Mysterious Ear Pain?

[rin]

For the past week or so, DD1 (3.5) has been complaining that her ear hurts. The first two nights she complained about it, she woke up in the middle of the night (unusual for her) and was crying that her ear hurt. We gave her Tylenol the first night, she seemed fine the whole next day, then woke up complaining again in the middle of the night.

We took her to the pediatrician, who said there was no sign of an infection and she didn't see any indication of molars coming through. Her only thought was that there was a small amount of fluid in the inner ear, which might be a sign of a seasonal allergy, so to give DD some Benedryl before bed, and if she complained about it hurting again to give her Tylenol or Ibuprofen.

We've been doing this, but DD continues to complain about the pain, and I don't really want to be giving her painkillers every night before bed, especially since I think that the pain is probably a symptom of something actually being wrong, right? But what could this be? Should we take her back to the pediatrician and ask for a second look in her ear?

Thank you for reading this far, and for any ideas!

[KpbS]

Could she be grinding or clenching her teeth? That could cause some jaw pain in the same general area. I would take her back in since any type of pain that wakes you up in your sleep is generally something not to be dismissed.

[llama8]

Fluid in the ear can lead to an infection in many cases. My DD2 gets that all of the time. We bring her to the doctor for ear pain and its just fluid, then 1-2 days later it is an awful infection and we need to bring her back to the doctor. It always hurts her at night. The doctor said ear pain is worst when lying down.

Even if there was no infection now, just watch her because it can very likely be turning into an infection as fluid is present.

[hellokitty]

Could it be reflux, or does she has a history of reflux? I have gotten some really bad heartburn this past yr, and the pain literally traveled up to my ears and hurt just like an ear infection. I never realized it was reflux, until I had a friend who had the same problem and her doctor told her it could be related to heartburn.

[pb&j]

I've had two kids with recurrent EI's - go back to the ped and/or self refer to an ENT. Our peds/primary docs have not always been great about catching EI's until the ear drum is angry red. Fluid in the ear is its own problem.

[Pilotbaby]

I recently had bad ear pain only at night or when laying down. We think it was fluid draining from allergies that I didn't know I had. A couple of nights of zyrtec cleared it right up. That being said, I had bad ear aches as a child- I would take him back to the Doctor or get a referral for an ENT.

[PunkyBoo]

Another perspective here- how is her circulation? I ask because I have been getting excruciating pain in my left ear - not inside my ear but the ear itself- when I sleep on my left side. The pain is so bad it wakes me up crying. I have Reynauds syndrome and have figured out that it's the lack of circulation in that ear. Can your DC show you where the pain is? Is it actually inside the ear or on the outside cartilage part?

[rin]

Wow, thanks everyone for all the ideas!

She pointed to inside her ear when we asked her where it hurt, so I do think it's internal.

I never had any reason to think she had reflux as a baby, so I'd be surprised if that were it. I'd never heard of that, though! That's good to know for the future.

I guess I'll make another appt with the doctor . . . it's annoying to have to pay a second copay for the same problem, but hopefully this time it'll be clearer. Is there anything in particular I should ask them to pay attention to, to help make sure we don't get sent away a second time with no answers?