OK, I know this is not a recording technique post, but I really need help.

I had a very bad bout of flu recently, and now I've recovered only to be left with fluid behind my ear drum! Its been nearly a week, and I havent been able to work. My left ear feels totally submerged. Im on antibiotics, and doctor says the only other thing he can do it put a hole in my ear drum to clear things up. Anyone got experience with this? anything else I can try? I really dont want someone to put a hole in my ear drum!

I've had a bad ear for a while now...lot of it about. Obviously the docs know best - I'd just add that eating well and resting will help the body to heal itself. Take a break from loud music/long sessions and clean your headphones. Get well soon : )

Last year I got a blocked up ear from a bad cold and it lasted for a couple of months. I also knew a few other people with the same cold who had the same problem. Very unpleasant.

They normally clear themselves up eventually. Perforating the ear drum is not normally done unless the blockage really won't go away after a long time, as it's not really something you generally want to be doing.

I've had something similar too lately. I heard this program the other day

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01p41h6/Its_My_Story_Music_and_Silen ce/

which just reinforces how careful you need to be. It also makes you realise how many folks are in the same boat, or worse & coping.

Well thats pretty scary! As a sound engineer, it would be career over. A musician could get away with it, depending on how bad the damage is.

The only good news Ive had is that I burped and there was a momentary clarity. Going to attack with menthol steam now. Desperation

Anyone know a private ear clinic I could visit? My GP is not very agreeable, and the whole process of being referred to a ENT clinic might take ages...

From your description you have a bit of eustachian tube dysfunction. Very common with colds/respiratory tract infections. It WILL settle down on its own. Give it time, gentle valsalva (which is what happened when you burped), avoid decongestant use for more than a week and stop the inhalations. Avoid getting your ear drum perforated and save yourself the time and money on an ENT specialist. Not needed. Frustrating advice I know but life is like that. No quick fix. See your doc if not settling after a few more weeks or if you get any new symptoms/pain/discharge.

I should add that this is not medical advice only an opinion from a previous sufferer!

Stewart

Edited by scw (06/12/12 03:26 PM)

WHy stop the use of decongestants and menthol inhalation? The doc told me it could help....

You should stop using decongestant after a week or so - it can cause "rebound" congestion on stopping if used long term.

I had my ear accidentally perforated by an infection a couple of Christmases ago. It discharged that direction for about 2 weeks, then after about a month it was healed and (afaik) I have my hearing back completely.

It took a while longer to clear my eustachian tube, which wasn't fun, but I just used lemsip and olbas oil, etc., and not too many decongestants.

Just adding my story for extra reference.

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Composer;
www.ogonline.org

Doctors are generally quite useless on this. They tend to advise you to do things like try to clear it by holding your nose and 'pushing' air. Don't. You're forcing air into the tube which could cause a further problem. Don't take decongestants because you can dry fluid out in the tubes which leaves deposits you can't remove, thus leading to further blocks. You'll just have to wait.

Oh and don't let them cut a hole in your ear unless you're constantly getting infections.

J

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www.jackruston.com

Its not the first time its happened in my left (always left) ear. But its never been this bad. its bad enough that I cant work. If i have to wait 2 months, thats 2 months without work....

That would ruin me.

Edited by geometricnothing (06/12/12 09:05 PM)

Not that I read the Daily Mail. I do have some personal interest in this thread, this is worth a quick read.

Daily Mail article

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Madman_Greg

Quote Madman_Greg:

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Not that I read the Daily Mail. I do have some personal interest in this thread, this is worth a quick read.

Daily Mail article

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The anti gas tablets mentioned in the above are typically available as follows.

tablets in article But I guess they are not licensed for this particular treatment in this country. But they are over the counter medicine so readily available to anyone.

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Madman_Greg

I've had exactly this same thing, and it lasted for about two months.

It was a right pain in the behind.

I was referred to ENT (for another thing) which sorted out the problem (kind of) with the fluid behind my eardrum.

I was prescribed a steroid to sort out the eustachian tube so some of the fluid has drained away from the eardrum. It's been a few weeks into the medication, and it's working.

Wait til you see a ENT specialist before anything... They worked out the problem what 7 GP's over 3 years have failed to do.

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http://soundcloud.com/earwighoney

To the original poster:
If you are in the UK, and you are dependent on your hearing for your livelihood, then I suggest it may be worth the £100 or so to see anent consultant at your local private hospital. You can arrange this yourself without a gp referral.

