain when swallowing or yawning. It feels a lot like strep or an ear infection, but I was checked by the doctor and they saw no symptoms (fever, swollen lymph nodes, visual signs) so they believe it is something else. I had wax irrigated from my ears and the pain went from being isolated in the left ear (irrigated first) and into both ears. I am somewhat concerned that 8 hours after the irrigation the pain started in my right ear since that speaks of spreading the source from one ear to the other, though it could also have been developing anyway and is a coincidence since I still have no fever and will be getting a followup on Monday.

Regardless of the cause, has anyone experienced this and found a good way to relieve the pain? I've been on vicodin for a few months due to my surgery, but am trying to taper off of it currently since I am feeling good otherwise. The doctor thinks it might be related to grinding my teeth at night and I have a nightguard now to try and address that. However, I'm not 100% convinced and would like suggestions to deal with the pain or what might be the cause that I can address in a simple manner (if possible). Thanks in advance if you guys can help a fellow crohnie out.

 

[beth]

I get jaw pain from eating anything crunchie, or if the pillow presses on my jaw at night... Only thing that helps has been a buprenorphine patch. None of the other Ive tried really does the trick: tramadol, meptazinol, codeine only take the edge off it.
Good luck!

 

[Crohn's 35]

I had a whopper of ear problems for a few weeks. Started from a head cold and then down to get Pneumonia and had water behind the inner ears, I was dizzy and had head aches, still not of the woods yet and been 2 months. I didnt have terrible pain but enough. I found plugging my nose and blowing gently helped a bit. I was on two different types of antibiotics, sometimes it just takes time. Do you get dizzy?

 

[imisspopcorn]

I do get occasional ear pain when swallowing. It comes and goes. I also grind/ clench my teeth....It's only a short sharp pain so i never really do anything for it. It sounds like a pressure problem since it happens when you swallow. Maybe a decongestant might help, do have any other sinus/ allergy problems?

 

[pb4]

OUCH, that sounds painful!!!! I'm sorry I don't know of any suggestions on how to help with your pain...did you see an ear/nose/throat specialist or just your GP? If you haven't seen a specialist I'd definitely go that route...I hope you find relief very quickly.

 

[saidinstouch]

Normally I don't have other sinus or allergy issues. If it hasn't cleared up by tomorrow any I'm seeing my gp and will decide what to do from there. I sometimes get it in the winter for an hour or two in the morning due to the heater running at night (which I can't control unfortunately), but that clears up. This time it just decided to stick around, so I'm hoping it goes away soon.

I'm trying decongestants, menthol cough drops, and phenol throat spray to deal with the pain in addition to the vicodin.

 

[farm]

I had this problem for a while and since I was put on Singulair it went away.

Also (weird side note) I grind my teeth so bad at night some mornings I have to spit out bits of teeth. My dentist always has to grid them back into shape when I go.
But I can NOT sleep with a bite guard in.

 

[mwb3779]

I have this same issue. I'm going to the dr tomorrow to have them look at it. I'm not sure what could be causing it. I usually drink something cold so it kind of just numbs it a little. It is very annoying. I'm not sure if I grind my teeth or not.

 

[saidinstouch]

Well it seems to be fading...though with vicodin for pain relief you never know. It does seem to hurt less even with the vicodin than it was a couple days ago and has mostly only remained in the right ear rather than both. Hopefully it will be gone in another day or two and only a minor annoyance as the day passes today.

 

[forum contributor]

Hey. Have you been checked for TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder)?

 

[mwb3779]

I haven't.

 

[forum contributor]

You may want to get checked out for that. I had been having that problem for years until I finally bit the bullet and had it checked out.

It can cause so much pain in quite a few areas. I had the pain in my ears, jaw, and teeth.

Here are a few sites for you to look at in case you want to read up on it:

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/temporomandibular_joint_tmj_syndrome/article_em.htm

http://www.tmj.org/tmjds.asp

 

[saidinstouch]

I just got seen by the doctor again yesterday and this time they saw a bit of infection. I probably just went in to be seen before the visible signs reared their ugly heads. Most likely started deeper in than visible so now I got antibiotics and should be on my way to recovery at least.

 

[imisspopcorn]

Good luck, I hope you feel better.

 

[mwb3779]

I got back from the doctor today and I she thinks that it may be a little inflamed. She gave me an antibiotic therapy (Azithromycin). We'll see what happens.

 

[saidinstouch]

Be careful with azithromycin (not that you really can be) and watch for stomach pain at the end of treatment and shortly after. Sometimes your intestines can get a bacterial overgrowth and cause intense pain. If that happens contact your doctor and they might prescribe another antibiotic like rifaximin to clear up the bacteria in your gut so you can replace it with good stuff from a probiotic like vsl#3

 

[mwb3779]

I will, thank you.

 

[Peaches]

It's always tricky with us isn't it guys? Hard to talk the stuff that'll help ya because it just might hurt ya!

 

[mwb3779]

It's always tricky with us isn't it guys? Hard to talk the stuff that'll help ya because it just might hurt ya!

Yeah, kinda sucks.