Note! This discussion below is a continuation of the original discussions here: Jaw swelling under ear when eating

Posted by Guest - Swelling Under Ear Lobe : I'm having this problem right now I was thinking that maybe I had an allergic reaction to something I ate... Went to my primary doctor she sent me to have an ultrasound and now wants to send out for an biopsy which really scared me when she said that.. I'm praying my outcome is like yours... It only swells on one side while eating.. Then it decreases in size in about 30 minutes...so is it alright to get the biopsy or should I just make an appt with the ENT???

Guest Says: That sounds exactly like what I had! I would go to an ENT doctor, they know alot more about it then anyone else.  The ENT doctor can also check and see if its just a stone blocking the saliva duct (and can flush it out), no reason not to go to an ENT first since they are the professionals in this area.  Primary care doctors dont know that much about this type of stuff. Thats just my opinion.

Guest Says: I would definitely go to visit an otolaryngology doctor (which is ent doctor) like the other poster said just for ease of mind of getting it checked out, as primary care doctors just dont know this stuff very well. People assume primary care doctors have all the answers and many times they are wrong, anything with your head, neck, ears, jaw, nose, that needs to be checked out beyond just cold and stuff like that, I would schedule an appointment with ent. The other thing is everyone always over thinks and panics on everything, its just natural for people to panic. This scenario of "jaw swelling when eating and then when done eating it slowly decreasing over the next half hour" is very common as you can see by everyone else having it at one time, so stop over thinking everything as panic just makes you worry. Stones are not uncommon and the dehydration is not uncommon (or maybe the dehydration causes the stones?), but just to put your mind at ease it will probably help just to schedule the appointment with the otolaryngology dr as it will make you feel better discussing it with him and having him look at it.

Guest Says: Is an ent doctor just like a regular clinic or is that something at a hospital?

Ed Says: To the previous poster, they have their own offices just like any office of a primary care doctor. So you schedule an appointment and they usually ask over the phone what your symptoms are (they want to make sure you are going to the right type of doctor), and then you will be in an office with them talking about your symptoms and having him look at it just like any other. Typically with these swelling under ear symptoms they will look up in your mouth with tiny mirrors to see if they think its a stone blocking glands, making sure there is not infection if blocked, looking for stuff like that.

Cathy Says: okay, I am going to try sour candy and lots of water. I have had this for 9 years now! If I eat something really chewy I start to itch behind my jaw under my ear. INSANE itch so I rub it with my knuckles hard and then have to stop myself as then the itch will go into my ears. It calms down. I never know which side will do this and sometimes it is both sides, so weird. I have scratched with my knuckes so bad at times that I tear the skin. Two different GP's have said they don't know.. and told me to see dentist.. he didn't know... I don't have insurance for ENT, it will really be expensive for a specialist. Anyway, I will try the sour candy and water. Thank you all for your stories!

Cathy Says: PS.. also sometimes I wake up and before even eating, I will rub there subconsciously and it will start to swell. I thought maybe that was from gritting my teeth at night.

Guest Says: Cathy, any chance thats an allergic reaction of some sort? I'm just guessing because you said its itching.  It would be really interesting to see what it is if you can talk to an ENT doctor or maybe even one of those mobile doctor visits online (not sure if they have ENT on that or not but worth checking out), or maybe just call the ENT and ask how much they charge if you dont have insurance for them.  It seems like that would be worth it as they might know what the cause is.

Cathy Says: Thank you so much for your answer. :) Have a lovely weekend, cathy

Guest Says: My jaw is swelling up.behind the ear, under the jaw when I  eat and slowly goes away once I stop eating Had to stop.chrwing gum,too. Went to ER and they gave me baclofen for 5 days, and diclifena for 15 days It solved the problem but since finishing the medicine it's happening all over again. Supposed to see a TMJ specialist next month as I also had excruciating pain with every chew on the 3rd day of swelling. I'm thinking I should see an ENT after reading all these posts. Have to see if my insurance covers it. Over the counter anti inflammatory pills not really working. You're right primary care physician doesn't know what it is. Thanks everyone for your posts. I'm not so terrified of what it might be anymore.

Guest Says: I get this every now and then. I'm on lots of pain medication for my broken back, and these trend guess make my mucus very thick anyway. I never "joined the dots" till I read this. Every now and again, the left hand side of my jaw swells up during a meal - and my body seems to go into shock. I feel terrible all over, but the main problem is the huge swelling on one side of my face. I found that an an antihistamine seemed to stop things getting worse - but that but might be coincidence (or the placebo effect). I tend to drink a lot of fluids anyway - and the attacks do seem to correspond with times when I've not been drinking as much as usual. Thanking you for the heads up!!

Guest Says: To Cathy's post above where she mentioned it would be expensive to visit an ENT doctor: In case you are wondering I went to an ENT in 2016, so I just looked up the charges for that and it was $185 (that was what the doctor charged and with my insurance it lowered to $162, so the insurance didnt really save me hardly anything but that will give an idea what the cost may be. You can always just ask them over the phone what it will cost for an office visit as they will tell you. Maybe call 2 different ENT docs in your area to see how comparable they are).

