OK, I know what pus looks/smells like, and this ain’t it.
But following a recent case of flu I developed a nasty earache which, after almost a day, resulted in a disconcerting “squeak” followed by some watery discharge advancing from my ear.
I have an idea about what happened–too much fluid in the middle ear, can’t escape through swollen e. tube (that’s right, I don’t know how to spell “eustachian”) so it sees the eardrum as the best way out.
But isn’t that pretty much a sealed passage? Does this mean I ruptured my eardrum? Or is the eardrum just a tightly fitted organ that can allow passage of fluids without necessarily meaning damage?
See a doctor. Someone must look into the canal to see what’s going on. Possibilities include a ruptured eardrum with fluid from behind the drum leaking out (most likely), vs. an infection in the ear canal vs. both. If there is an eardrum rupture, the size of the rupture should be assessed.
Fluid will often accumulate behind the eardrum during a viral illness. An intact eardrum prevents fluid from going from the middle ear to the ear canal. But nose blowing, sneezing and coughing along with buildup of pressure from fluid/infection behind the eardrum can all cause rupture.
Most ruptures are small and usually repair themselves, but untreated bacterial infections can prevent this from happening.
See your health care provider soon.
QtM, MD
BTW, did you truly have the flu? (influenza: fever to 103, shaking chills, coughing hard enough to break ribs, headaches and total body pain, lasting over a week?) Or was it a cold?
Here’s a tangentially-related question. Do people who say that they have the flu when they only have a cold actually believe that they had influenza, or is the term “flu” a generic term meaning “ill” in some parts of the country (just like some people use “coke” to mean any type of soda)?
You mean that thing where you’re right in the middle of handling a complex problem at work and you get this huge creepy sweaty hand running up both sides of your back that comes to rest on top of of your head and doesn’t go away until finally you realize that you can’t think properly and you realize that the work you’ve just completed for the last 30 minutes is absolute hooey that’d get you fired if the corporate lawyers ever got a look at it because you were gradually overcome with a wrenching headache about the temples and face preventing any coherent thought so that when you approach the boss to discuss some time off he just looks at you before you say a word and says, “GO HOME–PLAGUE” and when you get home you see the kids & wife lying around the house like they’re dead except they’re worse off and all crying from the headache and chills and body aches so you know the deal & turn around and head for the pharmacy in your car (which you have no business operating) and buy enough decongestant & Advil to supply a small army and then wake up at home without the wit to remember how you got there just in time to crawl to the phone and call the boss ('cuz it’s the next day) and say,“mnmdnfsmmm manmsdnm, OK?” and then Thanksgiving comes & goes and, dude, my back & ribs are so sore right now that if I had bruises I’d have evidence that I was beaten silly with a bat!
Is that what you mean? 4, maybe 6 kids died of this thing in CO, I think because they were stronger willed than me and just managed to pull it off! But thanks for the heads up on the ears.
Matchka, it sounds like you had the flu! My condolences. You are correct, it is a potentially deadly illness. I recommend all people get the annual influenza shot. Having had it twice I live in fear and loathing of those signal symptoms you describe in your first sentence.
The ear thing pales in comparison, unless it is causing you pain.
Get well!
joe random, I don’t know why so many people call non-flu minor illnesses the flu. I sometimes wish everyone who does so would get a (nonfatal) case of actual flu to use as a reference point. My heart attack was less painful than my last bout with influenza.
It’s simple, really - no matter how bad a cold you have, most workplaces will not give you a day off. Instead, you’ll be yelled at for moving slow, making snarfling noise, coughting, and told that if you were only more careful and not such a weak [slur of your choice] you’d be able to suck it up and perform as usual.
The flu, though - no matter how mild, they don’t want you coming in with that. Oh, no! You’ll make the whole office sick and everyone will be out for a week. Can’t have that! If you have the flu, stay home.
So folks who have really crappy colds (which, let’s face it, can make you pretty darn miserable even if not the wish-beg-plead-for-death of actual influenza) call in and say “I have the flu”
The strain of flu going around hot and heavy and early this year is very close to what the shot protects for, but it is not an exact match. It should offer some immunity, and reduce the severity of the infection at least.
There’s no time to mass produce an exact vaccine for the masses. The flu is upon us now in the US and Canada, and will be around for a few more months, thru April at least. Get out and get vaccinated, unless you have an allergy to eggs. The strain of flu virus is BAD this year. Some otherwise healthy people will die of it.
