Does anyone else suffer from pillow ear?

[FriedAir]

Does anyone else get ear pain from sleeping on their side?

In the last few months I regularly wake up with a painful ear, presumably from having it pressed against my pillow all night. Weirdly only on one side, despite sleeping on both!

How do you stop this happening? Apart from the obvious which is to sleep on my back, which I don't find natural at all!

Sometimes happen to me when I've been sleeping heavily and not moving around much. I just ignore it as it passes very quickly despite being quite sore, I don't think there's any permanent damage being done.

You can buy pillows with a hole for your ear.

I have a pillow with a hole just so I can comfortably have a headphone in at night. About £35 on amazon but its been worth it for me

Yes! Really awful pain and I have to lift my head up slowly because the faster you move it, the more painful it is for a few moments.

I have a really sore ear! Sore when I press on the outside. I had assumed I had an ear infection and have a prescription for spray and had never heard of pillow ear! Maybe that’s what’s wrong with my ear?

I get this! It’s a horrible pain! I try to sleep on my back. I only get it on my left ear

Yes! not every night but fairly regularly, bloody hurts for ages after i wake up too, almost like it's been folded over in my sleep?!

I have this when I sleep on a normal pillow. I now use a foam ortho pillow to stop neck and back pain and my ear is not as squished in the night.

I used to get this but now my sleep is so disturbed that I never stay in one position long enough.

I get it from my ear being folded in half, but not if it is lying flat against the pillow

Actually not sure I’ve had it since I got my tempur pillow so maybe that made a difference too.

I found a softer pillow helped....I had to try a few.

I get this and it's really painful. I've tried various shaped pillows without success. I now use a very soft, loose stuffed pillow which I can kind of grind my fist into to make a depression for my ear to fit into, and this works well.

I also get sore ears from wearing over ear headphones that aren't big enough to completely surround the ears (and that press on the ears instead) and I cannot wear earbuds at all. My ears are utter snowflakes.

Its actually occipital neuralgia

As a side sleeper I have changed to feather pillows. I curl one up, wrap my arm around that ( cuddle it ) then place the other on top. This means my ear is cushioned on the pillow and not resting all night on my arm

I also get it if I fall asleep propped up on my hand

Yes I get it. Reasonably regularly.
It’s a known issue because when I googled, info came up about it.
It’s painful and tedious but some suggestions here are helpful.
You are not alone and it’s nothing to worry about.

I can't remember if there's pain but I often have to move my head to pop the vacuum that occurs between my ear and the pillow.

I didn’t know this was an actual thing! I thought I was just a weirdo! I also use a loose feather pillow and make a hole for my ear so its not being pressed.

I never used to but the last few years I’ve had it fairly regularly although weirdly not every night.

I think because I can only sleep on one side due to medical issues that’s why.
i have a lot of pain anyway so I just add it to the list with the rest!

if I press on it it is sore around especially the cartilage areas so I assume it’s a pressure issue.

I usually only get it if I bend my ear in half during the night. I have had it a few times without doing that but not as often. I try and make sure I lift my head up before trying to go to sleep, to make sure it's flat.

I find it quite painful when my ears are slightly blocked or extra waxy as it creates a vacuum against the pillow and I have to break a kind of suction. It's usually when I'm feeling under the weather. Didn't realise it was called this.

Memory foam
Pillows stopped it for me.

Yes, I get it but only in my left ear, even though I move around and sleep on both sides. It may be because I have a conch piercing in that ear, so it's more prone to irritation.

I realised recently that my pillow cases were quite tight and that was making my pillow much firmer and higher, as it had no space to flatten out when I put my head on it. I switched to a bigger case and my pillow being flatter/more squishy seems to have stopped the ear pain.

I get this but have arthritis and assumed it was related

God yes! Every bloody time!