As if three colds this winter weren’t bad enough, I came down with a major ear infection this week that’s left me with no hearing (presumably temporary) in my right ear. I’m now on antibiotics and plan to call the doctor again if this doesn’t clear up, but in the meantime this is driving me CRAZY!
The only thing that makes me feel less lopsided is to wear noise-canceling headphones, but of course this makes conversation a little difficult. I’m headed back to work tomorrow and am trying to come up with a creative sign for my desk that tells people they have to speak to me somewhat loudly
On the plus side, I learned a fun new word: diplacusis (double hearing). I was having this problem Tuesday morning before my ear clogged up altogether.
I’m having very muffled hearing in both ears after my ear infection and cold cleared up and it’s driving me bananas. At least I can taste and smell now- the upside of that at least was that I lost 2 pounds.
Is it possible it’s blocked with wax? I have good luck pouring hydrogen peroxide in the offending ear and lying down for 20 minutes or so and letting it do it’s thing. Rinse with warm water when done.
ZipperJJ, I take Flonase year-round because of allergies and the doc made sure I was still taking it.
I’m pretty sure it’s the ear infection rather than ear wax causing the blockage, as I just got seen yesterday and my doctor checked both ears…her description of my right eardrum was “red and swollen”.
I get chronic ear infections in the wintertime, and I swear to god, oregano oil is a miracle drug. One round of antibiotics never seems to stop my ear infection from coming back, so I just quit taking them (superbugs are bad, mkay?). Dilute the oregano oil in olive oil, fill up your ear with the tincture, and pop a cotton ball or wad of toilet paper to hold it in. If you use too much oregano oil, it’ll burn like the dickens (google the right ratio to start, I always just eyeball it [earball?]). When you make it just right, it’s pleasantly warm and tingly.
When I do this morning and night at the first sign of ear pain, it clears up within 3 days with no major pain or hearing loss. I don’t know how effective it would be on stopping a raging infection in process, but it could still help. Oregano oil is a well-known topical antibiotic/antifungal, and works for me where pills do not. I used to suffer horrible unremitting ear pain and jaw displacement during raging ear infections for 1-2 weeks at a time, 3-4 times a year. Since I started using oregano oil at the first sign of ear pain, I’ve not had one single full-blown infection.
The oil stinks, though! Even through the glass bottle. Store it in an airtight container. IANAD, and this advice is worth what you paid for it. Good luck!
Did you have a sore throat when you had your cold? I had ear infections well into my 20’s. Part of the reason was when I had a sore throat, the infection would spread to one of my Eustachian tubes, then the rest of the ear. One infection got so bad, I had pus coming of my ear.
The weird thing is how quickly this came on. I’ve had several colds this winter and felt sniffly again Monday, then woke up with crazy ear pain Monday night (actually early Tuesday morning). I don’t even remember having a sore throat.
Oh…and apparently my doctor is sick too. I called her office and she is out today.
I don’t mean to worry you unnecessarily and I wish you the best of luck, but I had a similar problem with sudden (partial) hearing loss associated with an ear infection about 25 years ago, and the infection cleared up but my hearing never returned. Ears can be, I learned, very fragile things, and there’s still a discouraging level of “yeah, we don’t really know what happened or how to fix it” when it comes to hearing, medically speaking.
Well, went to urgent care this morning and the doctor there was amazed that my eardrum hasn’t burst…he pulled up Google Images to show me similar pictures. I’m on a low dose of prednisone now to clear up the inflammation and hopefully restore the hearing. He also gave me a prescription for a second Z-pack if the first one doesn’t work.
I would really suggest you go back to your original doctor, or maybe even an ENT. If things are still this bad they may want to consider doing something more drastic (myringotomy), or change up your medications.
In the meantime, maybe try resting that ear on a hot water bottle (or lie on the opposite side and put the hot water bottle on the ear). I would think that would be soothing, at least.
My complete and total sympathies. I hit with a really crappy cold about 2 years ago and it went zero to deafness in no time at all… I was sniffly in the morning, by noon I was brutally sick. I was on a business flight and my choice of flights had been a) leave the course I was taking at 10 am to catch a noon flight, or b) hang out until 9 pm. Since this was a bigger city, with a good mall, nice restaurants, a movie theatre all near the airport,plus I have a few friends there, I said "Suuuuure, I will come home at 9 pm and enjoy the city.
Of course I was checked out of my hotel. By two in the afternoon I was miserable and drifting from bench to bench in the mall shivering. At three am I went to a movie just so I could sit in a comfy seat and sleep for the two hours. (Yes, I went to a theatre whrere Just Go With it, was playing but I didn’t see it)
The plane ride was hell. I was so ill when I got home. I missed a week of work, and couldn’t hear for a month. The EENT wouldn’t even consider a myringotomy while the infection was so profound. My ear drums both ruptured.
Then last July I got to do it again. (without the airplane part) Yes, I am on Flonase daily for the rest of my fricking life, I think.)
A most excellent update! After 8-9 days of wonky to no hearing, I woke up this morning and was able to hear.
Noisy situations still feel a little muffled, but very exciting to see an improvement. Now I just have to survive one more day on 25 mg of prednisone…not the most fun drug in the world.
Same boat here, except I already had almost no hearing in the other ear. I have an appointment with the ENT May 3. (about 6 weeks out). I called all that my insurance worked with. Two were out to July, and one (a group of 3) were out to September.
Turns out there is a hearing-aid app for iPhone. (several in fact) Who knew? It is far from perfect, but has been helpful.
