Part Answer!: I have had this issue since I was a child (I'm now 25). My mother would always think I had a fever, but this only proved to be true 1 out of 50 times. The heat and redness would either occur in one ear (sometimes moving to the other) or both ears. I never went to the doctor because there was never sever pain; just mild discomfort. It was because of my sister that I learned of Angioedemia. She would often experience swelling, heat and discomfort in her hands/feet when she would exercise. She finally went to the Dr. where she found out she had Angioedemia. Basically the same thing would happen to me, but in my face/ears. Angioedemia is a swelling of the blood vessels just under the skin. It allows for more blood to enter the area and creates the heat and the redness. This is not blushing, or caused for the same reasons! Angioedemia will often occur on one side of the body, and not the other. And it may take moments to appear and hours to go away. The causes are very broad. Allergies are the most common. My sister has an allergic reaction to heat. When her body is overheated it reacts by forcing more blood to the surface. Allergies to foods can cause this reaction, and allergies to many household products. Paint, plastics, artificial food coloring, fake fragrances (dryer sheets are a big one) and other such things can have a big effect on the human chemical balance. Dryer sheets are a big one because the chemicals that are used to soften your clothes/ make them smell better are on your skin for hours at a time and can begin to affect your health over time. http://www.naturalnews.com/001061.html Granted, this is only one small area that affects our body systems.
Other things are simple temperature changes, such as cold to hot. When your body is exposed to the cold it will produce more adrenalin, increasing the heart rate and trying to warm the body. For many people, our body overreacts and creates to much adrenalin and so the effect takes double effect once we are in a warm area.
Another factor is stress/being sleepy. Both cause our blood pressure/temp to rise. Stress is a given, but for sleep it is not as known. Have you ever taken a nap and woken up after 20-30-40 minutes and your body is sweating? That is because our body temperatures rise when we start to get sleepy (and for the first 30 mins (average) of sleeping), and then drops when we are actually sleeping. It is a natural process of the body's internal clock. This is why most people are so hot when they are trying to fall asleep, but then get very cold at night. As we become tired, our bodies increase our temps (which has been thought to be our burning off extra energy...), and for some people it will cause our extremities (ears) to become hotter. The heat is a cooling mechanism. By forcing more blood to the surface, our body cools faster. It is very noticible in the ears, because the tissue is so thin. I hate to compare it to the male genitalia, but it is the same concept. When the male testes are cold, they will pull up to the body, and when they are hot they will move away from the body. It is an internal temperature control.
The human body does all sorts of interesting things without us knowing why.
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Part Answer!:
I have had this issue since I was a child (I'm now 25). My mother would always think I had a fever, but this only proved to be true 1 out of 50 times. The heat and redness would either occur in one ear (sometimes moving to the other) or both ears. I never went to the doctor because there was never sever pain; just mild discomfort. It was because of my sister that I learned of Angioedemia. She would often experience swelling, heat and discomfort in her hands/feet when she would exercise. She finally went to the Dr. where she found out she had Angioedemia. Basically the same thing would happen to me, but in my face/ears. Angioedemia is a swelling of the blood vessels just under the skin. It allows for more blood to enter the area and creates the heat and the redness. This is not blushing, or caused for the same reasons! Angioedemia will often occur on one side of the body, and not the other. And it may take moments to appear and hours to go away. The causes are very broad. Allergies are the most common. My sister has an allergic reaction to heat. When her body is overheated it reacts by forcing more blood to the surface. Allergies to foods can cause this reaction, and allergies to many household products. Paint, plastics, artificial food coloring, fake fragrances (dryer sheets are a big one) and other such things can have a big effect on the human chemical balance. Dryer sheets are a big one because the chemicals that are used to soften your clothes/ make them smell better are on your skin for hours at a time and can begin to affect your health over time. http://www.naturalnews.com/001061.html Granted, this is only one small area that affects our body systems.
Other things are simple temperature changes, such as cold to hot. When your body is exposed to the cold it will produce more adrenalin, increasing the heart rate and trying to warm the body. For many people, our body overreacts and creates to much adrenalin and so the effect takes double effect once we are in a warm area.
Another factor is stress/being sleepy. Both cause our blood pressure/temp to rise. Stress is a given, but for sleep it is not as known. Have you ever taken a nap and woken up after 20-30-40 minutes and your body is sweating? That is because our body temperatures rise when we start to get sleepy (and for the first 30 mins (average) of sleeping), and then drops when we are actually sleeping. It is a natural process of the body's internal clock. This is why most people are so hot when they are trying to fall asleep, but then get very cold at night. As we become tired, our bodies increase our temps (which has been thought to be our burning off extra energy...), and for some people it will cause our extremities (ears) to become hotter. The heat is a cooling mechanism. By forcing more blood to the surface, our body cools faster. It is very noticible in the ears, because the tissue is so thin. I hate to compare it to the male genitalia, but it is the same concept. When the male testes are cold, they will pull up to the body, and when they are hot they will move away from the body. It is an internal temperature control.
The human body does all sorts of interesting things without us knowing why.
Hope this helps a few people.