I have left ear and throat pain with hovering sensation in the left oral cavity area for a while. Please help.

Question

Hello doctor,

For the past two years, I have had left ear pain, throat pain, and a hovering dull sensation in the rear left oral cavity area. I have been to two ENT's and a GP a dozen times. The lymph nodes on the left side of my neck are harder and a bit bigger, although hard it still moves. I would like to know whether it is a small lump on the left tonsil? Or tiny lump above left tonsil? MRI and CT with contrast are all negative, but I still feel like crap all the time, why? I tested positive for H.Inflenzae and CMV over these three years. I want to make sure these lumps are nothing. The lump on and above the tonsil has not changed its size in three years.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I can totally understand what you are going through. I saw the pictures you sent (attachment removed to protect patient identity). It seems like you have a small salivary gland obstruction. There are multiple salivary glands all over your mouth that secrete saliva. Sometimes they get obstructed and saliva collects in them leading to swelling. This is usually painless but can be felt as something different in that region. As you said it has been the same for the last three years, often they do not increase in size. The quick fix would be to cauterize or incise them surgically, however, they have a tendency to recur. The best way to deal with it is to gargle frequently with a hypertonic saline solution. The lymph nodes seem worrisome, however, if your CT (computerized tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) are negative, there is no reason to worry. If they increase in size, or start discharging, or start paining, then please get back to me, else you can ignore it. All in all, you have nothing to worry about at present. Just gargle with concentrated salt water three to four times a day. Try not googling your symptoms, it shows you the worst possible and most of the times the least possible outcome.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I have seen the pictures (attachment removed to protect patient identity). Comparing the size of your ear canals, there seems to be a small difference between the two. Such a difference is insignificant. A more significant difference would be due to recurrent infections of the external ear. The most likely cause of the smaller ear canal and ear pain is inflammation. This is called otitis externa. If you are using earbuds, or scratching your ear with an object, or putting something inside your ear, that would be the cause of both. Please avoid putting anything inside your ear now onwards. It will heal by itself at this stage. Ear pain can be caused by a root cause in the throat or more commonly teeth. This is called referred pain. Do you have any bad teeth on the left side, pain while chewing, etc? Your ear pain has nothing to do with the bumps. The cause of your ear pain would be scratching your ear canal or tooth related. If it is a bad tooth, I would say use Fluoride mouth wash after every meal.