I’ve had an ear infection in each ear for a week now. It’s driving me crazy. It basically started last Wednesday while landing during a flight. My ears popped as usual, but failed to unpop. I can feel the fluid in my ears from time to time, but I’ve constantly had that head-in-a-fishbowl feeling. I feel like the fluid in there simply won’t drain.
OK so, first off, I’d really really like to avoid having to go to a doctor on account of the fact that I have no insurance in the states. (If I was in Germany I’d go for sure but I’m not going back till August). I’ve tried holding my nose and blowing to equalize the pressure and I’ve shaken up the fluid a bit but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
I’ve also been waking up the last few days with a tight chest and yellow phlegm. No other cold symptoms though.
I keep reading from various home-remedy-type sites that a little drop of warm olive oil in the ear can help to clear it. But I can’t find any solid medical looking sites that back it up. Is there any benefit?
Anecdotally, it’s the cure my grandmother and mother used on us kids (along with Clorox to gargle with…don’t ask) and if nothing else it seemed to sooth the ache. We didn’t have money for fancy stuff like doctors when I was a kid, so it was all home remedies. I guess they were effective since none of us died, and like the guy turned into a newt we all got better…
The warmth might cause some blood vessels to dilate, causing symptomatic relief perhaps. And it might just feel good against that inflamed eardrum.
Plus, soaking in warm water or applying hot wet compresses is often good in bringing something like a pimple or cyst to a head and letting it drain (though I doubt the same effect would work in the ear).
I wonder if a neti pot might be a good idea. 15 dollars or less at the local health food store, it would help wash away the crud from your nasal passages and help relieve congestion there, which may help promote drainage in other parts of the nose / ear system.
I don’t think I’d recommend the ear-blowing technique.
And I suspect that taking a small-sized drill bit to the eardrum would be a very bad idea no matter how logical it seems :).
Occasionally I use it on my daughter when she has an earache. She reports that it helps and makes it feel better. The effects are temporary, but it’s a good short-term aid while you’re waiting for the meds (or booze) to kick in.
I’ve heard a blowdryer has a similar effect. I’m assuming it’s the heat. I also give the Weeping Princess a really hot washcloth to hold on the affected ear; that helps for a bit as well.
Good luck. That’s some sucky pain.
Oh - and Sudafed (generic: pseudoephedrine), which is a decongestant and, again, might shrink the tissues and let the Bad Stuff drain. Get the real stuff that you have tp sign for, not the phenylephrine “PE” stuff that is out on the shelves.
Are you sure it’s not just earwax? Best treatment for that is getting eardrops that dissolve the wax. If it’s really stuck in there, I think you can get a kit with a syringe to flush things out. [If that doesn’t work, time for the medical pros to take over]
I came to recommend pseudoephedrine as well. Symptomatically the best thing I’ve found is to run the hairdrier pointed into the ear, but this doesn’t affect the root cause.
The canal leading from the infected spot to the drain at the base of your tongue (Eustachian tube) runs roughly from the base of your ear under the lobe to the bottom of your jaw joint. Diagram at slide 4 If you press into that dent and rub downward you should quickly find the path that “hurts so good.”
Pseudoephedrine to shrink the tissues + Warm wet compress on the area + swallowing lots of warm beverage (prefereably plain water but tea if you must) + rubbing eustachian tube in a downward motion to encourage movement, should help clear out the pressure.
If not, you probably need medical help. Resist the urge to pour hydrogen peroxide and other cleansers into the outer part of the ear. This will only increase the irritation. Nothing will get past the eardrum to the affected area.
This device claims to use vibrations to open up the Eustachian tubes and allow fluid in the inner ear to drain out. It’s meant for ear infections in children who aren’t old enough to yawn or chew gum until their ears pop. Does anybody know if it works? I’ve often thought that if it does work, it would be an awesome device to have … but it might just be a scam.
Years ago drug stores sold small bottles of olive oil for use as ear drops. This was when olive oil was only eaten by Italians and if there were no Italians in town there was no olive oil. Whatever you use, make sure it’s at body temperature before you drip it in. I once trusted my wife to heat it under the hot water faucet and she damn near killed me. Now I heat it myself by holding it in my armpit for a few minutes.
For similar problems I had very good luck using guaifenesin tablets. It thins and increases the flow of mucus, so it is often used to relieve congested sinuses, among other things. You probably have some in your medicine cabinet as a nasty cold remedy syrup, but the pills, usually with a cough suppressant, are much more palatable.
Anyway, when my ears get congested like that, I will take the pills for a day or two, in the recommended dosage, so one every six hours or something, and that will loosen things up enough for my ears to clear on their own. Just one pill doesn’t help, it’s the continuous use for a day or two that does it.
Don’t know how medically accurate this is, but any source of heat should help because it dilates the blood vessels and increases blood flow to the area, so more antibodies etc. Same principle as a hot compress for a spot.
FWIW, for a cat with ear mites my vet said to swab out the inner ear using a cotton swab with a little “olive oil or baby oil” before putting his medicine in. He said it breaks up the wax (which in this case is a mix of wax, mites, blood, feces, etc. that looks like coffee grounds in the ears) and allows the medicine to reach the inner ear better. For this purpose it seems any oil that is either potable or at least non-toxic would work but he did name olive oil specifically.
I’ve never heard of using olive oil. Just garlic oil to clear out the infection, and sweet oil to help with pain. I don’t know if the former works, but sweet oil does seem to reduce pain quite a bit.
Edit: it appears that depending on the brand, sweet oil might be olive oil. Or rapeseed oil. Or vegetable oil…
They still do. It’s euphemistically called “sweet oil” as Elfkin477 indicates, and doesn’t have labeling that indicates it for anything medical, but it’s stocked with ear drops and ear wax remedies.
Many ear infections will resolve without antibiotics or intervention of any kind and oil drops in the ear (such as olive) can, as mentioned above, provide symptomatic relief while waiting it out, if such is the action decided upon.
My own best guess explanation has always been that the nerves from the drum can only carry so much information at a time. A significant amount of low level sensation from the oil decreases the room for pain signals in the same fibers. FWIW.
My mother used to do that. She’d heat it, too, not to burning but past the point of comfort. It got to the point where Dad admitted that he denied having earaches to avoid the oil treatment. I have no real memory of it working or not working.
Interesting device, but it costs $50. The reviews on amazon are a mix of 1 star and 5 star reviews. I may buy one, not sure. I have been getting recurring ear issues this last year.
