When to Seek Treatment for Pain in Your Throat and Ears

Changing seasons can mean all kinds of issues with your ears, nose, and throat. Pollen counts go up, barometric pressure jumps all over the place, and germs add up between back-to-school/daycare and family gatherings.

At SLENT, with locations in Mandeville, Slidell, and Hammond, Louisiana, our otolaryngology specialists can evaluate your ear and throat pain and provide a diagnosis and plan of treatment to get you feeling better, whether you have an ear infection, sinusitis, or something more serious.

Common sources of throat and ear pain

Throat pain can be caused by allergies, dryness from sleep apnea or a CPAP machine, or a bacterial or viral infection. Knowing what’s causing your sore throat is the first step toward proper treatment.

You can also have ear pain for a lot of reasons, the most common being an infection of the middle ear, or otitis media. Pressure in this air-filled space behind the eardrum and mucus build-up can lead to infection and acute pain. Your ears may also hurt because of a change in altitude, a toothache, or other reasons.

Combined ear and throat pain

When you’ve got two different pain reactions at the same time, you could have a single underlying cause or two causes happening at the same time. For example, an ear infection could turn out to be happening at the same exact time as a bout of tonsillitis, causing both your ear(s) and throat to feel extremely painful and sensitive to any pressure. 

The most common reason for a sore throat and ear pain at the same time, however, is that the ear pain is referred from the throat. Since your ears, nose, and throat are all connected, any sort of inflammation/ infection in one can potentially affect one or both of the others.

For example, an ear infection can cause intense pressure and inflammation that works its way down the matching side of the neck and into the throat. Strep throat can cause enough inflammation and swelling to push bacteria into your ears, causing more infection and pressure. 

When to see a doctor for ear and throat pain

Extremely acute or long-lasting pain plus additional symptoms like a fever, headache, or a rash are signs you need a doctor to evaluate your ear and throat pain. You could be battling an illness like mononucleosis, a common ailment that can also cause severe fatigue and general feelings of unwellness for weeks at a time.

If you start to have symptoms like difficulty breathing or tightness in your chest, it’s time to seek emergency medical care. Some people can progress very quickly from pain from an infection to a life-threatening condition called sepsis. Any infection can be a starting point for sepsis, so getting throat and ear pain checked out as soon as possible is the wisest course of action.

Are you getting worried about persistent throat and ear pain? You can schedule a consultation at SLENT by calling 985-327-5905, or visit our contact page today.