This new strain sounds so icky-poo, I’m allergic to the shot, I have asthma (it’s mild, but– ) and I really am not looking forward to this…
I’m concerned because it seems every year they say “it’s really bad”, which gets to be crying wolf after awhile. Folks just don’t take getting sick seriously until folks start dropping dead - and not even then, sometimes.
Are you really allergic to the shot, broomstick? Unless you’re allergic to eggs, it is very unusual to have an allergy to the vaccine. I make sure all my asthmatics get the immunization, unless they have an egg allergy. YMMV.
QtM — I’ve read that since they didn’t feel that they would be able to breed enough of the Fujian(?) strain that they felt might be predominant this year, they’re pretty much just using the same flu shot that they gave out last year. They’re hoping that the Panamanian strain in that one will at least lessen the symptoms if you are hit with the Fujian strain.
How long does protection from a flu shot last? If I had the exact same shot last year, would that do any good, or is it too long gone?
I’ve noticed in recent years, medical types (at least those medical reports connected to sporting events) tend to say that people have “flu-like symptoms” instead of “flu”.
I had an earache similar to yours, OP, but I also had some weird grayish brown looking thing come out of it, too. I had the smelly water thing going on, too. What was happening is I had a killer ear infection (duh) and my eardrum was so swollen that the medicine I kept pouring into my ear wasn’t getting to where the infection was. A trip to the ENT guy led to this tiny, very stiff piece of cotton called a “wick” being shoved into my ear and it hurt like a sonofabitch. There I am, almost grown, 17 years old crying like a baby when he did it. It worked, though. The wick served as a channel for the medicine to get to where it needed to go, the eardrum swelling went down and all was well in SnoopyLand. I think I probably lost a bit of hearing from it, though, which is why you shouldn’t be like me and wait 2 months. Go to the doctor and get your very own wick ™ TODAY!!! Operators are standing by!!!
My husband had discharge coming out of his ear, and did not go to the doctor when I told him he should. By the time he did go in (it took threatening divorce) it was nearly too late. The doctor said that it is rare to see such an advanced infection nowadays. He called over a bunch of med students from the hospital across the street to see it before giving him antibiotics, both pills and eardrops. He gave him a 50-50 chance of losing his eardrum. These things can get serous quickly so see your doc soon!
To hijack even more–thank Og for flu shots! I got mine (free) from work in early November. I’m not in any of the traditional risk categories, but after having a nasty case a couple years ago that kept me out of my classes for a week, I figure that it’s always worth it (when I was in college, I always got free shots through the university).
A week ago, my boyfriend started coming down with classic flu symptoms: fever (we don’t have a thermometer), chills, coughing, body aches. He’s only now starting to get better. The U of M has also reported flu cases. Despite hanging around him quite a bit, I am still healthy. If what Qadgop says is true, than my flu shot is probably what spared me. Yay for modern technology!
I got flu when I was 17, and I couldn’t get out of bed for a week, except to pee. I remember lying in bed for hours at a time, wishing for a drink of water but unable to summon up the strength walk to my sink to get one. (I was living in a guest house to go to high school and the landlady left me alone all day as she was working…)
After I lost the fever, I felt compelled to go back to school as this was February before A-levels in June. Panic! My parents sent me extra money for SIX weeks so I could get a taxi the first couple of weeks and a bus the next month, and I came home early from school for a month, too.
Getting out of bed that first week after the fever left, I could barely walk. So HUH! It makes me REALLY cross when people who have a sniffle say they have the flu.
May I add an egg allergy/asthma comment? My Japanese pediatrician has for the past three years recommended that my egg allergic, very wheezy kids have the flu jab anyway, as he is so concerned that flu is dangerous. We have to make a special appointment, the kids get a super careful check up first, then we have to sit in the waiting room for an hour before we are checked again and let home. So far, there have never been any bad reactions. I am not suggesting that you do this, but you might ask your doctor to consider this. I’d like to hear Dr Q’s opinions on this option…
Back to ears, just to get this even a bit on topic. My husband had sticky BLACK stuff coming out of his ears and when I finally forced him to the doctor’s it turned out to be a form of mould. Great hilarity as he sat in the car on the way home repeating, “My brain’s gone mouldy.” Well, should have used it a bit more, eh??
so see your doc soon!