Ear ache/Jaw pain - Anyone else?

I have a question and I'm not sure where to post it but here goes.
I have had an earache and pain above the ear on my skull that occasionally radiates down into my jaw for 6 months or so. My daughter said it's closer to a year. I didn't notice it as much when I was bedridden with pain. Now that I've been diagnosed and medication has improved the quality of my life, it is noticeable. The ear aches most of the time and the pain above it is a sharp stabbing pain. I wear my sunglasses cockeyed so they don't sit on that spot.
I went and had it checked, they said it's not an infection. Just a little bit of redness near the eardrum.
Anyway, is this something anyone has any information about?
Thanks
Kim

Hi Kim,

I often get stabbing pains in my ear, feels like a really bad ear infection, but usually goes away within half an hour.
I get TMJ pain as well, and i think that perhaps its all related. I also grind my teeth which doesnt help, but i cant wear my mouthguard because it hurts my jaw!!

Hopefully you find some relief soon. I often heat up a wheat bag and lie with my sore ear on it...the steam or heat seems to help!

I get knife/ice pick type pains starting in my ears and working its way up to the top of my head... they go away and no knows what it is. It kind of feels like my body telling me something, like slow down! Like when something stresses me completely out, this weird but now really painful feeling starts in my head and works its way down...

I have terrible inner ear pain in my right ear and it has been on and off again for years. I went to an ear nose and throat specialist who ruled out thyroid cancer and then we decided it was TMJ. I paid almost $1,000 to have a mouthpiece made for my mouth but stopped wearing it because it isn't comfortable and makes it difficult for people to understand what I am saying. I also didn't notice any improvement when I only wore it at night for several weeks.

Hmmm, I have just this week started having ear pain and this weird staticky sound in my left ear. It's not very loud, just enough to drive me insane, lol. Hope someone comes along with some answers... I just blame anything and everything on this lovely thing called MCTD...

Hi Kimmieg33,
It's so funny you mention this because about a month ago I had a really bad ear infection (or so I thought) & I felt sharp pains in my ear & down to my jaw, just like you, but it was also affecting my equilibrium. I kept getting really bad vertigo & being sick through the dizziness. I brushed it off thinking it was probably just an ear infection but then someone randomly emailed me about it saying they were having the same symptoms. Now after reading you guy's comments I'm thinking there defo must be a connection!?
I think I'm going to bring it up with the doctor next & ask on facebook.
I have repinned this post to symptoms which may be related to MCTD, until confirmation there is a connection with MCTD, trying to spread the topics out a bit

It's been reassuring to hear from others that they have experienced something similar. I need to make an appt with my rheumy doc anyway so I think I'll ask about it. The good news about it is that when I'm in pain from it, that means I'm not in other more excruciating pain
I will check in with the Facebook page and see what People are saying

Lisa douglas that pain can be from a migraine. There are different types of migraines. I used to get a stabbing pain in the ear cartilidge just for a couple seconds very painful. I found out that was migraine. I've had the same kind of pain you're talking about too. Have you talked to a migraine specialist? Also someone was talking about ear pian and skull pain that sounded like tmj. It's all tied in together. The ear, skull, jaw. I'm too tired to go into detail, I hope that is a starting point at least. Xx

Hello all. I have been reading the posts about ear and jaw pain. I developed severe pain in my right ear, traveling down to my jaw. I had a checkup at the dentists fearing it was a bad molar...but it wasn't. My rheumy found a connection between MCTD and inflammation of the facial nerve...sometimes called "tic douloureux". It can be treated with meds like phenytoin (Dilantin), gabapentin (Neurontin), lamotrigine (Lamictal), topiramate (Topamax), and valproic acid (Depakene, Depakote). Trigeminal neuralgia causes episodes of sudden, intense facial pain that usually last for two minutes or less. According to Drugs.com "Trigeminal Neuralgia (Tic Douloureux) is a painful disorder of a nerve in the face called the trigeminal nerve or fifth cranial nerve.  In most cases, the pain is described as excruciating, and its quality is "sharp," "stabbing," "piercing," "burning," "like lightning" or "like an electric shock." In most cases, only one side of the face is affected." This is what I have. Discuss it with your rheumy - there are treatments available. My first episode of pain was absolutely excruciating, brought me to my knees...better now.

