Red hot ears... anyone else?

So, this is a relatively new development... okay, one I have only NOTICED recently. Now that I am thinking about it, I realize that it has been happening for years, only my migraines were "infrequent" enough that I didn't connect it.
I am having a lot of trouble with burning red hot ears. Sometimes it is one ear, sometimes the other, sometimes both. I did some Googling of this "condition" and found that it can be triggered by laughing, moving the neck, chewing, etc. Mine seem to be very random, but I do believe that I am getting migraines after the red hot ears. Of course, it could be completely unconnected, and I don't always get red hot ears before a migraine...
Does any of this make sense?! Anyone else have red hot ears? I mean, mine are literally scalding to the touch.
I am going to start tracking when I have the "red hots" and see if I always get a migraine within a certain number of hours, etc, but thought I would put it out there!
Carla

Interesting one - I have not come across this before - wonder if its something to do with blood flow........... will be inetersting to see what you get in your diary and if anyone else has this???

Do they just feel hot or are they very red too?

Yes, they actually turn bright red, too. My husband is the one who pointed it out to me several months ago. He can't believe how one ear will be white while the other is the color of a ripe tomato, or how both turn tomato red for no reason!
Started tracking it last night. They were bright red for almost 3 hours (both ears this time), then calmed down. It's been about 18 hours since it started and still no migraine, so maybe it isn't anything I can use as a predictive... We'll see!
Yes, I would be very interested to hear if anyone else suffers from the same!

Red ear syndrome has been given a proposed name of
auriculoautonomic cephalgia. It's described in Case 6 in Case studies of uncommon headaches.

Piwakawaka -
Thanks for the link - it's so funny! When I lived in Houston, Dr. Evans was my neurologist! He is a great doctor and I wish I could still be his patient.

wow - that was really interesting - taken me a while to read it all - and funny I think my head is a total mess lol - I have more than one of the case studies hee hee.... My doc just says its all aura...........

I only get burny hot ears right after I've got in from the cold, so if I've gotten really cold, especially my ears, when I finally make it out of the cold they'll go bright scaldy red and then, bang migraine right on cue.

But then cold is pretty much the one trigger that I have pin pointed lol! So maybe its no the burny ears but rather 1 particular event that sets them off... So if 3 things set you off with red ears and for 2/3 you don't get migraines and you do on the 3rd you might even track down an utterly random trigger that you can avoid.

I hadn't thought about it that way, Loki! Yeah, triggers do seem to be utterly random for the most part. I have figured out that it actually takes an accumulation of mild triggers to give me a migraine, or else one medium dose of any single trigger. But (for example) if I eat a bite of aged cheese by mistake but am well-rested and not under too much stress, I won't get a migraine. If I eat a bite of aged cheese by mistake after a bad night and I am stressed out, I will always get a migraine!
I will try to track when I get the red ears, what is happening, too. So complicated! LOL.

Yeah its horrendously complicated which is one thing that does make me want to strangle to the doctors when them ask about finding all of your triggers as if it is the easiest thing in the world!

Food triggers are null to me, sugar even puts off a migraine so chocolate is good lol! The whole "Go away and find your triggers" is infuriating unless you are text book... and oddly I have never met another person who has text book triggers...

Ladies you might find these helpful...

https://migrainetalk.forumotion.co.uk/t330-types-of-triggers

https://migrainetalk.forumotion.co.uk/t767-video-the-way-triggers-build#3083

Tee x

Yeah, I have been showing everyone that video, trying to explain why I limit my exposure to certain things!! Dr. Pav does a great job explaining how thing accumulate, and I think that his explanation is right on for the most part. It's just so darn hard to figure out everything. I feel like I need to have a video camera tracking me all the time, taking measurements of my blood every few minutes... there are just too many variables!! So I track one set of possible triggers for a while, then switch to another, but so far there are no guarantees that something will always cause a migraine or not...

HUGS - Its damn hard - especially when you have loads - I have cracked a lot of mine - but still finding them....

Built my son a new set of drawers yesterday - god only l knows what they have sprayed them with.......... and I felt myself starting to float....... so opened windows, closed the door to room and walked away........... another job for hunny to do

Any chance the drawers were made of particleboard/chipboard? Most of these materials release chemicals from the resin binder. Often it's formaldehyde.

