Pain In The....What?

I have been having this issue with my ear.  It started a few years ago. Every few months or so I would get an earache. It would last a couple of hours and go away. The last three months it has been getting worse, the pain is more often and higher in intensity. Now I'm going on two weeks of ear pain. 

Yesterday Thomas told me to find a clinic to visit. 

He thinks it is my wisdom tooth.

Last night my mom told me to go to urgent care. 

(because I have an extra $8,975.62 laying around to pay for an urgent care clinic)

She thinks it is my ear drum.

I broke down and called my doctor pharmacist.

(My motto: When faced with medical difficulties, call a pharmacist-they have to answer the phone, and they are free.)

The pharmacist was no help. He failed me.

This pain in the ear is quickly becoming a pain in my...you know.

SO

I did what every hypochondriac loves/fears to do.

I turned to the internet.

At first I wasn't sure that WebMD was the place for me. Every hypochondriac knows that ear ache means brain tumor. At the very least it means obscure-37-letter-word-ear-canal-tumor. WebMD gave me advice like sinus infection, bruising, swimmer's ear, and pressure change. I thought for a moment that it could be pressure change from the last plane trip I took....it was a year ago. Maybe not. 

I thought about how bad it would be for my ears to ride on a plane while swimming. An interesting engineering feat, but obviously not the cause of my pain. Also I realize that sounds like my ears would be riding on the plane without me. That is a whole separate ear issue.

Mostly what I read was bacteria, inner ear, blah blah, inflamation, blah blah bla-draining the ear (yuck!), blah blah.....

Oooh Rubella.  There is something worthy of an internet-hypochondria moment. Rubella.

*squinting at screen*

Now this Rubella is supposed to be accompanied with joint pain. 

Hmmmm

My knee. It hurt earlier. (I ran into a chair) that qualifies as joint pain.

Then there should be a rash. On my face.  

Those pesky freckles. I knew they were up to no good. Camouflaging my Rubella rash. How am I supposed to get my family and doctor to take my Rubella seriously when these freckles cover up the face-rash?

*clicking links, clicking links*

Rubella can sometimes cause Encephalitis. 

Rubella rash can sometimes be similar to and confused with Measles. 

Very interesting. Click on Measles. There it is a HUGE Measles symptom at the bottom of the page, "Measles can cause ear infections". 

And then the final answer. Measles can sometimes cause Encephalitis. 

This is a clear path:

~Earache

~Rubella

~Measles

~Encephalitis.

The information on what caused Encephalitis was very sketchy, they don't seem sure at all did not seem to fit with my other symptoms (The knee! Don't forget that knee!) but I'm pretty sure I have figured it out...

It's the freckles. They have been causing problems for years.

Now I have to go read up on freckle removal. If I remember correctly, Anne Shirley used lemon juice. I think I'll start there.

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