Ear Infection

[raggamuffin]

Hi all,

Been a while since I've been on here. Overall things have been improving a lot. Unfortunately though I'm going through a second ear infection this year. These are totally new to me so it did conjure quite a bit of anxiety initially.

First time was in June in my right ear. Had 7 days of antibiotics. 2 days later the pain comes back so they give me a spray that contains an antibiotic. This cleared up the pain, but yet again it came back. Turns out the spray at this point had cleared the infection but was now just irritating the ear.

So after that calmed down ye olde health worries said "What if the other ear gets infected?" A few hours with this worry and guess what starts to hurt? So I start to worry a bit and think maybe it's got infected too. But I tell myself it's just my anxiety talking and a few days later it goes away.

Fast track to September and I start getting a muffled/full sensation in my ear. Relying on my old trust "anxiety + symptom" Google search I see that ear fullness is quite common with anxiety. After a few days of constant fullness I start to experience on and off pain. Still I'm mostly convinced it's another anxiety symptom.

Then 1 week ago on the way home from work my ear pain ramps up to rather unbearable levels, anxiety goes rather doolally. I go to work the next day and twice throughout the morning the pain gets bad. So i ask to leave work and I see a nurse (this is Monday of this week). She says the ear is red, swollen and there's some discharge. Strange as the pain felt totally different to my last ear infection. I get given the same spray and I ask her about what happened last time, where the spray worked and then just wound up irritating the ear. She said to stop if my ear feels irritated. Confusing as it already felt irritated.

The next few days I feel grand, and then Thursday the pain returns once more. I can't get an appointment last minute so I wind up receiving a phone call from my GP who gives me Flucloxacillin for 10 days at 500mg.

Once again for 2 days I feel better. Then, today it goes mad once again. It feels like it's all over the place at the moment. I still have 1 week left of the course of antibiotics. My partner said not to worry and that the infection won't have cleared up by now so that's why there'd be pain. As for me, I'm just a bit confused and annoyed at this point. Strangely enough a real issue/condition is more frustrating and annoying than one conjured by anxiety. I suppose it's because I'm in control with an anxiety symptom. I've felt them all before and I know how to overcome them. A genuine physical ailment and I'm at the mercy of medication (that i'm never fond of taking).

Anyone well versed with these issues? I have a friend who is, but she's not been much help in all honesty. My boss at work had ear infections then went to an ENT who diagnosed him with ear cancer. I didn't freak out, which is nice as hearing something like that a few years ago and I'd have a panic attack straight away. He did suggest asking to see an ENT though. That could be a couple of weeks. I guess today just feels like a backwards step. I've been feeling good for over half the week and then on 2 occasions the pain just goes out of control again.

Ed

[Dahila]

Ragga I go to ENT the best one in my city , and he tells me that I should be happy there is nothing growing in it. Be very careful with your ears, due my trust issues I avoid doctors visits and lost a lot of hearing due the infection. My ENT recomends rinsing the sinuses (all connected) with saline and neti pot . I had not told him I am using it for years. When you get a bit of runny nose the ears get infected easily. Take the antibiotics and you can use a warm something to lie you head on, the heat will help with pain
Ear cancer is not that popular , I actually know no one with this type of cancer. It could be benign too. Remember with ear infection you can be dizzy and have more of tinnitus. Get well Ragga,
It is good to see you ;)

[gypsylee]

Hi Raggamuffin :)

My daughter had constant ear problems and had to get grommets (and have her tonsils removed). That seems to have helped but I don't know how relevant that is to an adult because children are more prone to ear problems because their tubes haven't developed fully. An ENT is probably a good idea.

Cheers,
Gypsy x

[Kirk]

I had a bad ear infection back in 2012 in my left ear. I began to get light headed and felt like I was floating. I went to an ENT physician and he told me it was one of the
worst infections he had seen. He put me on antibiotics and it only helped somewhat. After that I came back and he punctured my eardrum to help things along and put me
on a steroid. It finally went away after what it seemed was forever. A couple of years later, I began to get dizzy again and the room would move when I would lay down, etc.
Thus lasted every day for 6 weeks. I went to the ENT physician again and it was not an infection this time. He told me that sometimes as we age the crystals in your ears shift
which causes dizziness for a while and it takes some time for your brain to adjust to the shift.

[Dahila]

Kirk I had the same thing, the only difference I got a hearing loss, now I need to wear HA. It took for me to get rid of vertigo closer to two years. I went through so many tests, finally they said something is floating in my ear and will eventually absorb. It never did but it is better now. So dizziness goes in pair with ear infection. When the inner ear gets infected even slightly it will cause vertigo.....which is awful

[raggamuffin]

Thanks for the replies. The pain has been fairly constant today. Ibuprofen helped for a few hours so i assume its inflammation related. Thr othrr ear hurts intermittently too the past few days which is rather annoying

Ed

[Dahila]

I am happy the medication is working, Be very conscious about such delicate thing as hearing.

[raggamuffin]

I'm notna fan of taking antibiotics. Even if there is infection there's anither six days of antibiotics to kill it off

Ed

[Dahila]

I hate antibiotics but they save lifes, and in this situation probably your hearing too:)

[Ponder]

Antibiotic are in our soaps, foods, clothes, furniture, and in anything and anywhere else you can think of - BUT - Yes D ... Good Point. :)

But I CANT HEAR YOU PROPERLY???? Can you speak up a bit please? http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/hand-gestures/hear-no-evil-smiley-emoticon.gif

[Dahila]

D. my hearing loss is due my stupidity and not going to doc when I had serious ear infection. My F*** boss blackmailed me not to take time off from work. When I finally go to the doc was too late the Hearing loss occured due the infection. I hope karma will go back to this asshole.

D antibiotics are in soaps that are banned right now. Antibacterial soaps actually do not have exactly antibiotic in it. I believe that wild use of antibacterial soaps, feeding animals antibiotics just in case all this took as right to antibiotic resistant bacteria, Who knows maybe it will be the end of US .........

[raggamuffin]

Got back from the work trip and the ears are still hurting on and off. I had a day off using the spray and even before I was only using it once a day. I sprayed in the ear about 20 minutes ago and the pain hasn't gone away. It really aggravated something. I'll ask if I can see the GP later and have more checks done and maybe request a referral if needs be.

Ed

[Dahila]

Ragga my DH have ear pain when stressed out. He describes it as something from inside is pushing in his ear. Try to relax your neck , please