Can you imagine having so much inner ear pressure and ear
pain that it feels like your head is going to explode? Can you imagine
this feeling or congestion with your other Meniere's disease symptoms
that are also relentlessly going on and on and you cannot escape any of
this? And there is no one who can tell you why this is happening to you?
Not only are you experiencing physical pain, you are
also under a huge amount of stress, which can also be contributing to
your attacks. We get a lot of questions from people suffering
from Meniere's disease that are about experiencing the sometimes
debilitating pain in their left ear and inner ear pressure, or fullness
in their ears.
With this article I hope to be able to explain why this
could be happening to you. I have included real world examples that
will give you an idea of what a Meniere's Disease sufferer has to live
with. And never does each sufferer experience the same intensity of
these symptoms: they are all different in some way.
Does Meniere's disease cause pain or is it one
of the underlying symptoms that is causing the pain?
To help you understand what is going on, I wanted to
bring you an awareness of where the ear is located in your body and why
you might have this pressure or pain in just the left ear, which is
sometimes described as a left earache. Or maybe you just feel
This makes a huge difference in how you look at the rest
of the balance and hearing (Meniere's disease) symptoms. When you
realize that other structures could have an impact on the inner ear, it
may change your perspective. This leads to obvious other possible causes
for the symptoms.
But let’s look at the ear for our discussion.
The ear is an organ of the body. Its purpose is to take
the "message" of sound from a person's environment and allow the person
to hear. A normal body has two ears. (We will discuss one.) It has 3
distinct sections or parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner
The outer ear catches the sound and
carries it into the middle ear to the tympanic membrane (eardrum). This
membrane is like a "curtain" or filter and separates the outer ear from
the middle ear. The sound waves make the eardrum vibrate. This
"translates" the sounds into vibrations.
The middle ear has three bones that
stretch from the tympanic membrane (curtain) to the start of the inner
ear (oval window). These bones are all connected from the tympanic
membrane to the oval window. Their function is to transmit the
vibrations into the cochlea and the fluid found in the inner ear (endolymph).
The inner ear has several parts. Some
of its more prominent parts are the cochlea, semicircular canals, and
vestibulo-cochlear nerve and its branches. (vestibular/balance and
Deep in the cochlea are special hearing receivers. These
receivers are stimulated by this vibrating fluid, and their message of
sound is transmitted to the hearing/balance nerves, as electrical
impulses. These impulses are then relayed to the brain (brain stem) for
Two main functions of the inner ear have to do with
hearing ("acoustic" or "auditory") and balance ("vestibular"). These
nerves communicate with the brain (cerebellum).
The appropriate part of the brain will then interpret
the message and give commands back to the ear. These commands will
relate to hearing and balance. The "Classic" Meniere's disease symptoms
hearing fluctuation, ear pain or pressure,
tinnitus (a variety of sounds or ear noises),
As you read the comments from the people that have sent
us questions about their Meniere's disease symptoms, remember that
although the two structures, the hearing nerve and the balance nerve
reside in the same general area of your ear, the testing
to come up with a Meniere's disease diagnosis is very separate and
definitive for each.
I Started Having Terrible Pain In My Left Ear That Was So Bad It
Made Me Cry.
“After a sleepless night of agony (pain, extreme
pressure/fullness) I went to the emergency room the next day. I
don't have much money so I have been unable to go to a
physician. I am going to try to get help at the sliding-fee
scale clinic Monday here in town. The hospital provided me with
numbing drops, anti-biotic drops (these antibiotic drops cost
$70) and some ultram pain pills, which I consumed after 4 days.
Here it is seven days later and although the intense pain has
abated, I can not hear out of my left ear, the roaring
frequently, and extreme fullness. Can you give me any comments
and/or advice? I've read your site and sure sounds like me.
I have had
and some ear pain and
for about 9 months. It's is not as bad as some have
it, but it has severely impacted my life. I was very active,
pursuing a graduate degree and making plans for marriage - now I
barely can leave the house. Any information on strategies you
seen success with is much appreciated.”
I want to describe congestion and why it does what it
does. But first of all you I would like to refresh your knowledge on
what a nerve is. Without a nerve, you won’t have any feeling: good or
bad ones. Nerves allow us to “feel”.
When a pain nerve is stimulated, it is telling your body
something is not right. Nerves are everywhere and they work every second
of the day and night. They let us know that pain or congestion is
present. Sometimes, it can be so unpleasant that most people simply
can’t sleep! Obviously any inner ear pain has to be connected to the
overall ear and its function.
