Severe ear pain caused when I lay down at night.

Hello, fellow ear pain sufferers. It's Susan again. I've been paying careful attention to what makes my outer ear pain worse. While I'm not 100% certain yet, I think the cause for me may be heartburn / acid reflux. I generally only feel AIR coming up my throat from the heartburn, so it's a bit surprising. Maybe this air can be acidic enough to burn or cause chronic pain. One thing I noticed long ago is that the side of my head that I sleep on more often has the worst symptoms. Besides ear pain, the inside of my mouth hurts too. As with the ear pain, the side I lie on most often is the side of my mouth that's affected the most. I used to have lots of ear and mouth pain on the other side too. That was when I slept on an air mattress. It was very comfortable, so I was able to sleep on both sides despite my hip pain on the right side. Then I switched to an excellent, but harder, foam mattress. This has meant mostly sleeping on my left side. Around the same time that I changed mattresses, the ear and mouth pain on my right side seemed to go away on its own, while the left side continued to be very bad. I don't drink coffee or tea anymore. What I'm really noticing is that stress makes my heartburn much worse. I wish there were any easy solution to that. Even during the day, my left outer ear will flare up in sudden strong pain. The daytime pain often happens when air is coming up my throat. However, other things bring it on too. As I say, I'm not completely sure what's going on yet.

My ear pain suddenly became so unbearable that I went to a walk-in clinic. This newer pain feels like it's deep in my ears or perhaps a TMJ problem. My usual outer ear pain is worse too. Even lying on my back hurts because the edges of my ears touch the pillow. Lying on my side in bed is impossible. The "deep" ear pain feels like it involves a lot of pressure. There's pain running down the side of the front of my neck. I was prepared to be told that I had TMJ and I was dreading it! I was very surprised by what the doctor told me. He said that both of my Eustachian tubes are completely blocked. He had me pinch my nose shut and exhale against pressure while he watched my ear drum. On exhalation against pressure, the ear drum moves if there's any air passing through the Eustachian tube (as is normal). My ear drums didn't budge a millimeter. You can try this yourself. The doctor said the cause of the blockage is inflammation and swelling of the Eustachian tube, possibly due to allergy. When the Eustachian tubes are blocked, the pressure inside the ears can go VERY high, he said, whether there's fluid in the ears or not. While I'm not positive, I suspect that this could make our outer ears hurt too. I can't get much air through my nose at any time. The doctor said that it's the same system and the same issue. I've been prescribed Omnaris nasal spray. I'm not fond of this spray (have used it before), but I think this is a very good reason to use it. I hope my various ideas in this discussion are helping you. If I make some progress, I'll let you know. Everyone deserves to sleep without ear pain.

I have just been diagnosed with Chondro dermatitis=the skin specialist said he's seen 100's of patients with this problem. He said to try the pillow with the hole in it. I have such pain when trying to lift my head of the pillow. The Dr. says our head weighs 30 lbs. He said if this gets worse they can do a transplant. Since the diagnoses is so new ( just 3 days ago). Have been reading Replys and immediately took Vit. D & Calcium. Since I don't have the proper pillow yet, I'm going to roll a small blanket in a circle. & see if I can roll it somehow to get pain relief.

I think this is brilliant. I've developed this very thing progressively over the last few years (no, it's definitely not a sinus problem, nor is it relapsing polychondritis, that would cause redness and swelling and episodes that last days, not 20 minutes). I have always slept on my side and am now getting episodes of excruciating pain that wake me and last 20 minutes after taking the pressure off my ear, affecting only the cartilage around the ear canal. I had gotten a memory foam mattress a couple years ago and this pain started after that - it makes perfect sense that if you take away pressure points on your hip that used to force you to roll over, you are putting pressure for longer on the same ear. It must be some kind of ischemic or nerve compression problem.

Your pregnancy complicates the situation for most of the physicians, as they cannot give you extra medication.

why don't you try some essential oils like olive oil. It's not scientifically proven, but in some cases it was quite effective. of course you must visit a specialist, one who can deal with hearing issues.

Your Pregnancy complicates the situation as your physician can't give extra medication. But there are some home remedies you can try. Like for example : you can try some essential oils like olive oil to ease your pain. It's not scientifically proven but in some cases it is proven effective. 

