Bunged up ear!!

I am prone to the same thing after a head cold and having tried all the remedies you mention was suddenly cured by taking a run up the hills*. Ear 'popped' at about a 1000 feet. I have also found that sea air fairly clears my head - my grandparent's generation always recommended recuperation at the seaside after any illness, something we seem to have forgotten.

*NB That was a run in the car

May I suggest that you take a trip to your local pharmacy and have a word with the pharmacist and explain to him what you have done already but to no avail. It could be your ears which need treating but he should be able to give you advice without you forking out more money unnecessarily.

There is a product called "Earole" which I get from Chemist Online - it is an olive oil spray which delivers a tiny dose directly into the ear and avoids all that messing about with olive oil dripping down your neck, or having to put cotton wool in. I use it regularly as preventive for wax build up and as a cure when ear gets bunged up.

Asda sell an olive oil squisher. Easy to apply and I find it does the trick after a few applications. I have very dodgy ears which bung up at the click of a switch so tend to squish once weekly after said ear has been debunged - ooh which reminds me, must do it before flight home in 3 weeks - have let squishing lapse while in Oz.

Mishap x'd with you.. I am sure that is what they sell in Asda

suffering with that at the moment and the pharmacist said to use a few drops of olive oil ...

Yes - just rummaged in bag and found it -Earol

Dollie - Earol is less messy! - it is olive oil.

Thank you all for your replies. I shall refer the snotty prescribing nurse from our practice to this forum! I told her that I'd been using something similar recommended by the pharmacist and she told me that it was a stupid idea!

olive oil is cheaper lol...

Mr P gets this quite a lot. The GP told him to go and boil his head.

Well, not exactly but head over a steaming bowl sort of thing. I found him using the slow cooker for it the other day

BTW, Is "oh go and boil your head" used as in insult in any other families?

Has anyone looked in your ears? It might not be your external ear but a blocked Eustachian tube!

@phoenix - Yes, 'go and boil your head' was common parlance when I were a stripling...

Remember the days when you could only find olive oil at the chemist's?
It certainly wasn't worth treating as a culinary item!

phoenix I thought that it was a Scottish expression but maybe not. It was used a lot when I was young.

Not only my family then!

Kitty Please see your doctor or a doctor and as Galen has suggested it may be a blocked Eustachian Tube or even an outer, middle or inner ear infection. As a retired mixed Gas diving superintendent ear problems were a very common problem requiring my intervention. I generally used a solution of Alluminium acetate and acetic acid in solution as a prophylactic and treatment of the outer ear canal but that was under hyperbaric conditions. Gentamyacin, Neomyacin and tetracycline were also anti biotics I used when required but these may have been superceded in this day and age. I have been retired many years. I would recommend you consult a doctor to get up to date medical advice as if the problem is within the inner ear and it begins to affect your vestibule it may start affecting your balance. Better safe than sorry and I hope you get better soon. By the way I would steer clear of nasal sprays and have you tried equalising the pressure in your middle ear with the outer? hold your nose and blow - gently until the eardrum pops, if it does. Not too fierce you could damage the drum.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I did see the practice nurse who said I was being silly bothering her, that I don't have any infection and not to use anything in my outer ear - she just said to keep blowing my nose. All very well, but there is little there to blow.

I use Flixonase for allergic rhinitis and the practice nurse implied that I had stopped using it or I would be fine.

Try Halls mentholyptus "sweets".

About 38 yrs ago I developed a very painful "popping!" ear which was investigated with no real conclusions. Then that summer for no good reason I switched from coffee drinking to drinking tea and the symptoms went away completely.

I did try coffee again when on holiday several years later and they returned.

I cannot prove cause and effect but it seemed like the coffee was the culprit.

I seem to slowly develop some allergies after taking things for years, I had this with aspirin which first struck me in the mid 30s, when on the fairly occasions I took them say two every couple of months, my face and tongue swelled up.
This got progressively worse until some Doctor with a bit of experience suggested the most likely culprit was the Aspirin.

KittyL It might be worth a try.

I was going to say that I was given a nasal spray for something similar a while back.

Kitty, I too use Flixonase for perennial rhinitis - and I too had your bunged up ear before Christmas. I also had bunged up sinses despite the flixonase/pirinase. It was odd because i didn't feel as if I had a cold, but it was six weeks before it cleared up, very slowly, and I had lots of steaming sessions. I thought if nothing else it would be good for my skin.

Kitty I would tend to agree with your practise Nurse in not using anything in your outer ear. In the underwater business we had a saying - "The only thing you should put in your ear is your elbow". I recall back in the 70's I used to clean my ears with cotton buds -*a definite no no*, I ended up with psudomonas bacteria in my ear.
Not sure I would agree that you should be told that you are being silly in bothering the nurse but that is just my opinion. I have seen hundreds of examples of poorly ears and the effects of remaining untreated so I am of a different opinion but to be fair my experience is primarily of conditions in oxy-helium hyperbaric environments where temperature and humidity is very high, ideal breeding environments for bacteria, not in atmospheric conditions. I hope you feel better soon.

If it is a persistent problem try Hopi ear candling.
One of the therapists at the clinic I work in does this & patients find it very helpful- not cheap but a lovely relaxing way to deal with problem as you get an aromatherapy massage while the candle burns down ( no- it does't feel hot - just a gentle warmth).