Topic: Earache and entire left side of face aching?
disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Anyone else ever get this and know what causes it? I'm not sure what brought it on (all I remember is having a pressure in my jaw/cheek area before bed last night).... and this morning I just woke up with an earache and the entire left side of my face is sore and achey. As well as some sharp stabbing pains in my left forehead/temple area off and on.
I really don't want to go to the doctor. I am at the doctor WAY too often...
Should I put a heating pad on that side of my face?
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Sounds like it could be Trigeminal Neuralgia.
-------------------- My comments on this site are not intended to be taken as medical advice as I'm not a physician. Posts: 206 | From Georgia | Registered: Dec 2008
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
ugagal - I looked it up.... sounds like it could be... I didn't see a mention of earache though, but the trigeminal nerve is right beside the ear.
What causes this? Do you have it?
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Yes, I experienced it 2 years ago and my ear did hurt! Also, I had extremely painful shooting pains in my temple that went down into my cheek and jaw. It was diagnosed by a neurologist.
Although I did not know about Lyme at the time, my LLMD says that it is common for the Lyme to attack the trigeminal nerve. I was put on Tegretol and narcotics for the pain and it took about 3 months before I experienced relief.
Thankfully, I haven't had anymore problems with it. (although I did experience Bell's Palsy shortly thereafter)
-------------------- My comments on this site are not intended to be taken as medical advice as I'm not a physician. Posts: 206 | From Georgia | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
I get this too, ear, jaw, side of face, temple. Heat does help sometimes.
Posts: 261 | From Herx-ville!! | Registered: Aug 2006
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cottonbrain
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13769
posted
also could be referred pain from lymph nodes. are they swollen or sore?
Posts: 1173 | From USA | Registered: Nov 2007
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
cotton, nope... I made sure to check my lymph nodes and they are not sore or swollen at all.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
I think it is important to make sure it is not an ear infection.
Your middle ear is right there with the brain.
It is also a breeding ground for bacteria like meningitis.
So.....while it may be trigeminal neuralgia
Which is sometimes referred to as Lancinating pain of Trigeminal,
It is important to rule out an infection.
I hope you get to feeling better soon.
BTW, ear infections can be caused by
Viral infections as well as bacterial.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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Jill E.
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9121
posted
Are you on either Zithromax or Biaxin? I just took myself off of Zithromax due to it creating tinnitus and horrendous ear pain. I can chalk the ear pain up to a herx (although I haven't had it before) but there are warnings on macrolide antibiotics about tinnitus, hearing loss and deafness.
I've already been to my internist to rule out ear infection. Am awaiting to hear back from Lyme doctors.
I have talked to a few Lyme patients who have ear pain as either a symptom or herx.
Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Jill - No, I'm on neither of those.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Were you bit on your left side? I was, and my symptoms are all much worse on my left side. That includes things like numbness on my entire left side.
Posts: 975 | From California | Registered: Apr 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
-
Has increasing your magnesium helped?
If this is TMJ related, magnesium can help with that. It also helps calm irritated nerve endings and can reduce pain.
Can you purchase a new pillow that has great support? If you go for foam, air it out by an open window for a few days before you use it and then, use a thick towel between the foam and your skin.
---
I would not put a heating pad on your face. A warm, moist wash cloth might work.
And if you can get some cranial-sacral massage (gentle - not snap and crack) that would be good, too. Or even a regular massage.
disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Today the pain and left sided sensitivity as well as the 'ear ache' like sensation is completely gone. Not sure if it was due to TMJ or lyme flare... Very strange.
And SO happy I finally found and made an appointment with a TMJ specialist and the appointment is THIS Tuesday. I've been putting this off WAY too long.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Psano - Actually, yes, I was bit on my left arm... but it was MANY years ago... around 11 years ago.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
i have been dealing with this last 3 months
ear and dental problems have been ruled out so i am going to LL neuro
it seems it is trigeminal neuralgia
the pain was horrid-felt like icepick in ear to head and then electric shock
not all the time-intermitten-but i would scream out even in sleep
i also had other sensations-numb, prickle, etc
the only way i could handle pain was a skelaxin (like flexeril)every 6 hrs during day then vicoden at night. after about a week the sharpness is gone...and i feel the numbness and other minor sensations...i am off the skel and vicoden and just using ibuprofen. i do have neurontin now if i need it tho
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I think (my opinion only) from personal experience, that symptoms are worse on the side you were bitten, because the bugs spread throughout the body from the point of inoculation (where you were bitten) and it takes longer to get to the other side of the body and grow to the same numbers.
The more heavily infected side would have the worst symptoms.
By the way, I just experienced a big improvement this week by doubling the dose of roxithromycin that I've been taking from 300mg/day to 600mg/day. Roxy isn't sold in this country, but when my insurance co declined to pay for azithromycin for me, I decided to try roxy, since I read that it was supposed to get into the brain much better than azithromycin. I made this change with the ok of my LLMD.
I was on 300mg/day for about a month and felt I was starting to decline, so I doubled the dose this week, and within 24 hours started feeling better, and am feeling even better today, 48 hours later. My head feels so much clearer today and the numbness has gone away. Also my left eye isn't hurting, almost at all anymore. This seems to have happened without much of a herx, so I wonder if that means the improvement is due to hitting Babesia, since that's what I was taking azithromycin w/Mepron for?
Anyway, I'm thrilled with the way I feel today, when only on Thursday I felt horrible w/fatigue and numbness.
Posts: 975 | From California | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Just wanted to report that I started herxing today, so perhaps roxy is hitting Bb.
Posts: 975 | From California | Registered: Apr 2007
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