How should I deal with this possible ear infection?

Could be an ear-infection, or not. You can go to a Wal-Greens clinic and they’ll diagnose you and prescribe you any medicine you might need really cheap.

Stop using the q-tips to clean your ears. What this tends to do is push wax further down the ear canal. You can also damage the ear drum which is unpleasent.

I’d go to the doctor and see what he/she has to say.

I have Read before that I shouldn’t use Q-tips to Clean my Ear, but Any Suggestions as to how i should clean my ears? If I don’t regularly clean my ears i will get a nasty wax build up. Also Earlier I Poured Peroxide in my ear, using a cotton swap dipped in it then squeezing it into my ear with out inserting the swab

Edit From What I’ve Learned, basically all a Doctor is going to do is Shove Anti-biotics down my Throat to fix it, i’d rather not go the anti-biotic route unless i have too

There are a lot of good tips for cleaning your ears without damaging them here. I recently made the switch as well. The best method I’ve found is @shilolo’s suggestion, Debrox. I just bought the store-brand, and it worked fine.

I’ve found that I can actually hear a lot better since I stopped using Q-tips, although, my ears always feel “dirty” inside now (I never get around to using that stuff, Debrox).

The wax is a natural part of your bodies defences. It is there to keep dirt and bacteria from getting in to the inner ear. Hairs in the ear canal move it to the out side of the ear. You don’t need to clean the wax out of the canal.

I see from the thread that @La_chica_gomela linked to that one of the symptoms of an earwax blockage is a feeling of fullness which you mentioned, so that may be the cause of your woes.

To help shift the wax in your ear I would try a couple of drops of warm olive oil.

Since an ear infection is most often caused by a bacterial infection, doctors do tend to prescribe antibiotics to treat them, as antibiotics kill bacteria. Now if it is just too much wax, then Debrox or it’s equivalent will solve the problem. If it is a fungus infection, then neither antibiotics nor Debrox will do the trick.

You can always wait and see if your eardrum bursts. Then you will know for sure that it was a middle ear infection that should have been treated with antibiotics.

I Some How Neglected to State in my First post That My Ear Is Now Swollen, By Ear i mean the ‘Canal’ I suppose Not sure if that’s the proper term, I When i was applying Rubbing Alcohol into my ear I would take a q-tip dip it in then set that On my Ear not shoving it in and squeeze the Alcohol out, I noticed that i couldn’t shove the q-tip in if i wanted too, Is this normal or something i should be concerned about?

Now you have an outer ear infection. You really should go to a doctor to get the quickest and safest resolution.

BTW, you don’t need quite so many capital letters.

Well a That’s always nice to know, now i know what i can expect. And about the Capital Letters I have no idea why i Randomly Capitalize the first letter of quite a few words, I’ve just always typed that way. At any rate that you for that Assessment, any idea what may have caused said infection? or is that just ‘Swimmers ear’?

Yes, it is commonly called Swimmer’s Ear. It is also called acute external otitis or otitis externa, and is caused by a bacterial infection of the lining of the ear canal subsequent to too much moisture. While it is easy to prevent (dumping a bit of rubbing alcohol into each ear after exposure to water), it can lead to some serious complications, including hearing loss, chronic infection, cellulitus, bone necrosis, or having the infection spread to other parts of the body.

According to the Mayo Clinic depending on what the doctor finds, he/she may prescribe eardrops that have some combination of the following ingredients, depending on the type and seriousness of the infection:

* Acidic solution to replicate your ear’s normally acidic, antibacterial environment
* Steroid to reduce inflammation
* Antibiotic to fight the bacterial infection
* Antifungal medication to fight a fungal infection

Once again thank you for that, I Now know how I’m Going to move forward with this and what to expect. :-D

I’m glad you got some answers! I hope you stick around fluther and ask and answer more questions! If you do, please know that other users will expect you to use standard English grammar, including capitalization rules.

Hello; I am an Audiologist.

It appears that in your attempt to self-treat an undiagnosed condition, you have made matters worse.

The only way to know whether your ear pain is caused by wax buildup or and bacterial or fungal infection in your ear canal (yes, that is the proper term) or if perhaps the problem is further in the middle ear, is to have an experienced, licensed professional examine your ears.

As others have mentioned cotton swabs (a.k.a. Q-Tips) pack the wax deeper into the ear canal, where it is unable to clear itself and may push on the eardrum or completely occlude the canal. In addition, it can trap water from bathing or swimming that may then breed bacteria or fungus. Another problem with cotton swabs is that the cotton fibers can abrade the very delicate skin in our ears… and as the abrasion heals, the skin itches the same as it does when we have a cut or burn elsewhere on our skin. So what do people do when their ear itches? Stick something in their ear to scratch the itch (swabs, bobby pins, toothpicks, and pencils are just some of the things people have confessed to)... but that only abrades the ear more, and the cycle continues.

