I have essentially had an ear infection since at least Feb. 1, although I think I started noticing ear pain a day or two before that and it wasn't officially diagnosed until Feb. 2.
I've done two rounds of antibiotics -- first a Z-pack and then Levaquin, which I just took my last dose of yesterday.
Then last night (late afternoon, early evening), when my ears have typically intensified in pain, it started feeling like my ears were exploding whenever I sneezed or blew my nose. And with year-round allergies, I do that more than the typical person even when I don't have a cold. (Which I don't right now.)
When I told Scott, my husband, about it, he asked if there was connective tissue in the ear canal and whether the ear pain could be linked to my underlying illness.
My first response was, "Nah!"
But now I'm wondering. Because essentially when they look in my ear, they tell me it's red and inflamed. Isn't that essentially the problem that's causing my other aches and pains? Although most of the places I hurt aren't as easy to look inside of as my ears.
I go back to the ENT tomorrow because he didn't want to just call in a new prescription of antibiotics for me without seeing what was going on in there. Although he just saw me last Friday and at that time declared I still had a double ear infection, although he said it looked mild at that time. (When I was diagnosed and had what I thought was excrutiating ear pain, the doctor I saw at urgent care said it was only a moderate infection. I sure hope I never have a severe one if that's what a moderate one feels like!)
Scott's theory would explain why two rounds of antibiotics haven't worked too well for me ... but I'm hoping it's just a "normal" ear infection and it's just my compromised immune system that's making it take longer to heal it up.
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I caught a cold that evolved into bronchitis and a secondary ear infection. My ears were plugged for well over two weeks. :-(
I tried all manner of things. I got put on a course of antibiotics. I was eventually put on a short course of steroids, in the hopes that would open my ears as well. I've been doing all manner of OTC decongestants. I've stuffed a small cloth in the bottom of a glass and poured in a little boiling water and held it over my ear (the steam pushing into my ear canal), and I've spent a heck of a lot of time in long hot showers and steaming hot tubs. I even went to a chiro clinic and had some massage work done on the point where the Eustachian tubes enter the larynx (in the mouth, past the uvula, and up). Oh yeah, and I've been doing the "Valsalva Maneuver", where you plug your nose and blow hard, trying to get stuff in the E tubes moving. Finally things are opening up! I wish I could tell you which of the treatments (or combination of them) did the trick.
Good luck with it! I feel for you. It's a miserable feeling.
I think there may be, Aviva, but I"m not an ENT. It makes sense though - gotta hold those ears on somehow. ;P
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