I am in the same boat with ear pain and the description is like mine…deep aching in my right ear, with some pain in my jaw. This happened after repeated dental surgeries.
My doctors are thinking it is damage to the trigeminal nerve.
As a side note, and my apologies because this is a “downer,” but I had a relative who had throat cancer. Unexplained ear pain is a symptom. Some doctors don’t know this. I am thinking of asking for my throat to be xrayed. A traditional ENT exam, even with a scope, won’t necessarily see a small tumor in the throat.
I am getting some pain relief from Lyrica. My case has been goofy, as I am changing neuros and haven’t had my MRI yet. Changing your neurologist in my city is a HUGE deal.
My understanding is that an insult to the trigeminal nerve will not cause ear pain. This is why, as with my wife, UCSF neurologists called it atypical trigeminal neurolgia, and because they apparently had never heard of genticulate neuralgia. I would suggest considering that your jaw pain and your ear pain my not be related.
Steve…what explanation was provided for your wife’s ear pain?
A tortured blood vessel that rests on the nervus intermedias, the nerve that transmits ear pain. Not the trigeminal nerve. The blood vessel irritates the nerve and may cause loss of some of the myelin sheath protecting the nerve. The blood vessel shoujld not be in contact with any of these nerves. At UPMC the standard approach for genicluate neuralgia is to snip the nervus intermedias, separate the blood vesssel from the other nerves and insert teflon sponges between the blood vessels and the nerves, including the trigeminal nerver, to protect them in the future.
Nomad said:
Steve...what explanation was provided for your wife's ear pain?
ok, now I'm even more confused with some peopple saying ear pain is not caused my TN and others including my neurologist, telling me mine is, as the TN runs in front of the ear it sure made sense to me and increasing my Gabapentin by twice the amount is helping so far, most of the time...of course it has only been a week or less. Since I've already had MVD for TN, it made even more sense that three years later it would return, though I expected it to return in the same area. I'll google GN and see what I read. Thanks all, k
KG - try this web site: http://brainsurgery.upmc.com/conditions-and-treatments/geniculate-neuralgia.aspx
kg said:
ok, now I'm even more confused with some peopple saying ear pain is not caused my TN and others including my neurologist, telling me mine is, as the TN runs in front of the ear it sure made sense to me and increasing my Gabapentin by twice the amount is helping so far, most of the time...of course it has only been a week or less. Since I've already had MVD for TN, it made even more sense that three years later it would return, though I expected it to return in the same area. I'll google GN and see what I read. Thanks all, k
I have been dx’d with atypical tn. I have severe one sided ear pain that followed many dental procedures.
Might any of the injection procedures or a stimulator help with Geniculate Neuralgia???
Funny, I live in a major city and my neuro knows little about this stuff…and he is very intelligent and kind. I went to a well known ENT, and He was down right rude. Said I had TMJ. Didn’t even look in my ear.
I am considering going to a major teaching hospital about five hours away.
Again, wondering if a stimulator or injections might help with this nerve mentioned re: ear pain.
HELP!
Nomad - What you describe is exactly how it all started with my wife. Deep stabbling pain in her left ear. We spent a year and a half going to several neuralogists at UC San Francisco Medical Center. They described it as atypical TN. Finally learned from a post on this page that its actually geniculate neuralgia, not TN. There seems to be a lot of confusion about that and you are right, even many of the top notch neuralogists don't know what GN is. We found the experts to be at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The difference between TN and GN is that TN is an impacted 5th cranial nerve and GN is an impacted "nervus intermediate", not exactly a cranial nerve but related. We flew out to UPMC from California in Oct 2012 for my wife's microvascular decompression (MVP) survery. She has had not ear pain since the surgery, though she is still recovering from the surfery itself. Do a google search on geniculate neuralgia and UPMC and you should be able to find more info.
Nomad said:
I have been dx'd with atypical tn. I have severe one sided ear pain that followed many dental procedures.
Might any of the injection procedures or a stimulator help with Geniculate Neuralgia???
Funny, I live in a major city and my neuro knows little about this stuff...and he is very intelligent and kind. I went to a well known ENT, and He was down right rude. Said I had TMJ. Didn't even look in my ear.
I am considering going to a major teaching hospital about five hours away.
Again, wondering if a stimulator or injections might help with this nerve mentioned re: ear pain.
HELP!