I sometimes wonder whether there is any relationship to my migraines getting worse and moving to our present home. It has particleboard flooring, whereas all our previous homes had solid timber or concrete floors. I know one sure way to wake up with a migraine is to close the bedroom windows when I go to bed. I never had that particular problem in previous homes.

While I never have thought that my migraines are triggered by flooring, I do think that they are definitely connected with the air conditioner/heater. This year has been really bad - a super hot summer and now an extended and very cold winter.
Interesting thing about the flooring - for 2 years we lived in an apartment with tatami mat floors, and we slept on futons directly on the tatami. I don't think it ever caused a migraine, but the smell of the tatami (similar to hay) was certainly something that caused my migraines to be worse!! When we moved into our current apartment (all wood flooring) and got a real bed, I was so relieved!

Interesting. While the longest continuous period of sleeping on a futon on tatami has been 5 weeks, I must say I enjoyed the experience. In fact I found my migraines were much less frequent while staying in Japan. My parents-in-law own farmland on the outskirts of Sendai City and every visit has been in the autumn or winter. Their home was large (even by NZ standards) and airy and internally was very traditional in style and material. The house was surrounded on 3 sides by farmland. Unfortunately the earthquake made it uninhabitable.

Yep - you are correct - I checked the details and its not soild wood as we thought! doh!!!! I think since I am almost detoxed from chemicals when I come a cross once I seem to react quicker........... I have just come back from a school fair and they had a table with this painted cardboard stuff - not sure of the name - but the kids where scrapping off the black paint to a coloured card below - pretty - but oh boy did it smell........... my tongue has swollen and I can feel myslef slipping - just taken a triptan and an antihesimine - I really do seem to be reacting to chemicals now........ may have to buy a house in a wood and hid....................

I remember my Kinseslogist telling me about something which helps with formaldehyde - will have to try and find out what it was again.......

Anyone know if you can get a monitor to detect chemicals - its a long shot - but I just wonder if there was something that can measure this kind of stuff..............

Piwakawaka-
I was told that new tatami smell a lot stronger than older, well-maintained tatami. I think that is true, as we had two rooms with tatami, and our bedroom was the room with the new tatami. If I lay down in the living room, the smell wasn't nearly as strong as in the bedroom. Unfortunately, the living room was on the balcony and thus had way too much light, so if the migraine was during the day, I had to suffer the smell of the tatami! So sorry for your in-law's loss - we were lucky in Tokyo.
Tee-
Nope, I have no idea of anything to measure chemicals in the air. I wonder if some sort of sniffer thing like they have on episodes of CSI is available (but I think that sniffer thing is largely fictional). That would be awesome if we could measure levels of chemicals in the air! Here in Japan they now sell radiation detectors in the stores, so maybe chemical detectors will be next!

I've read about technology under development that would detect a range of toxins present. Some are even proposed to be incorporated into cell phones. But I am not aware of anything available now on the consumer market at a reasonable price (say in the hundreds rather than thousands of (U.S.) dollars). But maybe we'll see something in the near future.

It certainly would help - if we could detect the levels...........

I think I have linked the red hot ears and/or cheeks to migraines! So far, every time I have recorded this symptom, I have developed a migraine within 48 hours, so I am now taking all necessary precautions for those 48 hours to lessen the migraine. Unfortunately, I don't always get the redness and hotness before a migraine, but even a little warning goes a long way!

wow fab news.......... this could be a fab warning sign and if you can get an abortive plan to help this really could be a turning point...

What are you doing now when you feel one coming - maybe we can suggest a few more things?



xx

Right now when I feel one coming, I am taking it easy, reducing my exposure to bright lights, staying away from any chemicals and anything with a strong smell, avoiding any foods that could possibly trigger me, and especially limiting my TV and computer usage. Also, I start drinking even more water than normal (I am already a heavy water drinker) and toss back this nasty rehydration solution jelly thing that they sell in Japan. Trying to get into meditation - going for a 10 day retreat in a few months to really learn how to properly meditate - they specialize in helping people with medical issues such as migraines and depression, so I am pretty excited!

I get red hot ears too! I use a special pillow called a chillow which stays cool for a long period to cool my head down, it soothes my head and maybe, sometimes prevents the migraines from developing. Heat is a Huge trigger for me.

Nekoha - sorry you have one brewing .......... you know me views on meditation ........... the retreat sounds fab........... I am also booked on a 3 day course on TM for next weekend and so excited

Sister - Glad the chillow works for you - I have a mediflow pillow and love it