Ear pain

[Graciejack4]

Hi all

Do any of you suffer from ear ache or ear pain with GCA?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

A study initiated by the former charity PMRGCANE (north east of England) resulted in this:

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk....

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

I never did, but some do - PMRpro has linked relevant info.

[SnazzyD]

I didn’t have pain but did have hearing impairment and tinnitus.

[Broseley]

Yes I have had ear pain, but I have had it for years before GCA diagnosed. It became worse when the other symptoms of GCA developed. On inspection, they said it's inflammation of the ear canal. No loss of hearing though i do sometimes notice tinnitus.

[whitefishbay]

I didn't have ear pain but since August I have sudden severe hearing loss due to a vestibular schwannoma.

[RoadTrip]

Earache seems to be a recurring part of my GCA. I had bad earache before headaches started just before GCA diagnosis. I continue to get earache when pred dose too low or not lasting full 24 hours.

[Graciejack4 in reply to RoadTrip]

I am fairly stable at the moment although still on a slow taper with my pred at 15mg but I also have Methotrexate and Actemra too which have helped me with the taper. I just get ear pain intermittently but no other symptoms at the moment!

[RoadTrip in reply to Graciejack4]

Glad that your taper is going well. I’m only on pred, stuck between 9-7.5 mg level with a couple of minor flares but have had GCA a year longer than you. I’m finding earache reappears when dose is a bit too low, tends to be in evening as my pred in general does not last 24 hours!

[Graciejack4 in reply to RoadTrip]

Yes my ear ache is worse in an evening too! Best wishes to you.

[Camelian]

I am suffering with earaches and I have some other GCA symptoms: tender scalp, headaches etc but my GP and a private rhumatolgist that I had a telephone consultation with don't think it's GCA because my bloods are in normal range but tbh I'm not convinced. The rhumatolgist I spoke to is going to request my GP refer me to an ENT specialist to find out what's going on so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Are you getting any other GCA symptoms or is it just the ear pain?

I'm on a reducing regime of predesalone for PMR started at 15mg now at 10mg it didn't stop the earaches?

[Graciejack4 in reply to Camelian]

Hi no my other GCA symptoms are under control at the moment so it might just be something random!

[Camelian in reply to Graciejack4]

Yeah I know what you mean it's really hard to know what's related to what?I had covid last November and I'm not sure if the ear problems are related to long covid? It's just I've read so many posts on here from people who experience ear problems related to GCA either hearing loss or pain that I'm worried I'm attributing my own ear problems to covid when it's in fact it's related to GCA, and as I'm sure you understand I'm worried about loosing my sight.

Do you mind me asking what symptoms of GCA you had and what dose of predesalone were you put on to treat it?

Many Thanks

Take care

[whitefishbay]

I wish I had known that hearing loss can be attributed to PMR. The rheumy mentioned GCA but no one said a thing about hearing loss. Only when I had it and PMR PRO said go to A&E did I know (by then, too late). In fact, if not for this site I would know very little.

[Graciejack4 in reply to whitefishbay]

Me too, I’m grateful for the information this site provides