Outer ear cartilage painful

[pmcollings]

Hi everyone .  It's been awhile.  I'm 3 years post op this month.  Learning to live with my new normal and I am having progress but I have a new development-  I actually it's been in the works for awhile.  The outer part of my ear - the cartilage part hurts.  I can't lay on that side because of my plate, which I've come to accept but this is something different.  It's not the canal it's the big dumbo ear part lol.  Anyone else having this problem ?  I think what might be going on is my plate shifted and there is a very sharp edge that my ear rests up against.  I think I have some kind of rubbing action going on or maybe a broken ear - I don't know.  lol !!  It looks the same as my other ear but redder and it hurts.  Any thoughts ?   I am going to my regular dr on Monday.  I haven't found a new neurologist since I moved from Austin, Texas to Houston.  Guess it's time. 
BTW-  this group saved me when I was first diagnosed and after.  Thank you all who helped me on my journey.  It means so much than you will ever know !  xoxo Pam

[Doc]

I had the same thing that came and went. It was on the AN side only, also behind what you so aptly refer to as the ‘dumbo’ part of the ear - lol. I never did figure it out, and never inquired either.
 
Anyway, with all the ‘lol’ you’re doing, I’d say if this is the worst of what pains you, you’re doing great.

Take Care

Doc

[pmcollings]

Doc , thanks for the reply !  Yes I was laughing at my dumbo statements.  Sometimes you just have to laugh no matter how you are feeling or what the circumstances !!!!  have  a great weekend !

[Doc]

Cheers! 

[InnerGrace]

I know it has been awhile since this topic has been discussed.  But I was searching for anyone that may have a similar sensation as me... and this sounds familiar as to what I am experiencing.  So in hopes that one of you are still around... ..... I am 6 months post op and I also have a sharp ear pain, in the same location as described.  I guess I describe it as the cartilage area where the ear attaches to the head...lol  It comes and goes as well.   Like, I'll go a month or two without having that sensation and then it'll creep back in.  Sometimes it's just a dull throb but other times I will get sharp aches.  I can feel it intensify when I tilt my head back, as when I am looking up.  I am assuming it is just part of the healing process as I had asked my neurosurgeon at my last visit in September and he stated that it was just healing but didn't explain what it could be.  Scar tissue?  The nerves firing up?  I don't know.  But I'm glad I'm not alone and was wondering if either of you are still experiencing this sensation?  Also, not all the time, but when I am in not such a deep state of sleep, I hear a "buzzing, zinging" noise in my ear.. as if a huge wasp is buzzing by...it almost sounds electrical.  It usually happens the same time I am feeling this sensation.... Kinda strange.

[Notanotherthing]

 I haven't been on this forum  for so long,  I hope everyone is well, but I just had to look for this problem. I'm a watch and wait and I'm having a terrible time with my external ear cartilage feeling like it's broken. It's on my AN side but I just don't feel like this would have anything to do with the AN. My external ear hurts & even hurts inside my ear canal but external ear canal. No injury. Could this be nerve related  from my tumor or somehow simply muscular because when I press all around my ear it's sore. I have the sensation of a piece of cartilage lying  over the other piece of cartilage and I have to contract my one muscle under my ear and then it cracks back in place it's really disgusting feeling. I just have such an earache.I just feel it's not at all related to my vestibular schwannoma but family felt it might be.  I don't see how but figured I would ask.

[InnerGrace]

Hmmm... that is odd.  What you describe as far as moving the the muscle to snap the cartilage back into place feeling.  That is exactly how mine gets.  It's not all the time... but when I have that sensation, that's when I have the "pain"....(bruisy feeling) in the cartilage area of my ear.... not in the canal though.. just in the cartilage in the inner ear.  I describe it as the cartilage that is against my head.  Now, if you are saying that you are experiencing that and you haven't had your tumor removed and I have.... it has to be something to do with the AN.  I mean, educated guess.  I'm certainly no doctor.  Makes me think that it may have something more to do with nerves than anything else.  If you find anything out, post on here.  I'd love to hear.  (no pun intended)...... I go in for a 10 month follow up for an MRI and a visit with my neurosurgeon and my otolaryngologist on March 7th.  I will be asking if it is normal to be experiencing this feeling.  It drives me insane, only because I am not knowing why it is happening or if it's normal.  If it is, so be it!  But peace of mind goes a long way!  Blessings!

[Notanotherthing]

Thank you InnerGrace  your reply. Somehow I just CAN believe now that it is an AN issue because I've had so much sound muffling and my tinnitus gets very loud & pressure so maybe things are shaking up a bit. I do get tingling on the left side of my bottom lip as well so maybe the two nerves are very irritated. I totally believe in the talk about toxins being released from these tumors.  My cartilage has calmed down over the last week, in other words, I haven't had to crack back in place what  feels like broken cartilage. It is just so disgusting and it hurts when you do it. I could always wiggle my ears so luckily I'm able to contract the specific muscle I need to contract to crack that cartilage.  Eeek!  I'm sorry you have it too but it feels good to know I'm not alone. And interestingly enough we both have/had an AN

[Notanotherthing]

So I ended up at the audiologist for my flares of cartilage cracking & soreness. This just gets so painful. Like I said before I have to contract my muscles to crack the cartilage "back in place".

The audiologist diagnosed TMD. I just don't get that.  If it was my jaw I would think that my jaw would have to be moved to elicit the pain & cracking. I'm able to crack my cartilage with my jaw resting in place and closed. I just don't agree. I was just at the dentist had a great report I'm blessed with good teeth. I don't eat a lot of hard food.  I have a history of glossopharyngeal neuralgia on that side. Can't help but wonder if this is trigeminal nerve related.

[sharonov]

If it were the trigeminal nerve, you wouldn't be sitting and writing "lol".  My tumor grew just enough (12 years after initial diagnosis) to impinge on an artery, a vein, and ultimately to squash the trigeminal nerve.  The pain was so excruciating that I begged the neurosurgeon I had selected to take me ASAP--I ended up flying across the country and kind of missing Christmas.  They call TN the "suicide disease."  Imagine you're having dental work and the nerve is exposed........then someone puts a live wire on said nerve. It's the worst pain I've ever had, and my first child was taken caesarian after 12 hours of hard labor.  I'd take that again before trigeminal neuralgia.

That said, there are so many nerves right there where our ANs live that any of them could be affected.  Was your tumor completely removed, or did the doctor leave a piece on any of the nerves to preserve either hearing or facial function?  If so, it could have grown a little.  Could it be your jaw?  Possible, but not probable, as everything is kind of closely stuck together in there, but I can't see the dumbo part being affected by the jaw (alert--I'm not a doctor or even a nurse!).  Only your doctor can say for sure, and who knows if he/she will even know.  Hopefully the symptoms will just go away like Doc's.