Hi Minnea,

I am a little over a year and a half out of radiation and still get surprised sometimes by the shooting pain in my ear. My head and neck scans are normal also. Hope this helps. And no you shouldn't ignore symptoms but if it's good that you are learning what all of us have an are going through. Not every pain is a recurrence or spread.

You know I never had a sinus headache during radiaotion - see there is a bright side...there were a lot of old aches and pains that all of a sudden subsided during radiation. I just figured my body was too focused on the radiation to pay attention to the rest (or was that my mind?)

You take care,
Dinah

This board helps me so much. I have been reading it for a few months now but couldn't seem to be able to post anything. I have that figured out so I'm glad I get to ask questions.
Now another question: How is Daniel Bogan doing? Hope his radiation is going well.

I don't know if this helps at all, but perhaps someone has a similar experience.

I was told that there are nerves in your tongue that go through the ear. Thus, whether it be tumor or the side effects of radiation, the nerve is effected causing shooting pain in the ears.

Several weeks after my radiation treatment and I'm having shooting pain every once in a while in my ear. Not horrific, just bothersome.

On the other hand. My radiaiton treatment was delayed because I had pneumonia. When my radiation was a few weeks in, I had a lot of pain and fullness in my ear. The radiation docs who followed me, my oncologist and bmt doctor all said everything was ok.

I went to my ENT doctor and she said right away that I had fluid buildup behind the ear drum. She said that most doctors didn't want to do the procedure, but that if I was in pain she would. She poked a hole in my ear drum with anesthesia and then sucked out a bunch of mucous using a vaccuuum tube. I felt better immediately.

I'm starting to get that feeling again, and will be asking the ENT about this possibility again. I know radiation treatment gives you sticky mucous and I've had sinus problems.

Anyway, just a random thought. Wouldn't hurt to ask a doctor about it.