Please ignore the poster above re: 'ear popping' activities being counterproductive. They are incorrect. If you can still POP your ears, this is good as itt means your eustacian tube is still patent intermittently, and the risk of creating a retraction pocket in the tympanic membrane will be reduced.

In addition, if a tympanostomy is eventually required, the mechanical advantage of your ossicular chain will not be adversely affected; the middle ear cleft is designed to work in a fully aerated state, so a drained ear will return your higher frequencies as there is no damping of ossicular motion.

If you are in east mids, pm me.

Quote turtles:

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To the original poster:
If you are in the UK, and you are dependent on your hearing for your livelihood, then I suggest it may be worth the £100 or so to see anent consultant at your local private hospital. You can arrange this yourself without a gp referral.

Please ignore the poster above re: 'ear popping' activities being counterproductive. They are incorrect. If you can still POP your ears, this is good as itt means your eustacian tube is still patent intermittently, and the risk of creating a retraction pocket in the tympanic membrane will be reduced.

In addition, if a tympanostomy is eventually required, the mechanical advantage of your ossicular chain will not be adversely affected; the middle ear cleft is designed to work in a fully aerated state, so a drained ear will return your higher frequencies as there is no damping of ossicular motion.

If you are in east mids, pm me.

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Im in London....

Havent been able to pop my ears. Just by accident once when i burped.

Edited by geometricnothing (06/12/12 10:23 PM)

Otovent
I haven't tried this myself, but it might be worth a try. It has good reviews and I've read that it is used by adults for Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.

http://www.gluear.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Otovent-Glue-Ear-Treatment-Pack/dp/B00308F9O6< br />
Perhaps check with your doctor first.

Otovents and their like, are basically the same as holding your nose and blowing- it's a way of increasing nasopharyngeal pressure to open the eustachian canal mucosa and attempt to equalise the pressure either side of the canal. Kids struggle to do this, hence an Otovent is a balloon on the end of a nasal plug and kids can more easily visualise that- coincidentally the pressure required to part inflate the balloon is usually enough to open the canals and 'pop' the ears.

The problem with a blocked eustachian canals is that the normal air volume in the middle ear cavity is slowly resorbed, and the pressure in the now-sealed middle ear cavity goes _down_ relative to room air pressure. The eardrum retracts inward and becomes tenser as a result, fluid in the middle ear builds up, and the normal action of the ossicular chain is significantly damped. All of these things together make for an uncomfortable listening experience.


I must stress that internet fora are not great places to seek specific medical advice. If you have ongoing concerns, I suggest you see your GP and ask for a referral into ENT on the NHS, stressing the occupational element to your problem. Alternatively, you can pay and see an ENT consultant privately; a quick google search will demonstrate there is significant crossover in consultant staff between NHS and private in London (normal).

I was just inhaling menthol steam for 10 mins, then tried holding my nose and breathing. POP. And a squeak. And a bit of crackle. Things feel a bit better, though theres still liquid there. The slight relief has given me some hope of getting some work in before xmas.

Seeing GP tomorow and private ENT asap.

Theres all kinds of horrible movement in there now. Feels good

Edited by geometricnothing (07/12/12 01:24 AM)

I got a really weird senstaion after having only a very slight cold. A noise almost exactly the dsame as a plastic bag being rustled, but only certain frequencies set it off - running water, plastic bags, cymbals, HiHats etc anythign with a 'white noise' element.

It started after I had a phase of nose bleeds, something I have never had before, that lasted about a month and stopped just as abruptly as it started. Then a few days later the crackling in my ear started. I went to see the GP and she just said "Oh it is fluid on the ear which you get after a cold and it will go after a short while"

I hadn't had a cold. I sort of learned to live with it, a knob of cotton woll in the affected ear blocked out white noise, but of course made hearing a bit one sided. And sure enough after about a month, it stopped within the space of a couple of days.

But after about a month it has returned, the GP is basically saying "Live with it" I suppose she can then tick the box "Satisfactory Outcome"

it does not seem as acute as before and does seem to be getting less frequent so maybe it is on the wane again. What a complex thing the human body is, a miracle of engineering!

Quote geometricnothing:

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OK, I know this is not a recording technique post, but I really need help.

I had a very bad bout of flu recently, and now I've recovered only to be left with fluid behind my ear drum! Its been nearly a week, and I havent been able to work. My left ear feels totally submerged. Im on antibiotics, and doctor says the only other thing he can do it put a hole in my ear drum to clear things up. Anyone got experience with this? anything else I can try? I really dont want someone to put a hole in my ear drum!

