I’ve had this pain for over 10 years. For the last 4 years I have been taking amitriptyline daily which has helped significantly, unfortunately I have had to keep on increasing the dose and I’m near the maximum. I went to see a pain consultant yesterday for an assessment and they booked me in to have a PENS procedure the next day (never diss the NHS)! So I’ve had that done, they’re not sure if it will work as they had never used this procedure to treat ear pain previously. It won’t be a cure either, if it does work it is something that will have to be repeated every so often. Will keep you posted on whether or not it makes a difference!
I was reading about PSR and the trigeminal nerve recently.
I’m wondering; how many of us ‘ear cartilage pain’ sufferers also experience photic sneeze response - sneezing when exposed to bright light? Also, any of you have a deviated septum? (I’m positive for both of those).
anyone experience sneezing after a large meal? any of you happen to experience need to sneeze with eye surgery?
I suspected as much. My son gave me a Kindle about 18 months ago and I watch videos on it in bed. I now lay on my right side for prolonged periods of time. So it took about a year to develop. It’s quite painful and worrisome so I appreciate your post. 
I am relieved to read, “in a sense” that there are people with similar ear issues as I am experiencing. I describe it as cramping of the cartilage in the ear or
A charlie horse. It occurs any time of the day and in either ear and can last up to a few hrs. As described in the last post I too push my ear or pull it on to try and release the cramp, it hurts like hell, and does not work. I stopped wearing sun glasses and earrings to reduce pain.
2 doctors and an ear specialist had no answers for me and it seems they dismiss things when they are unfamilar.
My mother has a form of MD and i felt it could be related. It seems no one has had any real answers here either but I am glad i am not alone.
Suffered with it all day yesterday in my right ear - nothing helped, several ‘look way up’/head tilt maneuvers tried. They have helped in the past.
went to bed with it, woke up OK today. maybe a slight ‘vague’ feeling in that ear.
extremely painful to the slightest displacement of the outer ear/ear ‘canal’.
well, had ‘the pain’ in the right ear this morning, about 8-10 minutes after trying the look up/back technique, pain gone. Just a somewhat vague feeling in the ear.
closest thing to a cure for me so far. I will always try it.
some of you also with face pain may have trigeminal neuralgia
if there is a bump or nodule involved, you may have; Chondrodermatitis nodularis chronica helicis
if there’s a deep ‘ice pick in ear’ type of pain, check into; Geniculate neuralgia
swimer’s ear might also be in the mix here. As well as TMJ and migraines.
My pain is unrelated to any of those. I wish it had a name so we could create a separate thread to keep the topic more specific.
I love this thread. Started in 2004, it is the ultra-zombie. By my rough count, it has been revived at least 13 times, using a 3-month gap between posts as my metric.
I wasn’t even a Doper when this thread started, but I’ve seen it rise up on many occasions. I always click, because I sometimes get that ear cartilage pain too. But whatever causes it, it seems to be transient and harmless.
I have yet to read anything else here, but this thread was one of the few extensive sources of info back when I was researching the issue. Recently, a thread at mayo Clinic Connect showed-up, but it is no more helpful and still has a high signal to noise ratio. (folks with migraines, TMJ, otitis media/externa/swimmers ear. etc.)
I’m increasingly suspicious the ‘outer ear pain’ I experience is either a muscular spasm of some type or, maybe, sphenoid or other sinus-related.
OK, there’s one individual in the thread at; Extreme outer ear pain: What can it be? | Mayo Clinic Connect that also seems to get relief from a head/neck stretching technique. Instead of of looking up/back, he turns his head and smiles as broadly as possible.
Some kind of stretching may be a good approach.