SCLERODERMA AND EAR ISSUES

[JOJO19551]

I have ear pressure since September.  It is much worse on my one ear.  I went to the ENT and had a myringotomy (place a small hole in the ear drum to relieve pressure, if that works they put a tube in) and it did not give me any relief.  They did a cat scan of my sinuses and that was normal.  I asked him if it could be from my scleroderma and he said it could or it could be allergies to mold, since the mold is so bad in our area this year due to not having a cold winter last year.  Before I go further I thought I would ask you if you have ever had any ear problems.  Thanks so much for your help, JoAnn

[awesomemb]

Certain times of the year I have pressure, sounds–change in sounds in ear..etc, I do take allergy medicine pretty much year round. I use ear wax removal stuff every month. Sometimes more if pressure is really bad. I do think it is allergy/mold related. Regards, MB;)

[Kim]

I have pain in the cartilage of my ears, as well as pressure with a constant full feeling.  My Lyme doc says it can also be from swelling in the brain as a result of the infection.  Scary stuff! 😯

[linda]

Like Kim, I also get pain in the cartilage of my ears, and I have to be diligent about keeping the wax out, for some reason I build up wax very quickly. I'm sure if that was the problem in your case the doctors would have seen it right away. Can you try a small heating pad over the ear. Or can you apply something topical that you use for scleroderma on other parts of your body? I'd check that with a doctor first, I don't know what is safe when it comes to our ears.

[Terre]

I also have ear pressure in my left ear only.  Most of the time I feel like I'm in a tunnel and my ear is stuffy.  I live in the SF Bay Area where we get bay and ocean winds.  I take claritin daily (for years) for seasonal allergies which is pretty much year round.

Terre

[A Friend]

[user=514]JOJO19551[/user] wrote:

I have ear pressure since September.  It is much worse on my one ear.  I went to the ENT and had a myringotomy (place a small hole in the ear drum to relieve pressure, if that works they put a tube in) and it did not give me any relief.  They did a cat scan of my sinuses and that was normal.  I asked him if it could be from my scleroderma and he said it could or it could be allergies to mold, since the mold is so bad in our area this year due to not having a cold winter last year.  Before I go further I thought I would ask you if you have ever had any ear problems.  Thanks so much for your help, JoAnn

JoAnn,

Have you had an ASO titre lab test?  This may not have anything to do with your ear problems, but it did with mine back in mid 2006, and wondering if it could be with yours.  My then-AP physician overlooked its being high on my llabs.  He always sent a copy of the labs and had patients call him to discuss.  It wasn't discussed, so I thought he was aware of it, and thought it was not significant (I should have been more vigilant). 

Not only was this high ASO titre part of my feeling progressively worse, but whatever was going on was a big component in a frontal tooth area that acted up.  I don't usually have teeth problems.  They even said I needed a root canal.  (I said, no thank you.) Then they said if not that, then pull it and do an implant.  (My answer was the same.)  I was in shock. 

I had made an appt. with a new AP physician in Lufkin.  By the time of the appointment, a new problem had begun, I began having pain running up the same jaw line from the tooth up to my ear, and my ear was very painful.  I was feeling pretty awful by the time I arrived at my appointment. 

The new AP physican literally speed-read through the labs I brought, and soon told me that the high ASO titre had not been addressed, and that was probably what had worsened and had me feeling so bad.  She wrote an RX for Amoxicillin every 8 hours around the clock for 30 days.  At the end of those 30 days, everything was looking and feeling much better.  (I'd also read in a post a year or two before by Dr. TM describing him having the same kind of tooth problem I had, and he told how he was able to save the tooth and in his case the abx and a special mouthwash turned it around.  What a great influence that post was for me!!!) 

Anyway, just in the last few months, I was reading something and it told how the ear can be affected like mine was as part of our other diagnoses.  In my case, that amoxicillin did the job… especially since my new AP physician was as astute as she was.  That was the first time I'd ever seen her.  I was very impressed.  Still am. 

Hope you find answers soon for your ear.  Could your ear problems could be related to something similar to my own? I'd never had ear problems before. 

AF

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