Severe ear pain caused when I lay down at night.

I too started having this at age 62. I have been told by ear specialist that it's my Eustachin tube of my ear. When lying flat it closes due to allergies I have. Have you ever had a baby scream when you lay the baby down? Later to find the baby had ear problems? Same thing . I did have a little trouble buying this due to my age. The doc gave me a steroid nasal spray to use everyday and it does work. But if I forget to use the spray more then a couple of days it's right back, so I guess the doctor is right. He offered to put in a ear tube but felt it would just far out at my age

It is so gratifying to read this site! Misery does love company! I could hardly believe my eyes today reading all of your blogs about severe ear pain while sleeping. I so identify with your pain! I have gone to so many ENTs & Urgent Care for the severe pain in my right ear (and in my left, but not quite as bad) for four years. It keeps me up most of the night, tossing & turning, so my ability to sleep is greatly affected.

My pain always feels like it is deep within the ears, but hurts on the outside, as well as on the entire side of my head. Taking anitbiotics helps, becasue inflammation is associated with it, although an infection is never present (even on a recent CT scan). I finally found a NP who will prescribe it for me.

Only one ENT related it to TMJ, which I believe it is, in part. However, I have always had migraines (since i was 18) and Trigemenal Neuralgia (for 15+ years). For the past year, I have received Botox for migraines & TN, which helps immensely in freezing the muslces that squeeze on the nerves that cause so much of my pain.

Just a month ago, a new dentist took complete xrays of my jaws, and noticed that on my right side (the most painful one), the disc appears quite deteriorated. He believes that the severe ear pain may be coming from a branch of the trigeminal nerve that enters the ears, and is being pinched at night, just like a slipped or bulging disc in the spine causes severe back & leg problems (I have had two back surgeries & I now believe the pain is very similar).

I think this guy is onto something, and I have an appt. with a neurologist at the end of this month. I am going to ask her for an MRI that focuses on the trigeminal nerve on the back of the head and how it enters the ear, etc. This dentist also suggested a mouthguard at night so I don't grind my teeth (which I do), and a small sleeping appliance for sleep apnea (which I also have, but one that was prescribe was far too large and made my jaw & ears worse!).

If anyone is interested in contacting me, please do. I so appreciate knowing that others have this often incapcitating, disorder. and it is not so rare as I thought. It gives me hope that I am not alone and we may learn from & possibly help each other.

Best wishes to all of you,

Anna

I have been having the same issues...It is only on my right side. Only at night.  Wakes me up in the middle of the night and the pain is so bad (throbs), I can't get back to sleep until I turn to my left side and it slightly goes away.  I went to the doctor, she recommended that I get a neck pillow, so I did (spent $100 on a TempurPedic Neck Pillow) and the ear pain continues.  My aunt is a physical therapist, she performed an "Ear Pull" on me one day.  It absolultely killed (burned), but felt good at the same time! That was the first night I did't have any ear pain! But then the next night I did. So now I am wondering if it could be my wisdom teeth? I believe the tooth that is growing in on my right side is actually coming in sideways..So I am hoping once I get them out, I won't have any pain!

Same thing here on both ears. Tried elevating bed two inches and sleeping with "ear protectors" in both ears, but without any effect. Today I bought a foam pillow and cut a nice hole in it. Hopefully that'll do the trick tonight.

Update: it worked! Felt a bit strange with a new pillow made from foam, but the result is clear. No pressure no pain.

