Had Pain In Blood Vessel Behind Ear At Corner Of Skull. Had Knee Surgery And Have High BP. Suggest?

Posted on Sun, 29 Sep 2013

Question: My mother-in-law is here from from Brazil. This morning she told us that throughout the night she has had a very sharp pain in the area of a blood vessel behind her left ear. The pain is not constant and comes and goes. She describes it has a "sharp knife". She had knee surgery a few years back and is in constant pain. I only mention that as her tolerance for pain is high. After getting more information from her the pain seems to be in that corner area of the skull behind her left ear, so if you run your finger along your jawline up behind your ear, when it leaves the jawbone and starts at the skull is where her pain seems to be. Her blood pressure taken at home is 140/50

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Pain seems to be neuralgic in nature

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thank you for posting your query.
The character and nature of pain in the case of your mother in law seems to be neuralgic.The location is suggestive of occipital neurlagia or in some cases, one of the nerves in the scalp.
There is no need to worry, as most often these are not due to any serious underlying brain disease.
As of now, she can start carbamazepine (tegretol) for relief of pain. The pain should settle down with this; if not, then, she may require an MRI of brain.
I hope it helps.
Please get back if you have any more queries.
Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar