Migraine Sufferers: A Question

Could you have an abscessed tooth somewhere?

My upper teeth on one side feel sore before I get a migraine

I have not experienced pain in my ears before or during a migraine. Sometimes my eyeball feels like it is going to explode though.

Yes. I can get ear pain. I more get eye pain on one side. An ice pack can help this type of pain. I take a cocktail of meds when I get a migraine but if the pain is so bad for the hour I’m waiting for the meds to kick, or if I missed the meds window of when they’ll work, I’ll use an ice pack for relief.

I used to get more migraines that affected my eyes and ears - intense pressure and stabbing type pain. Dr thought they were my migraines. Turned out they were a side effect from thyroid disease and my thyroid was under treated. Uncommon thyroid symptom but increasing my thyroid meds (randomly for another reason) reduced the eye / ear pain by 85%. It was life changing.

As an aside, I also had joint pain from under medicated thyroid. Adjusting the thyroid meds, (again for a random other reason) reduced my joint pain by 85%. Then asking to over medicate my thyroid reduced these pains in my eyes, ears and joibts out to 95%.

Good luck!

About 12 years ago, I had a headache for almost a year. It seemed all sinus related and I was diagnosed with several sinus infections. Finally, I asked how I could keep having sinus infections with no drainage or congestion. I was finally sent to an ENT. He determined I was having migraines and they were being caused from a deviated septum. That when my sinuses would get swollen, it would press on the nerve and thus causing my migraines. Once I was able to get it under control, I know when one is coming on and how to deal with it. Sometimes, I do feel pressure in my ears from this. Not pain really but more like pressure. So I'm sure it's possible for you to be having ear pain with one.

I have learned over the years that everyone's migraines are unique to them and manifest differently and are triggered differently.

Ha I woke up with one this morning. But the pain is going down my jaw and for front of my face it's also raining. I think in the winter time it's harder because so many things factor.. I hope you find some releif. Excederin has done wonderful things. There is Tompromate (Sps) which I was gonna mention it last night. I was on it for a while. But with some nerve damage from various things they strike at no warning.. but it did help cut back on the intensity.

Yes, I routinely got ear pain with a migraine.  

Here is the important part -- It turned out that sometimes the two sides of my nose would touch and irritate a nerve that triggered a migraine. I got surgery to straighten my deviated septum and it greatly reduced the number and severity of my migraines.  If you are a person that gets ear pain I would definitely look into whether there is something in your nose area that is causing a problem.

Here is the tricky part - the two sides of my nose didn't touch all the time. It would only happen when something in the air or something I ate caused swelling. I was lucky that one time I went to the nose doctor they were actually touching and he could see it. A couple of  times when I went after that I had a migraine and they were not touching. The doctor explained to me that once the sides touch and the nerve gets irritated, it starts a migraine but even when the swelling goes down, the migraine continues because of that initial irritation of the nerve. I had gone to many neurologists and headache specialists and they never even mentioned this as a possible cause, even though I complained that sometimes when I get a headache I have the sensation of not getting enough air. The only way I ended up discovering the problem was about page 30 of a google search where a doctor in Texas mentioned it as a possible cause of migraines. Even when I went to the nose doctor to ask him about it, he explained to me for about 5 minutes that the sensations I was feeling were all symptoms of migraines, and that what I was suggesting was not the cause. The minute he looked up my nose he apologized and said that indeed the two sides were touching.

I was lucky because the sides were actually touching that day I went to the nose doctor. If they weren't he would have sent me home and I would have figured it couldn't be the cause of my migraines. 

For me it was such a relief because I'd had serious migraines for about 30 years.

See my comment above. Sudafed was the only thing that helped me. Pain med even given IV in the emergency room didn't help me. When I asked the specialist on the migraine/nose connection what candidates have been successful with this surgery, he mentioned sudafed and he mentioned migraine meds not helping. I took preventatives, emergency meds, etc and none had any significant effect.

Compare all of the Excedrin boxes!  They all contain the SAME ingredients, but they're labeled to pinpoint 1 type of pain.  Excedrin migrane is the same as their regular Excedrin.  I used to use it for years!