kimmieg33 wrote:I have a question and I'm not sure where to post it but here goes.
I have had an earache and pain above the ear on my skull that occasionally radiates down into my jaw for 6 months or so. My daughter said it's closer to a year. I didn't notice it as much when I was bedridden with pain. Now that I've been diagnosed and medication has improved the quality of my life, it is noticeable. The ear aches most of the time and the pain above it is a sharp stabbing pain. I wear my sunglasses cockeyed so they don't sit on that spot.
I went and had it checked, they said it's not an infection. Just a little bit of redness near the eardrum.
Anyway, is this something anyone has any information about?
Thanks
Kim

Yes, yes and Yes

I have had this over a period of time. I have this issue at the present time. It is how I found this forum.

I have been to a doctor and had the same response.

I am using a device that was provided by my dentist. I was at the stage where I did not need to wear it during the day, but suddenly I had some issues.

Mine is ear/jaw and it hurts a lot and it is happening at the present time. The Panadol hardly touches the discomfort.  

Just for an update on this ear/jaw thing. I have just had an episode and it was excruciating whilst it lasted.
I am not finished with it, but things are a lot better so far this morning.

Here is what I discovered during the week after it started (again!!). First of all there is a connection to the ligament that runs along the neck. The right side of my neck was a little bit stiff. What I did to ease the situation was to commence some neck stretches. It was hurting at first but I found that once I got through the initial hurt my neck felt a lot less stiff and the jaw/ear began to relax a little bit.

Second a did a rather weird exercise of my jaw by moving the lower jaw to the left. Again, when I began it was hurting but I pushed through that barrier.

I took some strong pain relief being Mersyndol which has codeine and a calmative. This is best taken at night because one gets very sleepy when taken during the daytime. However, the calmative brings a lot of relief.

I am wearing my dental appliance because it brings relief. I take it out if I am eating or if I am talking to someone. Otherwise I use it. I was hoping to get to the point of only needing it at night but due to this flare I am using it again in the daytime. Something I noticed is that the flare itself began with a bit of a headache, and that by wearing the dental device I was able to manage the headache without taking any Panadol... but things got a lot worse when my ear/jaw was hurting so much.

This morning when I woke up my ear felt clogged like there was water inside. I gently pull my ear so that I can hear better . At the same time the flare seems to have reduced and I am feeling less discomfort.

I try to not use the p word. For me the word pain is a 4 letter word that must not be repeated. I am using a mind trick in order to not allow my brain to magnify the discomfort that I am experiencing. My current Rheumy understands this point, and ditto for Dr. Perera who was my Rheumy in Canberra. They encourage me to use alternative language to explain what is happening.

I have something like this as well. My ear feels clogged all the time, even when I've been and had it washed. Some times I get these pains in it, and it makes me go mad. I've never even thought that this might be connected to anything..

I have had several bouts of TMJ the past several years...the more I look to the past, the more I think some things I've experienced were really related to this, and I'm still not fully diagnosed

So this is an actual thing?!

I've had these stabbing pains in my ears+jaw since forever. My ears feel clogged all the time even after having them rinsed. It's like I have an ear inflammation but when a doctor looks at it they see nothing wrong.

My right ear is worse with these stabbing pains but left one does this too. I've had a jaw MRI and turns out I have erosion and inflammation in my left jaw joint, so that pain could be radiating in my left ear. But my right jaw joint is ok. So I have a theory that this ear pain, whatever it is, is radiating to my jaw joint.

I read a medical journal which said that approx 30-50% of MCTD-patients get jaw joint erosion. Don't know if that's true or not but it's something to look into.