My story is a little long, but pertinent, I feel to help find if anyone else has had the same or similar symptoms and if my symptoms fall within the realm of ATN.

March 2013, I had a stabbing, horrible ear pain. I went to Urgent Care after hours because I couldn't take the pain any longer (about 2 weeks after the pain started). They diagnosed me with a bad ear infection and put me on antibiotics. 2 weeks later, the pain was the same, so I went back to the doctor; who put me on another 2 weeks of antibiotics (I'm highly allergic to most antibiotics, so this was particularly disturbing to me) and steroids. I was able to get in with my PCP, still with the same stabbing pain that had gone on for a month and a half by now. He also diagnosed me with an ear infection! I went to an ENT the next day...he said I never had an infection, that it was TMJ (I'm ****** by now, because I took a month of antibiotics, but that's another story).

Fast forward to Aug of 2014. I went to an Oral Surgeon under the advice from the ENT for the TMJ diagnosis for my ear pain. I had surgery on my jaw joint on 8/19/2014 for the ear pain- NOW THE PAIN IS WORSE! I am still recovering from the surgery and now the Oral Surgeon has referred me to a ENT that specializes in nerves of the ear, but I can't get in to see him until 9/26/2014.

I have since changed PCP (from last year) and walked into my new Primary's office last Friday begging for help. She gave me a prescription of pain pills, prednisone, and neurontin to help me get through until I can get in with, yet, another specialist. So you can understand that for 1.5 years, I have tried everything I could to get the pain under control...

It started out as a dull, constant, severe pain deep in my ear (I can't feel it by touch). I had the surgery for TMJ and now the pain in a shooting, stabbing (like a fork is stuck deep in my left ear), near constant pain deep in my ear. I have moments and sometimes a few hours without pain, even without taking any ant-inflammatory or Rx pain meds....but then I can feel it starting. Sometimes the stabbing, sharp pain is bearable and sometimes it will just get debilitating. I never know when it is going to happen, so I can't plan on doing anything (I won't drive on pain meds, and they seem to work for a few hours). I also don't want to get hooked on narcotic pain meds. I have tried Valium and that tends to help some, for a few hours. Nothing else seems to help. I suspect the prednisone (I just weaned off) and/or the nerontin may have helped a small bit, but really can't tell.

So, after many misdiagnosis and SURGERY, I am still in pain. The last 4 months has been close to breaking me down, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Does this sound like what anyone else has experienced with ATN? From what I have read, people suffering from TN can feel the pain to the touch. I don't have that. I just have sharp, electrifying, sometimes radiating pain coming from deep in my ear and can not determine if anything makes it better or worse.

Please, if this sounds like ATN, please let me know. I would rather educate myself and try and find a doctor to rule it in or out, so I don't have to keep jumping from one specialist to the next and HAVE SURGERY and still in pain...not to mention, I do have health insurance, but these bills are really going to start adding up-and I still have no relief.

Thank you in advance. I really hope I'm onto something; for a diagnosis would give me some hope.

Best Wishes,
Danielle