drinking alcohol causes pain in my ear, why??

I get terrible ear ache almost like swimmers ear and my neck itches a lot. It happens when I drink beer, liquor and wine...within a few mins.

I have a customer that's a doctor and when I told her the first thing she said was, it could be an allergy to sulfites (which are used in some foods and medication as a preservative, and occurs naturally in the fermentation process of alcohol) . I did some research online, and that is the only thing I can find that links those three kinds of alcoholic beverages together.

So I am going to go get tested soon. Hopefully you find this helpful. =)

Wow. You just solved a mystery. I drink heavily, which I'm not proud of, and I started doing research on several health issues I am having. One is the ears thing, but I thought I had an ear infection. So, on my way downstairs to drink some OJ and have a banana. I have pins and needles, ear pain, heavy limbs, fuzzy out of it feeling the next day, fatigue, bleeding, memory loss, severe nausea.....all classic symptoms of and explained as side effects of prolonged excessive alcohol consumption. Only one thing will solve this.....quitting the drinking. I'm obsessive compulsive, so moderation doesn't work. Basically, no good comes out of drinking this much. You are just killing yourself slowly. Oh, I think another symptom is blurred vision and dry eyes the next day.

 

My body is failing me, and it's all of my own doing,

 

So, some of you need to think about that before you hit my stage.

I also get this sharp, shooting pain behind the ears after a sip of red wine (not spirits or beer, and I don't drink white wine or champagne anyway so I don't know about those).

I'm also allergic to garlic, onion, shallots. So I thought perhaps it's the kind of sulphites in those? I don't have issues with leafy greens (high in sulphur) or dried fruit either.

Anyone know of a connection between red wine sulphites and those in garlic? Or have similar experiences?

I also had this as if i had a ear infection, I get pain behind below my ears as well when i drink beer. UGH i'm a Hypochondriac and i suffer from really bad from Anxiety! (I guess Alcohol makes my anxiety get worse!) something really bothers me about Lymphoma and thank god i found this site! (now that's a reassurance!) Thank you so much google!! (Hehe.) Now i am going to try the vitamin c stuff :D

Again thanks whoever made this topic! :-)

Wov... so, I'm not alone with this. I noticed it first time years ago, when flying often on business. Almost everytime on planed when had wine I had pressure issues in my ears, swelling?? I guess?? Without any alcohol no issues. Nothing for ears after that. Now after heavy nights will get this otitis external issues next morning.. weird. 

Remedy that I found was ear cleaning syringe :) A couple drops of tea tree in 37C degree water and flush... maybe that tea tree fixes the infection as being an antiseptic product? Dunno, but it works.

 

Cheers M from Australia

As I write I'm currently having the same experience - ear pain after consuming alcohol. It's only in one ear because that's the ear that currently has otitis externa (inflammation of the outer ear and ear canal). Other ear - no otitis - no pain.

I usually have an adult beverage with dinner and have never experienced pain until I started battling otitis externa. What surprises me is the pain starts only after a couple of sips. First time it happened, I almost went to the emergency room because of the pain and throbbing noise. That was because I had finished a beer and hadn't made the connection between the pain and the alcohol.

As to why the pain - my guess is some part of the ear tissue is, under normal conditions, already sensitive to pressure. During an infection or inflammation, the tissue swells - which can cause pain. Alcohol's effects must do something to cause a sudden added jump in swelling.

What Vitamin C has to do with reducing the pain, I can't even guess.

P.S. I just googled and found alcohol causes blood vessels near the skin to dilate. So things now make sense to me. If there's an area on the skin's surface that's already swollen to do infection or inflammation, alcohol's effects can only make the swelling (and pain) worse.

I would get the same pain right behind the earlobe on the neck.  It used to be only with drinking wine, but had a beer with lunch and got the same excruciating pain.  I also get it when consuming something with vinegar.  Someone once told me that I was allergic to the sulfides in wine, but the beer and vinegar reaction sort of ruled that out.

I did notice that a hot cup of coffee settles the pain almost immediately.

Until, we have a real doctor with a real answer, good luck everyone.

Alcohol such as other corrosive substances with too Hight or low ph can cause erosions of the lining of pharynx and larynx which are enervated  by hypopharyngeal and vagus nerves. In turn this pains can be deferred to ear in what's called secondary otolgia. If the pain is chronic in adults then must exclude head and neck cancer at the cause

I get this too. I read in another forum that it is muscles in your salivatory glands that are spasming from a sensitivity to whatever food or drink you are consuming at the time. I have also read that vitamin C taken before the offending item sometimes relieves it. I am going to try the vitamin C trick myself.

Hello I have been having this issue and it sounds exactly as yours does however I see that you posted this over a year ago, I was just wondering if you have found out what the cause was as I have been googled diagnosed by myself with hodgkinsons disease as this was the only result that was found when searching the symtom of ear pain when drinking alchol - mine is also somewhat of a shooting pain, Thanks

Drink a glass of cold water and stay calm for 3 minutes,   the best remedy..#

 

Ragesh

I had severe pain behind my ears after drinking champagne with some chinese food. Nothing was helping until I read the post about Vitamin C. Tried some orange juice - and instant relief!! Thanks!

Vitamin C definitely works. Pain gone in literally seconds after a glass of vitamin C and water. So glad I found this forum, have wondered about this for years.

I have the same symptoms of ear pain when having my captain and cokes. Sometimes persists for days. Vitamin C did nothing for me.

Very interesting. This started for me at ~30 yrs old too. I'm doing a little research, and I'm wondering if this effects females disproportionally than males...