Sinus/ear pressure

I am not sure if you can help but if you can reassure me in anyway I will be very grateful.

Here goes.... last year I was suffering from blocked ears, facial pain, sinus pressure etc... I saw my dr who thought i had chronic sinusitis, I was given antibiotics countless times which offered no relief. I then paid privatly and went to see an ENT specialist. He did a CT scan and said it was the most perfect sinus scan he had ever seen. He could not explain the pains, he thought they were possibly neuraliga.

The pain is often down my left ear, left arm and left leg. I have seen my GP about this since my scan last October and he has said there is no cause, its just that pain travels and to take pain killers when it gets bad. They did both think stress and tension could be a factor.

I have not had any of these pains for 3 months then last month I caught a cold off my children, I ended up with green coming from my nose, cheek pain on left, left ear pain for about 10 days then I was given antibiotics. I felt much better in 3 days of taking them but I was left with pressure in my left ear, mainly in the euthstation (no idea how to spell that, lol) but the tube from ear to throat felt like it had alot of pressure in it. I was due to fly so I went to my dr twice in a week I was so worried and he said it was just common after a cold/sinusitis and not to worry. He gave me a steroid spray for it and it did help but then just as I was feeling better 2 weeks ago my children came down with a nasty virus, cough & cold. I caught it yet again and was full of cold. Its coming to an end now, my mucus from my nose has gone from green to clear so im not worrying its sinusitis again but ive got pressure in my left ear tube again and abit in left nostril. It is always my left side that I get these problems when I get a cold but today the dr checked me over, said its just a virus and not to worry. He said my ears were fine.

So my question is can I stop worrying about this? is he right its just normal after a cold/sinusitis and it doesn't mean ive now got chronic sinusitis?

I get myself in such a state as I did far too much reading a few years ago and read ear problems and chronic sinusitis can cause meningitis. I panic everytime I get this pressure and pain.

I hope you can help.:)

Okay, well you can relax. Viral infection, compounded by bacterial invasion, can take many weeks to fully resolve and each time you're exposed, viral mutations can simply re-initiate the viral load because immunity is not conferred. Also, failure for the condition to fully resolve presents with relapse as well. Either condition is quite common. Sinus conditions that also involve the inner ear can be very tenacious. Incidentally, the spelling is "eustachian."

As for the neuralgic pain, some patients with infections that involve the ear complain of referred pain, particularly on the side relative to the affected ear. Numbness, shooting pains, etc. are among symptoms described. While I've not heard of the same leg being involved as well, I would suspect this to be relevant to the condition at hand for now.

If the pain is accompanied by weakness or if the limbs feel cold and ache, then we would consider looking for something else, but mere pain in the absence of other relative symptoms is likely related to the condition presently at hand.


Meningitis is not an issue here. Whew! Drink clear fluids, stay well clear of dairy products and take non-aspirin pain relievers if necessary. You're going to be fine.

Thank you for your reply.

Why do you say meningitis is not an issue here? just interested.

I have been told to lay off dairy, will it really help? my dr wants me to gain weight and I pratically live off dairy. I am drinking abit better today, my dr says I don't drink enough or eat enough, im about a stone underweight.

I don't (touch wood) have weakness or anything like that. My dr says my ear is fine ie not infected so I guess I shouldn't worry, he says its all pressure in the eustachian tube.

Thank you for your help.

ive had problems with a similar kind of thing for 4 years now since i picked up an ear infection in thailand. continually get fliud backing up behind the ear drums and had grommets in april 2004 to clear them up. they stayed in a lot longer than expcted and came out late last year,
went back to ear doc who said my ear drums look scarred (whatever that means) and im going to need grommets again.
its weird in that high pitched noises create a feelingin my ear of vibration which the grommets stopped.
i know what its like to have ear probs and my heart goes outt o you. its a real pain.
good lucjk

Thats what ive always had, lots of fluid but i had a CT scan last year that showed all was ok with my sinuses, i take it a CT scan would of checked my ears too.

I get the vibrations thing in left ear from time to time aswell, its odd.

I think i will see how i go, if im no better in a couple of weeks i will see another dr but im fed up of it now.