Guest Elaine Says: Hi, thanks so much for this. My mother has the exact symptoms mentioned. She went to the doctor and he told her that the gland is infected and gave her an antibiotic. Once the antibiotic finished it continued to happen. I went today and got her a heat pack and told her to drink plenty of water. She was starting to worry about it so this has put hr mind at ease. It is starting to happen on the other side today too but she will give this a go and see if it helps.

Guest Says: If it is reoccuring, what you likely have is called Sjorgens disease. It is where the saliva glands retain fluid. There is surgery that removes your saliva gland if it becomes too troublesome but the results woild be a lifetime of dry mouth issues including tooth decay/loss.

Guest Says: Thanks for this, the exact same thing happened to me at lunch and again at dinner today. I don't drink enough water anyway, so it makes sense after reading your experience, Thanks I am going to try this for a week before I get help.

Guest jo Says: Hi, really worrying about left side facial swelling when I eat or drink.  It swells at the side of my ear on my face.  Could this be connected to ear infection?

Guest Says: Jo, your situation sounds just like the others above. Does the swelling go down after eating or does it stay swollen? This seems to be very common, I would just have an ENT doctor check it out to help put your mind at ease.  An ENT can also look at it to make sure there is no infection occurring. When I had this it was roughly 10 to 20 minutes where it would return to normal after eating but it felt like alot of pressure.

Guest Jo Says: Hi, thanks for your reply.  Yes the swelling does go down within 20 minutes.  Just a little bit raised near my ear.  I’ve been drinking water all day and eating sour sweets.  Also been massaging side of face.  I’m a bit of a worrier unfortunately and googled symptoms.....not a good idea.....convinced got sinister growth now.

Guest Says: You can also buy one of those microwavable gel heat pads, where its gets really hot and hold that on there when it swells. When I had that it was located in the spot where if you touch your ear lobe, and move 1 inch forward, right there was the main area. The one day I ate and it suddenly dawned on me that the ear area wasnt swelling, I almost jumped up and started dancing I was so happy  :-)  I kept feeling like it was going to swell again the next time I ate, but it was gone. I used the heat pad when massaging it, mostly just applying light pressure and heating that entire area, not sure if that made the difference (along with drinking alot of water daily). Every morning now I start off with a glass of water first thing, and no food for an hour after that. I read somewhere that said your body is dehydrated from sleeping, and drinking water gets rid of hunger and no food to absorb it for an hour lets your body just absorb the water.  Thats a new plan I have now been following for months.

Guest Says: I have been suffering this for 4 days. I was mentally panicing like a lot of yous. I don't think i can just take myself to ENT in the UK i think a GP has to refer you and would probably start by offering antibiotics. I really don't drink enough water most days it's just coffee. I've now drank 4 pints of water and held a microwaveable heat pad to the area and it's gone back down. I'm going to start every day with a pint of water an hour before food.

Rusty Says: WOW thank you so much 😀 This happens to me every now and again. In fact just happened so I googled it and found this sitting at this minute with heat pack on and massaging. Thank you for taking the time to write this up. Amazing stuff 😀👍

Guest Says: my dr. told me the lemon trick but it does not help. went back and she told me it isn't anything to worry about. how about u feel this pain before you assume its nothing to worry about?! time for a new doctor.

Guest Says: Was that an ENT doctor that told you this on the previous poster?  Or a regular MD doctor?  A regular MD probably isnt used to even handling these types of scenarios, I would be shocked if an ENT Dr. told you this and didnt give you any more information. I would certainly find a new Dr. if thats the case.

Guest ryan Says: i have this problem right now, left jaw swells up while eating than slowly goes away. i did the online doctor and she prescribed me anibiotics amoxicilin. gonna try drinking lots of water and see if it goes away.

Guest Says: You say it is important to drink plenty of water but my wife who is a Dialysis patient is limited to ONE LITRE of Liquid per 24 hours, we even live in a hot country so it is not easy.Any suggestions

Guest Says: In an unusual scenario like that where you have one liter water limit, you have to ask a doctor or some specialist on what the suggestions are. The doctors would certainly have seen it in the past and could suggest some options for that scenario

Jay Says: I've had this happening since 1996 when I was hit in the face with a glass at a bar. The injury cut my saliva gland tubes to my mouth and the doctor was able to put them back together but ever since then I've had saliva back up. I actually had it in two places under the ear and right on my cheek where I was hit in the face. At first they would take a needle and drain it, but after a few months of that I was able to just squeeze a slowly out and I could taste that fluid going into my mouth from my cheek. It was painful but it worked it was definitely better than a Needle being stuck in my cheek. Years went by and I didn't have a problem with the cheek, but every so often my right gland under my ear with puff up almost the size of a ping-pong ball and would be hard as a rock and be so painful. It was hard to move my jaw so I would just go lie down try to go to sleep. After reading this I'm not sure if it would be a stone or hydration it may be due to the injury but I will go get it checked. Thanks for everyone's input I never really knew what to do with this. I will definitely make an appointment with the ear nose and throat doctor.

Guest Says: also maybe try cayenne pepper!  I added cayenne to my glasses of water and to all my food and that really helped a lot!  I think maybe anything we can do to increase the mucus and salivary flow to unclog anything that's stopped up and perhaps stones that have formed that are causing the swelling.  lots of water from now on!

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