AIBU to go back to the doctors

[timetravellingbunnies]

On Tuesday I started to get a bit of a niggle in my left ear. By the evening I was in agony. My ear was blocked and I had horrendous pain in my jaw.

Spent all of Wednesday in Agony. Saw the Doctor that afternoon. He said my ear was fine. No infection and that it was likely I'd injured my jaw joint somehow and that was he cause of the pain. Told to take 600mg of ibuprofen three times a day.

Went to bed hat night in agony, got barely any sleep. Kept waking up screaming and crying in pain. Phoned the Doctor in the morning and he said to keep up with the ibuprofen and that it would take time to heal but he prescribed me some co codamol to help the pain.

I'm taking 2 x 30mg/500mg of co codamol four times a day and 600mg ibuprofen three times a day. The co codamol has helped a lot but the pain is still there and as soon as the co codamol starts wearing off its agony again. It's affecting my sleep, eating, etc.

My mum thinks I should go to the hospital as she fears something more serious. AIBU to go back to the doctors or should I wait it out a bit longer?

@FridayFreja Thank you. Much appreciated!

111 gave me naproxen as I could barely talk.
It usually goes within the day now I do the exercises. Now I'm wise to it, I can usually stop it.
Do you tense your jaw or grind your teeth?

Friday I appreciate you wouldnt refer on at this stage nor can you perform miracles but genuinely is it acceptable to leave someone in that much pain?

OP my dentist diagnosed myofascial pain when I had a hideously painful jaw/ear but I’m a know teeth clencher.
A heat pack helped as it soothed/relaxed the muscles.

My DH had something very similar quite recently. It was pain radiating from his TMJ joint. He saw an osteopath and the pain became more manageable. Another treatment a week later and it was gone.

He was in absolute agony- never seen him like it before even following a very painful operation. He had xrays on his teeth before seeing the osteopath it showed no infection.

His GP was similarly useless...

I certainly wasn't after a miracle. I was after confirmation that the ear isn't infected.

Considering I have an ear infection in the other ear I remain concerned that it isn't a jaw injury but rather that the infection from my right ear has spread to my left considering the first sign of any problem was an itchy and then painful ear before I begun experiencing pain in the jaw.

So I remain dubious that it's a jaw injury and not an infected ear.

It has all the symptoms of an infection. The Doctor said when he looked that it didn't appear infected and the drum looked fine but the infection in my other ear is a canal infection and when first checked back in November was told it didn't look infected either. It was only upon it being rechecked and a swab taken earlier his month that an infection was confirmed.

@BrigitsBigKnickers Oh! I'm glad he's okay now.

From the feedback I've got so far it does seem like this could be the cause for me too. Though outside of continuing with Ibuprofen and Co Codamol, it seems nothing to do but wait for it to pass.

Tbf I was convinced I had a sudden ear infection! But it was tmj. Try the exercises on google and see if they help.

@woolduvet I'd be more open to the idea it wasn't an infection if I didn't already have an infection in the other ear.

But thanks. I'll try the exercises

It sounds horribly like a tooth abcess to me. The pain is horrendous and, it radiates to the jaw and ear, especially if its related to one of your wisdom teeth. Emergency Dentist is your best bet.

Hard to believe a Doc thinks you can carry on with this much pain for 6 weeks!!

Gargling with effervescent co-codamol might help.

If it is TMD, then an icepack might help (or frozen peas in a tea towel). The ice will cool down any inflammation. Don't do it for more than 20 mins at a time though.

Do you have a minor injuries unit nearby? Or an audiologist, i.e. a hearing centre?

Friday I appreciate you wouldnt refer on at this stage nor can you perform miracles but genuinely is it acceptable to leave someone in that much pain?

Someone being in that much pain is horrible but there’s not a lot we can do about it.

I’m certainly not going to prescribe opiate painkillers within 4 days of the problem developing - the addiction risks are too high.

I would want someone to persist with cocodamol for at least 10 days with no improvement before I considered prescribing something stronger for home use.

And by that time, it might have cleared up anyway.

You do sometimes need to allow painkillers a few days to work into your system - the cocodamol might start to take the edge off the pain over the next day or two.

Is it resolved yet OP?

I'm on day 14 of tmjd pain. Bloody horrific. You haven't mentioned restriction in mouth opening though, and I think that's pretty much a hallmark of tmjd problems.

Did you get anything sorted after?

I get fairly frequent ear infections and on occasions they have transferred over into mastoid infection/jaw
Last time ended up in hospital on IV antibiotics for 5 days - nearly life threatening sepsis - don’t leave it