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Sore throat with ear pain on one side? The cause may be your throat, not your ear

  • Most of these are an infection and settle in a week or two
  • The pain can come from your throat, even though you feel it in your ear
  • If your ear was checked and looked normal, the throat still needs checking
  • After 3 weeks on the same side, ask for your throat to be looked at
Toll free · 8am to 8pm · Telugu, Hindi and English1800 202 8726
A consulting room where the throat is examined properly

Had it more than 3 weeks?

Tell us what you have noticed and where you live. The first consultation is free, and somebody will actually look at your throat rather than treat it again unseen.

No referral needed. If this turns out to be an infection that needs one more course, you will be told that and sent home.

3Weeks, after which it needs a look
17Oncologists on the panel
10Centres across Hyderabad
41Locations across two states

Start here

Most sore throats with ear pain are an infection

The combination sounds alarming and usually is not. These 4 account for the great majority, and all of them get better.

A glass of warm water and salt, the first thing most people try
COMMONEST

Tonsillitis

Often worse on one side, often with ear pain on that side, usually with fever and feeling generally unwell. It settles within a week or two.

A folded blanket and tissues, for the ordinary cold
VERY COMMON

An ordinary throat infection

The sore throat that comes with a cold. It can catch one side more than the other and it clears as the cold clears.

A plain tablet strip, for the infections that respond to treatment
COMMON

An actual ear infection

Sometimes the ear really is the problem. In that case the ear looks abnormal when someone examines it, and it responds to treatment.

A late meal on a table, a common cause of throat irritation
OFTEN MISSED

Acid coming up at night

Stomach acid reaching the throat while you sleep leaves it raw in the morning, often worse on the side you lie on. It improves with what you eat and when.

All 4 have something in common: they get better, and usually within 2 weeks. That is what the rest of this page compares against.

What is different

3 things that change what this is likely to be

None of them means cancer. They mean it is not behaving like the infections above, and that is the reason to have the throat looked at instead of treated again.

A single hand raised to one side of the neck
THE MAIN ONE

It stays on the same side

Infections tend to move about, or affect both sides, or shift as they settle. Something that has been on one side and only one side, week after week, is behaving differently.

A thermometer reading nothing unusual
THE QUIET ONE

No fever, and you feel well otherwise

Infections usually make you feel ill. A sore throat that keeps going while you feel completely well in yourself is the pattern people find easiest to dismiss.

A thinning tear-off calendar, for three weeks passing
THE CLOCK

It is past 3 weeks

An infection has run its course well inside 3 weeks. Past that, and particularly after a course of treatment that changed nothing, the question is no longer which infection it is.

One thing that is urgent, and it is not this. If you cannot swallow your own saliva, or you are struggling to breathe, that is an airway problem. It needs a hospital today, not an appointment. Everything else on this page can wait for a normal booking.

Why the ear hurts

Why your ear hurts when the ear is fine

This is the part almost nobody knows, and it is why people stop looking. The throat and the ear share one nerve. A problem low in the throat is felt in the ear on that side.

What happensYour ear hurts. Someone looks in it. The ear is completely normal.
What that meansThe ear has been ruled out. The throat has not been looked at.
What to ask forThat somebody examines your throat, not that your ear is checked again.

A normal ear examination is genuinely good news about your ear. The mistake is reading it as good news about the pain, when the pain is coming from somewhere nobody has looked yet.

What else to notice

3 things worth mentioning when you go

Any of these alongside a one-sided sore throat makes the case for looking properly, and people often do not think to bring them up.

A phone on a table, where a changed voice is first noticed
OFTEN FIRST

Your voice has changed

Hoarse, weaker, or just not quite yours, for more than 3 weeks. Family usually notice before you do, so ask them.

A plate of food left unfinished
THE PRACTICAL ONE

Swallowing has changed

Food catching, needing water to get things down, or quietly choosing softer things without deciding to. Look at what you have stopped eating.

A shirt collar, where a neck swelling is first felt
YOU MAY FEEL IT

A lump in the neck

A painless swelling in the neck that has been there a few weeks. Collars feeling tighter on one side counts.

Any of these for more than 3 weeks?Say all of it when you call. It changes how quickly you are seen.
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What happens

4 steps, and most people are out in 20 minutes

Knowing what the visit consists of removes most of the reason people put it off, and none of it is difficult.

An examination light and mirror in a clinic room
FIRST

A look at the throat

With a light and a mirror. A couple of minutes, and it settles a good deal on its own.

A slim flexible scope coiled on a clean tray
IF NEEDED

A thin flexible camera

For the part of the throat that cannot be seen from outside. Numbing spray first, through the nose, under a minute. Uncomfortable rather than painful.

A consulting room where the neck is examined by hand
ALWAYS

The neck examined by hand

Feeling along both sides for any swelling. It takes a minute and it is often what settles the question of how urgent this is.

A folder and pen, where the findings are written down
THEN

What was found, written down

Including if nothing was found, which is the commonest outcome. That record is what any later visit gets compared against.

Questions

8 questions people ask, and the honest answers

Starting with the one that brings most people to this page in the first place.

01

My doctor looked in my ear and said it was normal. So why does it hurt?

Because the pain is not coming from your ear. The throat and the ear share the same nerve. A problem low down in the throat sends pain up to the ear on that side, while the ear itself is fine. A normal ear examination rules out the ear. It does not rule out the throat.

02

Is a sore throat with ear pain always serious?

No, and usually it is not. Tonsillitis and ordinary throat infections cause exactly this, on one side or both, and they settle within a week or two. What matters is not the combination itself but whether it stays on one side and refuses to go.

03

How long is too long?

3 weeks. An infection has run its course well inside that. A sore throat on one side that is still there at 3 weeks, particularly with ear pain on the same side, is the point at which it needs looking at rather than treating again.

04

I have had 2 courses of treatment and it is no better. What now?

That is itself the answer. Something that does not respond to treatment for infection is probably not an infection. Repeating the course a third time is the commonest way months get lost. Ask for the throat to be looked at instead.

05

I have never smoked or chewed tobacco. Can I still get this?

Yes. Tobacco and areca nut are behind most throat cancers and alcohol adds to the risk, but not every case has one of those behind it. Never having smoked is a reason to be less worried, not a reason to skip the check.

06

What will they actually do?

Look, feel, and if needed use a thin camera. A look at the mouth and throat, then feeling the neck for any lump. If the lower throat needs seeing, a slim flexible scope goes through the nose with numbing spray. It is uncomfortable for about 30 seconds and it is over.

07

Is the camera test painful?

Uncomfortable rather than painful. Numbing spray goes in first. Most people describe it as strange and slightly eye-watering rather than sore, and it takes well under a minute. You sit up throughout and go home immediately afterwards.

08

Should I see an ENT doctor or a cancer doctor?

Either, as long as somebody looks at the throat. This is not a question of specialty, it is a question of whether the throat gets examined properly. If you already have an ENT appointment, keep it. What you should not do is accept another course of treatment without anyone looking.

Where

Examined at all 10 Hyderabad centres

The look and the neck examination run anywhere. Where the flexible camera is needed, that is arranged from the same visit rather than as a separate trip.

Beyond the city, 31 more towns across 16 districts of Telangana and north Andhra Pradesh. Ask for the closest when you call.

Free ConsultationFindings Written Down

If it has been 3 weeks on one side, ask for the throat to be looked at.

Give us your name, number and where you live. Someone will call and book a proper look, and if it turns out to be an infection you will be told that plainly.

Toll free 1800 202 8726 · No referral needed · Telugu, Hindi and English

On one side for more than 3 weeks? Ask for the throat to be looked at · first consultation free

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