To: Pat; Re; Ear burning

[Guest guest]

Dear Pat,

Everyone's a little different, as some RPers don't have any ear

involvement at all.

In my case, my outer ears started to swell and get puffy, I was being

treated for 7 months as an ear infection with topical ointments and

antibiotics. The first 5 months, my ears didn't hurt. but, by the 6th

month, the ear canal opening was starting to close. It was after 7

months, that I finally got a referral to an ENT. By then, my ears were

burning, sensitive, and painful. The ENT did a biopsy and saw that the

cartilage was " loose. " This " smart " ENT recalled reading an article

about RP and was able to give me a diagnoses, and a referral to

rheumatology. The burning sensation was constant, 24 hours/day. The

motrin that the first rheumy gave me for 3 months really didn't help the

swelling, only barely numbed the pain. It wasn't until the second rheumy

started me on 60 mg. of prednisone (took about 6 months) before the pain

and swelling improved.

Get a second opinion, Pat....what area do you live in? Perhaps you can

post to the group and inquire if any other RPers can recommend their

rheumy to you....remembers, not all doctors are created equal....some

have more experience than others.

Best wishes & aloha, karen

On Thu, 7 Mar 2002 21:06:15 -0500 " Pat Crowley "

writes:

> Thankyou very much. I appreciate the articles, and will most likely

> post

> another question or two very shortly. Actually, here's afew now if

> you have

> the time-Did your ear burning happen mostly during the very early to

> late

> evening times? Also, were your ears (or ear) very sensitive even

> when they

> were blood filled and burning? (Like in the morning, when they

> weren't

> burning, if you toched them a little, would they start " heating up "

> a little

> just from messing with them?) Thanks again, Pat