drinking alcohol causes pain in my ear, why??

I can't believe I stumbled on this ! I too have had this random ear pain ( a real sharp pain like lightning ) it really makes me wince. It's always with wine ( not always - but that's the main culprit) sometimes beer . I've never met anyone who's had it so love this feed. Will try the vitamin c ( or stick to mimosas lol )

Could possibly be TMD, however like you all I primarily get it when I drink a beer. It's usually on the first beer, but not every time I go out for drinks. If neck, and headaches also tend to occur, that is also a symptom of TMD.

I work for a chiropractor that practices Applied kinesiology (which is a technique in alternative medicine to diagnose illness or choose treatment by testing muscles for strength and weakness.) I woke up this morning with swollen glands on both sides of my neck. First thing this morning I had her treat me. She asked what I ate the night before...she was positive I was having an allergic reaction to the food. She did her tests. I was sensitive to sugar, soy, wheat (gluten) and corn. Tonight my husband took me out to dinner and I had a glass of wine. I immediately started having severe pain....behind my ears in my neck where my glands are swollen. I am positive it is some form of allergic reaction to the wine after the tests I had today and the results. Years ago I had the stereotypical allergy tests and was diagnosed with mold allergies. After looking at other posts, I'm thinking that the fermentation of the alchol is the culprit. Hoping some of the anti-inflammatory will help easy the swelling of these glands....it feels like they will burst right now. Husband is ready to take me to the ER. The pain is that bad four hours later. Hope this gives you more insight and may be another path to look in to.

I am a 36 year old male and I have the same ear and neck pain after I drink alcohol. It almost feels like the lymph nodes in the back of my neck are swollen. The ear pain it quite painful and will last almost the entire next day. No idea why.

I have the same problem with wine too.  I've come to the conclusion it's the sulfides.  Went to Europe. Drank wine there with no problem.  Guess what. They don't use sulfides.

I get the same thing. Feels like a stabbing tearing sensation around and under my ears, i think lymph nodes, when i drink BEER or eat sourdough bread, or most pizza and with pizza it gets worse if i have root beer with it. Hard liquors don't do it to me. Nor does most good wine. But no bread of any kind with any sort of alcohol, no bread or anything but meat for 3 hours before or after drinking... so.. no drinking anything at all with dinner. I guess europe is out of the question. I may have narrowed it down to yeast or gluten or wheat after 13 years of experimentation. It really hurts though. Pizza like tonight gives me this effect for about half an hour. When i was 21 i drank a 12 pack of beer in about an hour and soent the entire night screaming into a pillow in excruciating pain. Habent had even 1 sip if beer in 13 years.. beer battered foods are bad too.. i do wish there was more literature on this.

Well I am currently drunk so I'm shocked I can write this and I have not had wine since hate the shirt sorry for swearing been drinking beercider and I come home nan my ears are blocked and killing like hell :(

This has been happening to me for years. I have TMJ. It may be the position of your jaw when drinking from a bottle or can.

hi, I am currently having the most intense earache, deep in my left ear canal, feels like an ear infection. the right ear isnt painful but feels kind of itchy.last time I experienced this was after new years and lasted a couple of days, I assumed it was an ear infection but by day 3, as I was about to make a drs appt it started to subside.I am convinced it is alcohol releated as last night i drank quite a lot fo Vodka.and here I am again, same pain.Have just tried the hydrogen peroxide thing but no relief so far, also tried some Mango juice, dont know if that has vit C but I'm out of orange, used it as a mixer with the vodka last night.It does make sence for it to be an allergy of somekind, as my body doesnt like me drinking alcohol and i usually get a really bad migraine, especially from drinking wine.Seems my body is intent on finding new and excruiating ways to stop me drinking.

Can you drink the emergen-c before you go out instead of after you start drinking ?

emergency c worked wow

worked great thanks for the post

I have had the symptom of ear pain after drinking alcohol and wondered if I was alone.  I am comforted to see that it is not an isolated event.  I am a biologist, my theory is that dehydration is causing the jellly-like fluid (in which the vibrations occur) in the ear to loose water or ions that is important for proper fluid balance in the ears.  The reason I propose this is the fact that this pain intensifies if I drink two days in a row and depends on the amount of alcohol (diuretic) or caffeine I consume.  There is also a diuretic in my blood pressure medication which may place me in a predisposed state, setting me closer to the dehydration point before drinking diuretics.  That is my two cents.

I've been getting this problems for years. I was reading and hurting at the same time and wonder if I had any vitamin c in the house. I found a carrot and it worked good, but still have mild feeling. Cheers

I just took an Emergen-C with fresh orange juice after 20 minutes of excruciating ear pain in both ears after drinking alcohol and the pain stopped immediately.  There is a still a little throbbing in one ear but its subsiding and its been 5 mins since taking Emergen-C.Thank you for the great tip!  This is my first time experiencing ear pain from alcohol.