Mastoid ache?

[jamie]

One symptom I had pre-treatment, was mastoid (bone behind the ear) ache. I recently read that 25% of AN patients have this as well, but don't usually mention it as a presenting symptom. They think it's because the sensory fibers are sensitive to the pressure of a CPA tumor. I just thought I was sleeping in a bad position and the ache was related to neck muscles. Did anybody else have that problem before treatment?

[Mary 117]

I had the symptom also. Actually the whole right side of my head behind the ear hurt. At one point, before anyone figured out what was wrong, I told the Doctor if they would just cut off the right side of my head, I would feel a lot better. I guess I just ended up with a nice little hole instead.

[SuzeAN]

I had the same thing but on left side where my vestibular schwannoma is, the area was very sensitive to the touch, at times wearing sunglasses would irritate it.  I would also get little shooting pains too.  Since my CK treatment the area is no longer sensitive and I have not had any headaches. 

Sue

[JHager]

Hey Sue,

Glad to see you back on the board!  How are you doing?  You "sound" good!

Hope all is well!

Josh

[jamie]

Hi Sue

Glad to hear you didn't get any headaches, I had mild headaches off and on for about a month after my CyberKnife, but they have since disappeared. The few little patches of hair that fell out are growing back now as well. You went to Barrow also, didn't you? How long until your first MRI?

[prittdgoat]

mastoid ache is how they found my an.  I had the dizzyness and hearing loss 5 years ago and the drs couldn't find anything wrong.  So one day after seeing an ear specialists and he couldn't do anything for me, i cried all the way home.  From that day on i had no more dizzyness.  Well, my an had 5 yrs to grow!   One night while fixing supper the pain got so bad that i had to go to the ER.  The ER dr found my 4cm an.   Something had burst, bloodvessel i think.  I had my an removed Jan 2005 and everything has been downhill ever since. 

[jamie]

Sorry to hear things have been rough prittdgoat. In these tmes when everybody has a cell phone glued to thier head and populations are increasing, doctors should be more aware of the early signs of AN's and such. It's really a shame when they just blow off a patient's problem and say there's nothing they can do, especially when it has to do with a part of the body a doctor cannot readily see. They should have ordered a CT or MRI long before you had to go to the ER. My primary care doctor knows very little about tumors, but when I went to him with a chronic earache/headache and he couldn't see anything, he ordered a CT scan just to be safe. I'm very glad he did. I had intermittent mastoid aches for a while before the earaches, but I just thought I was sleeping in a bad position andit was neck muscles. I think people should be more aware of mastoid aching because it is a symptom many have, but few report.

[prittdgoat]

Jamie,  sorry i didn't mean to sound so pathetic(sp).  I have also heard that cell phones may cause an's.  I didn't even have a cell back then when mine started.  I did have a CT scan back then but they didn't find anything.  It was probably really small.  Just think how easy that would have been to remove!  Oh well,  i'm going to try not dwell on the past anymore. 

[jamie]

You didn't sound pathetic at all. Did they give you contrast with the CT? After my CT they wanted me back for an MRI, because they weren't sure if they found anything or not, CT's aren't really good at finding these tumors, MRI's are the gold standard, but so expensive. I hope you start feeling better, or at least your body compensates and you begin to notice your complications less.