---

I missed a essential detail, of it being a week since you had the problem. That really is nothing. If it doesn't clear up within a week or two then you should bother doing something serious about it.

Fluid behind the eardrum after a cold is a very common occurence, it usually doesn't last that long.

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http://soundcloud.com/earwighoney

Had the same problem. Are you sure it's behind the eardrum (the middle ear) and not blocked (Eustachian) tubes that drain the middle ear? If there's a cold breeze, can you feel the fluid going cold on the inside of your ear drum? Have you got clicky ears when you yawn? That would be your Eustachian tubes opening and closing.

Doctors struggle with these kind of mechanical problems not easily solved with pills. He might put you on prednisolone, but before you try those steriods (they can make you feel weird), I suggest some methods that helped me:

Common advice: Try yawning with your head back on your pillow (this position helps the middle ear drain). Chew gum, decongestants/nasal sprays. These open up the tubes allowing the middle ear to drain.

Less common -but harmless- methods I discovered by chance:

1. Eat something really spicy with about 3 medium hot chillies in and garlic (this gets the mucas flowing and the garlic kills bacteria in your saliva preventing infection).

2. I noticed while playing Jaw harp that the movement and position of the jaw helped the middle ear to drain (causes the tubes to open and close)

3. Get a didgeridoo (or some long pipe) and learn to play it. The changing air pressure and deep vibrations really shake things up! Might sound unscientific but it worked for me.

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General advice for prevention:

1. Never stifle a sneeze (it's got to go somewhere and that could be your middle ear if there's no out.

2. If you have to stop a sneeze, hold your breath, pull your nose forward from the tip and tickle the roof of your mouth with your tongue.

3. Don't sniff. Blow your nose in tiny little bursts

Hope that wasn't patronising, I myself really found this prevented further occurences.

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Some Common advice I was more more wary of:

1. Hold your nose, and swallow.

2. Hold your nose and mouth close and gently blow.

3. There's also a manouvre where you hold your nose, take a gulp of air, then push your cheeks in while swallowing so the air blows back into your mouth opening up the Eustachian tubes.

I'm not sure about potential damage with these methods, especially the last two, but they are offered by some doctors.

I went to a quack about the same thing and the response was just to let it clear on its own. Some people do suffer from glue ear though, which is more debilitating.

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Do you need real drum tracks? http://www.drumtracksdirect.co.uk/

I'm currently in the same situation. Have been for about 1 month now. I haven't had any kind of cold, this year (so far) though. It's not hurting, but I can tell it's there. It's very slightly dulling the sound in my ear. central sounds seem slightly off-centre.

After a couple of weeks I went to see the doc. He said there's very little he can do. Two weeks of ibuprofen was his advice... to take the swelling down. The annoying thing about it is I'm finding it really difficult to let out a full-blown yawn. I keep stopping short. Grrrrrr!! I also get short 'pulses' in my blocked ear, a few times a day.

Good to hear the people on here say it should clear in time. After a month I was starting to get worried, but it sounds like I could be in for a bit longer.

Thanks.

Quote Dilithium:

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I'm currently in the same situation. Have been for about 1 month now. I haven't had any kind of cold, this year (so far) though. It's not hurting, but I can tell it's there. It's very slightly dulling the sound in my ear. central sounds seem slightly off-centre.

After a couple of weeks I went to see the doc. He said there's very little he can do. Two weeks of ibuprofen was his advice... to take the swelling down. The annoying thing about it is I'm finding it really difficult to let out a full-blown yawn. I keep stopping short. Grrrrrr!! I also get short 'pulses' in my blocked ear, a few times a day.

Good to hear the people on here say it should clear in time. After a month I was starting to get worried, but it sounds like I could be in for a bit longer.
Thanks.

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I would suggest you go back and see the GP now. Tell him about the "pulses" in the affected ear. It may be pulsatile tinnitus.

Quote turtles:

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...I must stress that internet fora are not great places to seek specific medical advice...

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Very true but you've given us some great advice there thanks. It's nice to be a little better equipped when talking to doctors.

I've had issues with white noise type tinnitus (as well as classical ringing tinnitus), ears popping and general discomfort in one of my ears since the end of the summer. Basically all brought on by partying and substance abuse.

One great relief which reduced discomfort, hypercusis (to a degree) and gave my hearing greater intelligibility was having my ears vaccumed. Got it done at an NHS place in King's Cross. I was pretty anxious about the procedure but it seemed to work out great. Rather paradoxically it allowed me to listen to music louder (still at safe levels/time periods).

