Hi,

I was diagnosed with TMJ at age 12; I'm now 28 so have dealth with headaches for a very long time. I've never sought treatment b/c I assumed the only treatment was surgery. I wasn't interested in this route.

The latest is that I had an ear infection about 4 weeks ago. When I visited the ENT I was also having a TMJ headache that had lasted about a week. Dr. gave me antibiotics, but the pain never went away. I had fluid in my ear, the top of my outer ear hurt, and the muscle behind the top of my ear hurt/feel very tight. I was convinced the infection did not clear up from the infection b/c this pain is still there. In addition, my cheek on and off feels numb and tight, though it's not painful like the ear. Ear also feels full on and off.

The dr. says that this pain is from TMJ, but I said that in my 16 years I've never had this type of pain; it's always been just the headache/aching deep in ear. Because I don't know what else to do, I'm going to an oral surgeon for TMJ treatment (I do NOT want surgery, but it's the only type of dr. my insurance will cover. Office says they do not always perform surgery but can treat in other ways).

Long story to get to my question...does it sound possible that the ear symptoms which have developed after the ear infection could be TMJ?

PS - typical tmj headaches have gone away but ear pain/tightness rarely has. This has been going on about 3-5 weeks.

Thanks,
Mindy