Hi! This is Susan. I think I've figured out what is causing this ear pain, at least for myself. It's heartburn. I rarely have any liquid come up from heartburn, just air - but that's enough to do it. Exactly how heartburn causes ear pain I don't know. Maybe there's a nerve that communicates between the "throat" and outer ear. This ear pain doesn't just happen to me at night anymore. After years of nighttime pain from sleeping on my ears, it began happening during the day too, without any external pressure being applied. It happens with even slight acidity and the slightest amount of air coming up. It also happens during the day if I swallow acidic foods/drinks. I read through this entire conversation, when I first discovered it, and noticed that many people who've posted here either have hypothyroidism or are pregnant. Heartburn is very common in both conditions. Of course, anyone can suffer from it. I'm not forgetting that we may not all have exactly the same thing going on. I find that if I control my heartburn better, I sleep with much less ear pain.

I have been following this post for awhile, i usually google causes of severe ear pain every year or so when my pain starts getting more consistent. I have had ear pain at night while sleeping on and off for years. Its in both ears. Ive asked my doctor about it, but no one seems to know why, some times it feels like I have water in my ears during the pain as well.. When it comes its very painful, difficult to even raise your head and almost throbbing. Somewhere in this tread someone had suggested taking vitamin D3, I have been taking vitamin d3 for years on and off never really consistently just whenever I remembered it. after reading someone suggest the D3 I started to pay attention to when my ear pain would show up, really thinking there is no way D3 is related to my ear pain, recently I ran completely out, several nights in a row I have woken up with ear pain, I purchased more D3 and have been back to taking 10,000 mil consistently once a day and for the last few nights I have not woken up with ear pain. Please try this if you are having this issue! I never post anything online, but if one person is able to get some relief like i am i figured i needed to share my results. I work in an office and I have never been an outdoorsy person so ive probably never gotten enough D3 from the sun. I have had this pain since I was a teenager and I am now in my mid forties..

I get this it’s the sorest pain ever and it’s like when I lift my head off the pillow the vacuum seal is broken on my ear and the pain is excruciating subsiding within about 5 mins to a dull ache
Dr has no clue and no one else seems to know what I mean sounds like you have the same

I really don't like going to doctors, and decided to search for help online. This is the best advice I found so far. Just like you described, I put 2 pillows side by side and my pain is almost gone. The most important is that I finally can get a full night sleep.
Earlier, I was waking up every 2-3 hours and was fatigued, grumpy and irritated in the morning. Because of that, my family and social life suffered and I was struggling at work.
Just one tip at the end - don't buy cheap pillows, open up a bit. i bought more expensive ones filled with geese feathers and they were great for me.

Well, it's me, Susan, again. In the past year and a half I've developed white flakes and yellow plaques on the areas of my ears which hurt. I didn't notice these before 2019. I've had outer ear pain for 7 years now. I think there may be a connection between the ear pain and the flaking. Surprisingly, no doctor has been able to tell me what to do about the flaking. They've called it "nothing," "dry skin," etc. Some doctors can't even see the flakes, though they're quite obvious. If I rub my ears even for a second or two, my ears become very red and there's much more pain, as well as slight itching and stinging. Some of the flakes come off easily with one rub. The doctors all say that the flaking and my ear pain are not connected. I think they may be connected. I think this is seborrheic dermatitis or something of the kind, affecting my ears. There are treatments for this described online which I think we can try ourselves without a prescription. They include cortisone cream, anti-fungal cream, and dandruff shampoo. I'll be trying some of these! I've had many bad years with this ear pain, being unable to sleep even with a "hole" in the pillow. Now I'm unable to wear a COVID mask because of where the elastics go. The saddest thing is that I haven't been able to talk on the phone for years. Conversations with friends and family members are torture. I can't touch a phone to my ears without unbearable pain. Many of my dear family members are elderly. I'm losing my last opportunities to speak with them because of this awful ear pain. I feel surprised that no doctor, even an ear, nose and throat specialist or dermatologist, has been able to recognize or treat something as simple as ear dermatitis/eczema. I know that not all of you have flaking. Perhaps the condition begins without visible flaking and can continue for a long time like that? My flakes were tiny, at first, hidden in the area where the edge of the outer ear curls.