I still have problems with hypercusis, popping, kind of background white noise tinnitus and discomfort (sometimes precipitated by listening to music) in my left ear and have booked another appointment with the ENT doctor at my local surgery.

Does anyone else suffer inordinately badly when landing after flights? I seem to be in a world of hurt compared to my fellow passengers.

I honestly do think that (for most people) these problems are only so persistant because of modern lifestyles. One time, we'd be running around throwing spikes at hares and rabbits 'for the pot', not pushing a mouse pointer around the screen 8 hours a day (in my case).

However, I have severe dust (and spring pollen) allergy, and so these problems are recurrant for me. All I can do is manage the symptoms, they can't be cured yet.

That's true about bad medical advice, but I don't think anything I've advised should cause problems (vibration from Jaw harps & didgeridoos, hot chillis, yawning, not stifling a sneeze, etc.)

I'd perhaps only add long walks or running and perhaps using a netti pot -especially before going for steriods or surgery.

Also, the genuine medical advice is inconsistant, and the doc even told me the steriods weren't supported by research. There isn't much that can be done, but I think gravity, movement is just common sense.

Medical advice is inconsistent and it's obvious that there is no clear solution for this problem other than surgical intervention which is far from perfect. The other solutions seem to vary person to person and there's a feeling that they don't seem to work any faster than just doing nothing. The holding your nose and blowing thing is a standard strategy that seems to have come down to GPs from the specialists but a lot of sufferers suggest that it makes the problem worse and that's certainly my experience. If I just try to relax and leave it alone that seems to be the fastest solution.

Be aware that for a lot of people, diet and stress affect these sorts of problems and obviously for people in our industry, problems with your hearing can be very stressful.

J

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www.jackruston.com

Quote Jack Ruston:

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The holding your nose and blowing thing is a standard strategy that seems to have come down to GPs from the specialists but a lot of sufferers suggest that it makes the problem worse and that's certainly my experience.

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Mine too. I thought I had fluid in my middle ear, but it was actually blocked Eustachian tubes. So, when I held my nose and blew, I actually pushed the fluid up into my middle ear.

I think playing a wind instrument is probably safer for those who want to try air pressure cure. At least some of the air escapes if pressure reaches above a certain point and there's some vibration involved that is more likely to get things moving.

Yeah. I was told to do it as much as possible by the GP and its always prolonged the problem. I can guarantee a good 48 hours of wind noise after doing that whereas it often clears up in 48 hours if I just do nothing.

I wonder if tension in the jaw can contribute to this. I don't know if some muscle or other might press on the tube an encourage it to block but the more relaxed I can stay the better for getting rid of this.

Overall I'm lucky with it. It doesn't really stop me working although when its really bad I can hear it resonating. Doesn't last long. I do wish I could clear it up for good. But it doesn't seem to me that there's a clear way to do that.

J

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www.jackruston.com

Quote Jack Ruston:

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...although when its really bad I can hear it resonating. Doesn't last long. I do wish I could clear it up for good. But it doesn't seem to me that there's a clear way to do that.

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I've just discovered (after a particularly over-indulgent christmas) that acid reflux can cause Eustachian tube dysfunction and (therefore) middle ear fluid. In fact, it may have caused my vertigo attack in July as that week I had acid indigestion. This also explains the mystifying eustachian tube problems I've had since then, despite the absence of pollen and dust around me.

This is potentially great news for me because vertigo and an 'indigestion' sensation, which google shouts is a sign of an imminant heart attack, now might be history simply by avoiding certain foods, eating less and slowly, and not eating too late on. Worth a try.

I get stomach problems too. As a rule I avoid wheat and dairy, but both of those cause problems and the dairy especially causes problems with excess mucous and blocked ears etc. Butter is fine, but cows cheese, milk, whey powder etc cause me problems. Wheat, grains etc irritate my stomach.

J

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www.jackruston.com

Quote caveman82:

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I was referred to ENT (for another thing) which sorted out the problem (kind of) with the fluid behind my eardrum.

I was prescribed a steroid to sort out the eustachian tube so some of the fluid has drained away from the eardrum. It's been a few weeks into the medication, and it's working.

Wait til you see a ENT specialist before anything... They worked out the problem what 7 GP's over 3 years have failed to do.

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Yeah - I mean basically, if you have a medical problem that has lasted more than a few weeks, and your GP hasn't sorted it, they should be referring you to the relevant outpatient clinic.

And steroid sprays (e.g. "beconase") are often very helpful for this kind of thing.

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~~~ A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen as you are tossed with! www.feline1.co.uk ~~~