Here he comes, Hon. Headache. Always making me uncomfortable, restless day and sleepless night. He keeps producing pain at a specific area of my head but this time, Hon. Headache came entirely behind my ears which is reasonably uncommon. I know stress, allergies, high blood pressure, inadequate intake of water, constipation, inadequate sleep, skipping meals, caffeine-withdrawal, menstruation, infections and others can bring Hon. Headache to my wonderful abode. However, Hon. Headache behind my ears keeps me thinking about the cause.
Did you say Occipital Neuralgia is the most common cause? As curious as I am, I flipped my medical dictionary and saw that when the nerves that run from the top of the spinal cord up through the scalp are injured or inflamed, then Hon. Headache comes behind my ears. Previously, I mistakenly thought the sharp pain behind my ears was migraine but otherwise. Sometimes, I experienced piercing and throbbing pain, and a feeling of receiving an electric shock in my upper neck, back of my head and behind the ears. Again, I quickly opened my books which revealed to me that this is as a result of pressure or irritation to the nerves at the back of my head (occiput) but the cause of this occipital neuralgia was unknown.
The books also revealed to me that when my bone behind my ears (mastoid bone) becomes infected ( mastoiditis), then it may be the cause of my headaches behind my ears. It was also noted that apart from headaches behind my ears, mastoiditis can cause fever, discharge from my affected ear, tiredness and hearing loss in my affected ear.
Hon. Headache behind my ears and painful jaw can be as a result of infection of my ball and socket joints of my jaw which the science people call Temporomandibular Joints (TMJ). What normally can cause TMJ infections include stress, inflammation of joints ( arthritis), injury to the jaw, jaw alignment and teeth grinding and others.
Usually, when Hon. Headache behind ears visits you, its pain may occur in one or both sides of the head ( behind the ears). Also, you may experience jaw tightness, fear of light ( photophobia), pain behind the eyes, and pain with neck movement.
What I do when Hon. Headaches behind ears visit me are; I rest in a quiet room or environment, massage my neck muscles, apply deep heat to the back of my neck, stop teeth grinding and reduce stress. I also realised that when I have dental problems like bad breath, gum tenderness and others can cause referred pain behind my ears hence, oral hygiene is very important to me like mouth rinsing or wash after eating, brushing the teeth first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening and others. Good bye Hon. Headache behind my ears.
Credits;
Kwasi Omaro 