I am a 61 year old female. I, too, like many of you hear have been suffering from severe ear pain at night time for several years only on the right side. I went to my GP first and he informed me that I did not have an ear infection so he referred me to an ENT doctor. I tried that and he informed me I had acid reflux so I tried OTC medicine first and then when this did not stop it, he gave me prescription strength medication which I do not recall now since it has been several years ago. I thought I had to watch what I ate and just live with this pain. It progressively has gotten worse to the point where it wakes me up in the middle of the night and I have to turn over onto my left side. When I do this, it hurts to raise my head off the pillow so it usually wakes me and then I have to try to go back to sleep again on the other side.The pain does subside after a while after I flip. About a year and a half ago, I went in for a teeth cleaning and my dentist told me I was grinding my teeth so she thought this could be causing my ear pain and she recommended a mouth guard to wear at night. She sent me to a TMJ Specialist as well. He in turn made me a mouth appliance for my bottom teeth and said I had TMJ which was causing my ear pain. After wearing the night guard for several nights, I noticed that the pain had subsided and I was so elated. I thought finally someone has figured this out for me. I went for several months where they did adjustments to this mouth appliance. Note: (I wore braces in my early forties for over 3 years because my bite was really off and it caused jaw pain). After a few months with this TMJ doctor, the ear pain started coming back. I was so disgusted. Then I lost faith in this doctor because I could not tell where they were actually doing anything to this mouth piece I wore on my bottom teeth and thought perhaps since it was no longer working, why bother. My insurance changed, too, and I could no longer afford to go to him once or twice a week as he wanted. It was going to cost $90 per week or almost $400 a month. So I decided to go back to my ENT doctor again and he informed me it is not TMJ but acid reflux. He prescribed me a new medicine and gave me a bunch of samples of Dexilant. I went to have the prescription filled and was still finishing up the samples as well as taking the prescription alternating. Unknown to me, one night I glanced over at the prescription bottle and they had made a mistake and given me duloxetine which is Cymbalta. Due to other medications I am on, it caused a reaction the pharmacist called serotonin syndrome. I thought I was losing my mind between the ear pain, no restful sleep, and now this syndrome from a pharmacist error. The pharmacist called me and told me a few days later that they were waiting on my insurance to approve the correct medicine, the dexilant, but they never would approve it apparently because I am still waiting and that was about 4 months ago now. I would have pushed it further with them but after taking the samples of the Dexilant, it did not show a whole lot of promise because I was still having the ear pain. Now, after a few nights of really severe pain, (usually 4 to 5 nights per week) I am scheduled to go back again to this ENT doctor. After reading some of the information on this site, I am taking copies of some of your posts here with me to hopefully get to the bottom of this once and for all. Thank all of you who have posted about this because apparently there is something wrong somewhere and needs to be researched so we can all get some much needed sleep and can do so irregardless of which side you sleep on. I will post further if something finally works for me.

Hi all,

I have suffered from something similar all through my life. I can't even wear earphones or even headphones for more than a few minutes before my ear and the indeed the whole side of my head starts to hurt. I probably wouldn't surprise you to find out that it has also affected my sleep. Anyway, recently i bought a pillow from here and since it helped me I told the lady who makes them that I would make a post about it. So here it is. I hope it can be of some use to somebody else, too.

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Janine

For those that want to find it, just Google 'pillow with a hole', and you will see the available options.

Did anyone have ear infection sometime before this ear ache started? I had ear infection last year and this ear ache at night started sometime after that. I wonder if the ear infection lead to this ache.

I feel as though this is my problem as well. I've had bad ear pain for close to a year now whenever I laid down (especially at night). I did have swimmers ear which I just got cleared up. But, this pain will not go away. I've been through two different antibiotics and one bottle of antibiotic ear drops. I've already cut soda and caffeine considerably and I eat foods and take supplements to try and help this condition (after reading what you went through). I think I will try a neurologist, hopefully with experience in ears, to give a final diagnoses. It's funny I never, ever had ear problems growing up. Now, nearly thirty years of age I'm having this. Coincidence, I think not...

For a couple of years I wake up with pain on my outer ear and have a hard time going back to sleep. I have tried different pillows and pain meds to no avail. The ENT said something about hardening of the cartledge and recomended a pillow like others I have tried. I don't know anyone with this problem so tonight I searched the web and thank God for scial media! I found this website. I am so gratefull. Here is the site and I'll share what I am doing tonight!

Try changing to a lower pillow

My current doctor acts like the ghestapo when I mention anything online. My previous doctor had more confidence and he was fine with reading what I found online but we moved.

What is the name of your steroid nasal spray?

I get this too! Thought i was just strange :D I have to slide my hand between my ear and the pillow as its just too painful to lift my head!