Our ears are self-cleaning mechanisms. The wax is a crucial part of that process. The wax protects and lubricates the skin; it traps dirt and debris, preventing it from getting deeper where it can damage the delicate ear drum and middle ear bones; and it traps insects and tries to repel them with an aversive smell/taste.

The hair cells in the ear canal are cilia that push the wax towards the outside of our ear, to be washed away with our finger and a washcloth. Frequent use of cotton swabs can destroy those hairs, rendering the ear inefficient at self-cleaning. Some people have exceptionally narrow ear canals, and some people have exceptionally over-productive ear wax glands… those people require some human intervention to help prevent wax buildup, but the vast majority of people do not.

.

In addition to the possibility of a wax buildup, you may have problems with your Eustachian tube contributing to the sense of fullness, pressure and pain you feel, and the fact that you feel some relief when you force some pressure through the Eustachian tube is the reason why I bring this up. The Eustachian tube connects the back of the throat to the middle ear space behind the ear drum. In order for the ear drum to vibrate most effectively for sound transmission, the air pressure behind the ear drum must be equal to the air pressure outside of the ear. So when we yawn or swallow, that tube opens and allows the air pressure to equalize.

However, many people have allergies or enlarged adenoids or other upper respiratory issues that prevent the Eustachian tube to open and close when it should. This leads to a loss of pressure in the middle ear, and we feel as if we are up in a plane or high in the mountains. We feel discomfort and might notice a slight muffling of our hearing even while the pressure is still in the normal range!

Sometimes, the pressure causes fluids or mucus to enter the ear and that can breed bacteria or fungus, leading to infection. When fluid is behind the ear drum, there is a more significant change in hearing, and for most people it is quite painful. If left untreated, the pressure from the fluid could cause the ear drum to burst, which may or may not heal spontaneously, and may or may not have long-term or even permanent impact on hearing sensitivity.

Pressure in the middle ear and even fluid, are not always obvious when looking in the ear with an otoscope – especially if there is no infection. Sometime the bacteria is killed by the antibiotic, but the Eustachian tube is still not functioning properly to drain the fluid, so sterile fluid remains. If I had a dollar for every time the patient says that their primary doctor had just looked in the ears and they were fine, when in fact they were not, I could retire at least 5 years earlier! I’ve even heard this, and then looked in the ear and it is packed wax!

I have also had patients who complain of pressure and fullness in the ears, but their outer and middle ears are completely healthy… there are some conditions in the inner ear that can cause similar symptoms, so our brain associates them with a blockage of sound, even when no physical block is present.

*

With all that said, your situation is well past the point of a home remedy, if you suspect that the ear canal itself is swollen. I strongly recommend that you see your primary doctor at the earliest opportunity for examination and treatment recommendations. At this point you may need double antibiotics – drops and oral. If antibiotics are prescribed, be sure to take them exactly as prescribed and to complete the full course of treatment to ensure that ALL the bacteria have been killed off. If there is an outer ear infection, ask your doctor if you should get plugs to cover the ear(s) with when bathing/swimming.

I will gladly answer any further questions you might have, but I have not been able to Fluther often due to my busy schedule lately. I hope you are feeling better soon!

I took some day-quill about an hour ago, most of the pressure in my ear is gone, it feels like it’s full of fluid now, to the extent that if i move my head i can feel it moving around, which is quite interesting. nothing has drained, no puss or anything else coming out of the ear. everything is quite muffled in that ear still, but I’m encouraged by the fact that the pain is gone, the pain is gone to an extent that opening/closing my mouth, sneezing, and even a ‘burp’ causes no pain anymore. Am at a loss as to why the day-quill would have had this effect tho, unless it’s just numbing the symptoms.

As for the topic of swelling, If i place one finger over each ear canal one definitely feels much smaller then the other.

@gd_void: Dayqil Cold&Flu contains 325 mg Acetaminophen, the equivalent of one regular strength Tylenol. Since the indication of Acetaminophen is for pain control, it would make sense that it would do that. That doesn’t mean that your ear infection is cured.

You really do need to go to a doctor. You may be coping with the symptoms but you need to resolve the cause. If you don’t, you risk chronic infection or worse.

If puss were coming out of your ear that would be a sign that you have ruptured your ear drum or have a really bad infection going on.

I Thank you all for the advice and insight on what i have and can expect to happen. I’ve planned out a course of action, This being the first time I’ve had an Ear Infection i was unsure of how to go forward. I rarely ever get sick hell last time i went to the doctors for an illness was to get my tonsils removed when i was about 18. Once again however thank you for the information and i now know what I’m going to do.