[Bojinx]

ok guys... i'm turning to you all to help me here. I have had a sore throat and swollen glands for the past three days or so, but nothing bad enough to go to the docs yet. Well, it seems like whatever bug I have is moving into my left ear. My hearing is beginning to muffle from that ear, and it is beginning to ache from deep in the ear canal. I'm going to the docs tomorrow, but I need some help to make it through the night. The ear is just starting to bug me, but it is rapidly getting worse.

I'm boiling some water now for a hot water bottle... anybody have any more suggestions... please?

Thanks in advance...

[Aragorn]

OK,

I don't know if you want to go to this extent, but my wife said this works:

Take a garlic clove and squeeze the juice out of it. Mix the juice w/ some olive oil. Warm it up and...uh...pour it into your ear and then stick a cotton ball in your ear. She swears it works. Either that or she gave me a new recipe for pesto

Hope you get some rest.

Personally I'd just take a triple dose of Alleve

[Bojinx]

I already hit the aleve bottle Right now, my hearing is very faint in that ear. The pain isn't bad as long as I don't jump around I think I can cruise through the night like this, but if not, I've got those ingredients on stand-by. I've never had an earache before (I called my mom and confirmed this ) so I'm a little leery about messing with it.

Thanks Duder

[AquaSeahorse]

Once I had a earache and someone that beleives strongly in "home remedies" told me to take the hair dyer, and put it on low setting. Than she told me to hold it far away and point it at my ear, to where it just slightly blows into the ear. Well I dont know what it does but it worked! The pain went away..And Now I know all of you are thinking "Man He's nuts!"

[Bojinx]

thanks for the tip, but my wife has the hair dryer with her and she is visiting family in New Mexico. I think I'm good 'til tomorrow when the doc gives me some drops.

[Steve]

If you take a shower you can let the warm/hot water run in your ear for a while. There is also an item called a netipot. They sell them at Walgreens or pharmacies. It is a salt you mix with warm water. You place this in a pot and tip your head down over a sink and stick the pots spout into one side of your nose. You tip your head sideways and let the warm salt water drain from the one side through your sinuses to the other side of the nose where it drains. The salt water helps the sinuse passage constrict and push out the gunk. If you have fluid in your ear, this can help loosen it up.

[MarkS]

Sounds like an ear infection to me. I get them about once a year; almost to the day. Really there is not a whole lot that you can do. Try the home remedies, but if they don't work your doctor should prescribe an antibiotic. Or you can just wait it out. For two - three weeks.

Mark

[Bojinx]

Went to the docs. He gave me antibiotics for my throat and ear. He also thinks that i may have year-long allergies (dust or something) and prescribed some nasal spray for them. If they work I guess I'll be taking them all of the time. I always thought that I just had bad sinuses, but he is thinking that my inflammed sinuses and migranes are just a symptom of this allergic reaction and he wants to try to 'nip it in the bud.'

Thanks for th help

[wgscott]

You might want to check with our resident chiropracter, Salty Dog, on the use and efficacy of antibiotics and whether you might instead benefit from a bit of cervical vertebral rearrangement. cf The immune system thread.

At least you will be able to find out if laughter really is the best medicine.

Seriously, though, I hope the drugs work quickly. Adult ear infections can be nasty.