If it's not ear flaking/crusting/inflammation causing this pain, my best guesses would be a) TMJ/TMD/teeth clenching or b) stiff muscles, such as neck muscles or the trapezius muscle. Muscles can really pull! I feel like I have all of these things going on. It's hard to figure out exactly what is causing what. I like the idea which someone suggested of laying two pillows side by side in bed and positioning your painful ear in the crack. I'm going to keep working on this. - Susan

Hello Susan,

Glad i found this forum, I search every night for people with similar issues.

I’m 29 years old and I’ve had the same problem for the past 1.5 years. Except I do not have the flaking.

I feel like I could have written many of the posts here.

I’ve been to many doctors, including 3 ENTs. They don’t have a clue what’s going on and claim my ear is fine. All the doctors I see look at me weird thinking I’m making this up or exaggerating, which is awful. Feels like I’m on this endless goose chase and my life is basically ruined because I can’t sleep well because of the pain.

I’ve tried all pillows you can imagine. Pillow with a hole, with a recess, bamboo pillow, feather, foam. Finally, I recently found out that if I prop my head to an angle the pain gets a little better, so I got a wedged pillow. But that’s causing me extra neck pain. (I have constant neck pain, migraines shoulder pain and my hands go numb, contract and shake every once in a while).

I’ve done one MRI since one of the ENTs suggested it could be TMJ related. I ended up and the dentist and the oral surgeon and both agreed, even though my jaw pops if I open wide, the ear pain is not TMJ, otherwise I’d feel pain all day when eating, yawning, talking... which is not the case. I tried soft diet, warm compress... nothing.

Adding up to the list, all my life I suffered with recurrent sinus infections, I’d get serious ones about 4-5 times a year. Finally on 2017 I did sinus surgery and haven’t had any sinus infections ever since. Thought I’d mention that, not sure if related.

First doctor I saw 1.5 year ago suggested relapsing polycondritis, which I don’t have any other symptoms except pain. Plus, it’s not relapsing really.

I also tried Physical Therapy at the beginning of the year (January). I’ve done many sessions, including the ultrasound thingy on my tmj (that was before the oral surgeon ruling out tmj) and I even recurred to dry needling on my shoulder muscles, neck muscles and scalp. My muscles on these regions are incredibly tight so I had temporarily relaxation with the dry needling but that was about it. It did nothing for my ear. By temporary I mean the drive time from the doctors office to my house. Eventually I dropped PT because it was just wasting my time.

I’ve also done some blood work which showed high IgM levels. The doctor said I could have some auto immune disease going on but did not look at it any further.

Finally, on a casual conversation with my father, which is 73 years old, brought up that sometimes at night he gets this horrible ear pain that wakes him up. But it’s not every day and eventually goes away. Just started happening with him recently. This is not environment related, we live in different countries and I haven’t seen him in a year.

Hope I helped someone with this or that there’s someone out there that discovered the solution that can help us.

Thanks

Hi. I have the same experiences. For approximately the last ten years maybe, idk, eight times a month I will wake up with ear pain, mainly the outer ear, but it radiates into the inner ear, so it feels like an ear infection, but only for maybe two minutes after I relieve pressure from ear. And the ears seem to weep a little. After four minutes or so it is gone and I fall back asleep. Sometimes I wake up with it again, or it may occur on the other side when I turn my head . I do not have to lay on my side for this to happen. It can happen just from laying my head on its side. About three years ago I had vertigo. And about a year and a half ago I had it again. I had an MRI done. Nothing. Now I fell a "fullness" in my head at times. I also a month ago developed double vision. Had another MRI. I have a small tumor, most likely meningioma. We don't know for sure. I also lost much of my sense of smell about eight years ago. Then experienced phantom smells from time to time for about three years after losing about 75 percent of my sense of smell. I never sought any treatment. I did mention all of these in passing during physicals, but nothing came of it. I have no idea if these are all related, but they sure seem to be. Although, since the diagnosis of the tumor the ear pain has not worsened. It's about the same.

I suffer with this too. Very sporadically, either side. Same thing GP thought I sounded crazy, but the pain is so incredibly intense. Thank goodness its not an every night thubg for me like some of you are saying, but I noticed a few people said they have tingling numb arms when they sleep, I too have this and wonder if there's a link between the two issues somehow...