I think one of the most frustrating situations people
can have is to have a body or health situation that doesn’t give you
some sort of control. We like to be in control, at least of ourselves.
The following comments come from people with Meniere's disease who can’t
see into their inner ear. They have huge discomfort and need relief.
Most people will have their inner ear problems treated
low salt diets. And they will be told it takes time to heal. So they
wait, hoping relief is close at hand. But few will ever be told to look
past the possible infections.
I have saved all the emails we have ever received and we
have received thousands! Here are a few more comments from some of our
readers that had Meniere's disease questions for us. I am including them
so you can appreciate how others might feel.
She is suffering from
from 2 years and usually experiences all the
symptoms such as pain in the ear, dizziness, loss of energy
- I am having pressure on top of my head and at the back of my
head, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, fullness in the
ear, mild ear pain, of late nasal congestion
- I had swelling in my lymph nodes under my left jaw, this is the
"bad" side, I had pain in the jaw and sinuses as well during that
Last bout involved the left ear and seems to be more discomfort
in inner ear and had pain sinus & eye area on left side of face.
facial pain around forehead/eyes
I do still have the dizziness come and go, and the feeling of
having a "sloshing fish bowl" inside my head comes and goes, and
I now have a constant pain in my right ear”
Every single person who has come to our Meniere's
disease website has had one such episode or has had a loved one with
one. (Unless they are a student in a medical facility and are searching
for project answers.) If it turns out to be not an infection, then more
time is lost in resolving the issue.
If the cause has been an infection, the antibiotic will
have done its job. And all is well, UNTIL it can happen again. Most
people will have eventually been told there is little to be done about
their Meniere's disease symptoms. The cause is unknown and they will
have to live with this uncertainly.
As you know, I do not see “Meniere's disease” as being a
disease. This is all about “cause
and effect”. Nothing ever happens in your body without a cause. Each
symptom of Meniere's disease has to have an underlying cause. It’s why
we collected many possible causes and put them into an email named
“observations”. They give you a really good point to start a discussion
or your own exploration.
When you read these readers' phrases (above and later
on) one after another, (typos included), you really have to admire such
courage and fortitude! I know I am continually grateful that I am
In this age of turning to the Internet for further
knowledge, people have been trained to look for other information. No
longer is one undesirable point of view acceptable or enough. General
access to more information has changed many industries. And so it is
with the medical community’s influence.
Now there is a way to get millions of points of view.
You have choice. People also don’t want to wait weeks before realizing
that one Meniere's disease treatment isn’t working as hoped. So they
continue to look by day and by night (truly) until they find some other
ideas. Thus they find our Meniere's disease website and include these
phrases in the “comment section”.
In order to understand what goes on in the inner ear
section, you also need to know where it is located in relation to all
surrounding structures. You then realize one area can easily influence
the adjoining area.
Let’s look at
two different pictures of the anatomy of your ear
Here is a link
to the overall head. This is a long URL, so
please use this link.
sinuses (in relation to ear structures)
Time and time again, I hear from people with Meniere's
disease who have balance and hearing symptoms, plus eye involvement, yet
no one connects all these together for you. Here you can see all these
parts or components of your head. See how they fill the available space,
either with structures or with fluid (or air to equalize pressure).
See how close they all are. I frequently hear from
Meniere's disease sufferers whose specialist says there is no connection
from one area of the head to another: that your sinus situation may not
have an influence on your inner ear problem. I am amazed but as I hear
it often enough, I know people are told this.
See for yourself how they fit together and obviously
must also interact. Can one part really function in isolated from any
other part? We’ll discuss fluid in a minute, but does it not make sense
that if fluid produced by the body to heal one problem, it could well
spread to another area?
Here is another view - This is another long URL,
please use this link.
Next you may want to understand why you feel anything.
That feeling comes from a nerve. I found this most interesting website!
It really helps you understand anyone’s body and the nerves and their
function. I won’t go into a lot of detail, but please do spend a little
time understanding (again) how your every single part of your body is
connected to its “whole”.
Biology Mad -
Biology Mad -
So now we have an idea of what structures are in the
head: eyes, nose, sinuses, throat, eustachian tubes, etc. and what
There is one piece missing to this overall explanation.
And that is WHY you FEEL anything, or more to the point, how your body
reacts to anything. Keep in mind that this article is about inner ear
pain, pressure, and congestion. But from now on, you can use this
knowledge anywhere in any part of your body.
The body always reacts the same way, UNLESS SOME OF ITS
FEATURES ARE SHUT DOWN ON PURPOSE! And most often that will happen via
drugs and that is often the case as in the recommendation of an
anti-inflammatory or antihistamine.
The bodies “weapon” is inflammation.
Inflammation created by the body is healthy and healing. But it is not
always seen in this light.
information is specifically about a Meniere's Disease diagnostic
resource, I would encourage you to read up on the inflammatory process
when you have time. Here is a link to more detailed information on our
Meniere's disease website.
So let’s go back now to the ear. When your body's
healing process (the inflammatory process) begins you can tell that
there will not be a lot of room for the healing fluid to spread out in
inside the ear. So the resulting fluid will take up space in a very
confined area. This will result in congestion and if increased in
intensity, it will result in pain. But I suggest the congestion comes
first, and If this persists (not removed), pain is often the next step.
Many, many people complain of congestion. Not as many
people complain of pain. So why pain? The pain nerves are in this area
as well. Also one of the ways to measure sound is in decibels and higher
decibels emit pain. This area is also extremely sensitive. Any
irritation or pressure would lead to pain or great discomfort known as
Here are a few more direct phrases, or comments, from
our readers explaining how they feel.
“I also feel pain in my jaw area of the side of my ear that’s
bothering me it almost feels numb, my ear as well feels numb at
times. At times I feel like I don’t have one
Standard vertigo, vomiting,
, balance problems, extremely loud tinnitus, and pain
/fullness in the ears running down the neck.
When we talked bout sinuses I didn't mention that the winter
after I started to experience pain under my nose that moved into
On Feb. 3, I woke up and could not breathe, my left sinus was
totally congested and I couldn't hear out of my left ear and the
pain was almost unbearable
but have severe congestion in the left ear, sinus and my nose
and of course the noise in my ear and pain.
vertigo. Major sinus pain and pressure/eye pain
Just reading these phrases made me want to hold these
Meniere's disease sufferers and tell them they don’t have to live this
way if only they would find the inner courage to search for their
underlying cause. But we are NOT “trained” to look for cause, nor are we
encouraged to think for ourselves. So we continue to suffer and feel
hopeless. I constantly ask myself how a person is supposed to cope with
feelings so unbearable and debilitating.
I hope I have given you some insight and ideas of what
to look for and what to consider. Maybe you can help yourself by looking
for the cause of this inner ear pressure, this congestion, this ear
pain. As you know, “ear pain” is not one of the symptoms listed in the
classic symptoms to come up with a Meniere's Disease diagnosis. Could it
be that the term “inner ear pressure” covers all the congestion and pain
You may have noticed that I haven’t discussed cilia or
endolymph, or any such anatomical medical details people are told. My
purpose is to keep this information easy to understand and practical to
use. There is an expression that says “the way you do anything, is how
you do everything”. This to me explains how the body functions all day,
Realistically, can you now understand why this is NOT a
disease? That “something” has to cause this inner ear pressure? This ear
pain? This congestion? This earache?
As you begin to feel more confident in your own
knowledge and understanding through the use of medical resources and
practical explanations, you may now come up with some different
conclusions. Can you now see that this so all about a cause and its
effect? “Cause and effect” is a natural and scientific law. Just because
people do not believe it exists in this instance, does not mean it is
not in effect.
It “happens” all day, every day. Sometimes we get stuck
in other people’s opinions. Having these very debilitating Meniere's
disease symptoms and knowing each must have a cause, may encourage you
to think a little differently.
I hope that this article has opened a tiny window of
awareness about inner ear pressure, Meniere's disease and ear pain and I
hope it leads you to further questions about your symptoms and more
research and study.
Meniere's Disease Symptoms: Hearing Loss
By Karin Henderson - Nurse, Retired.
If you would like to have a
copy of the Observations email we send out many times a day, please use
One of the more painful
Meniere's disease symptoms is ear pain. The system that we talk about on
the website has helped numerous people get relief from their symptoms.
If you would like to know more about what we found that finally worked, please use this link;
How David finally got
relief from his Meniere’s disease symptoms
The article on ear pain was inspired by many of our readers sending in
questions about their different symptoms. When we write these
articles, we send them out to our newsletter subscribers before we post them
to the website.
If you have not signed up for our Meniere's Disease Health Information
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