I have had a cold for a couple of weeks. I finally quit coughing, but now my right ear is full of drainage and I cant hear out of it. What can I do to clear this up. I have no insurance so I cant go to the doctor. Pharmacy said to take sudafed.... Dont know how that will help....If i warm sweet oil and put in my ear will that help?...any help would be greatly appreciated.

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), February 13, 2002

Answers

Response to Help.... I can hear.....

Sudafed has a decongestant and antihistamine to dry the membranes out and open the drain tube from your ear to your throat to relieve the pressure.

If it doesn't work, try another one. Some work better on some folks than others. I like Tavist D.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.

Response to Help.... I can hear.....

Hey Kristean,

Take the antihistimines and decongestants...they will help if it is fluid in the inner ear canal caused by the eustacion tubes in your throat being blocked from the cold. Get the inflammation down and dry up the moisture and you will be hearing well again.

If you have been digging at your ear on the outside, there is a possibility that you have shoved a wax plug in the outer ear canal...then the warm oil may help soften this up and you can flush it with warm water.

If your ear is draining as you say, with a discharge outside, then your ear drum has been perforated and you have an infection that needs antibiotics I think. A broken ear drum will also affect your hearing but in my experience not to the extent that inner ear pressure will do.

I always take antihistimines and decongestants for ear issues because I had chronic ear infections as a kid and both ear drums are nicely scarred although I can still hear ok. Since doing that starting about 20 years ago, I have been less prone to the monthly ear ache.

Good Luck.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), February 13, 2002.

Response to Help.... I can hear.....

I've had this problem off and on pretty much all of my adult life so I've tried a mort of different things to get my ears to open up and drain.

Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) is your best bet right off the bat. Doesn't have to be the Sudafed brand, any store brand with the same dosage of pseudoephedrine will do. I use Albertson's, Winn Dixie or Wal Mart store brands.

Other things that can be done is long hot showers. Lots and lots of warm water vapor can get things flowing inside. Consuming hot foods, both thermally and/or spicy, sometimes helps. Most especially drinking hot liquids. When I can't take any more hot Tang, apple juice, tea or coffee I'll drink plain old hot water. In fact, while your ears are badly congested avoid cold drinks.

If things get really bad sleep on your left side with a hot pad or hot water bottle on your right ear. It's important that you keep the congested ear on the up side and apply heat as warm as you can tolerate. A big mug of something hot to drink and a Benadryl, then lay down with the hot pad on your ear will usually get things to open up. Bad cases can take repeated applications of all of the above.

Chewing gum while you're drinking your hot liquids seems to help as well. Hot peppermint tea seems to help sometimes as well.

Beware taking some of the herbal remedies such as ephedra and Sudafed at the same time. They're very similar in their chemical action and you can give yourself too large a dose if you're not careful.

..........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), February 13, 2002.

Response to Help.... I can hear.....

Just a side note. If your ear closes off and the room starts to spin and you get dizzy and nauseated, but have no real ear pain, the drug meclazine, available as Dramamine or Bonine, will slow the world back down again. Ginger is also supposed to help, but I haven't tried it yet. The meclazine definitely works. Do use sudafed or another decongestant to clear your ears. You'll have to use it consistently for a couple or few days to have it work. Ears just don't clear that quickly. At least for me they don't. Good luck!

-- Laura Rae Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), February 13, 2002.

Response to Help.... I can hear.....

If you can not hear, I feel you need to see a doctor. Humbly explain your circumstances to him, and arrange to pay him off slowly.

Sudafed is a brand name decongestant and DOES NOT have an antihistamine unless there is a version labeled plus antihistamine. Antihistamine can help drain the fluid.

-- Rick in Southwest WV (Rick_122@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.

Response to Help.... I can hear.....

Well, guess I'll throw my 10 cents in the pot. We deal here with tremendous sinus infections. I have discovered that use of Vicks nose spray shrinks the tissues in all that area and allows drainage. Use of Vicks Vaporub is the old tried and true, and still works. Annette

-- a. Eadie (a.eadie@mailexcite.com), February 13, 2002.

Sure you can go to the doctor, every county has a free or reduced price clinic, ear infections need antibiotics if you want to be able to hear well out of that ear! You can try garlic and astragalus root taken internally, but hearing is not something to take lightly.

Also, all doctors have to allow you to make payments ( no interest either!) on their fees, in Ohio, it is the law!!! I'm sure this is the same in your state as well, so that excuse doesn't sit well with me.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), February 14, 2002.

Annie: I MUST disagree with you. Where I live there is no reduced or free clinic available and I have yet to find a "clinic" of any sort!!!

Also, . . . . NOT all doctors will allow you to pay off their visits "in payments" and I have personally been refused treatment at doctors offices when I state I cannot pay the fee up-front.

So . . . . you should NOT be so quick to judge everyone's circumstances by your own IMHO!!!

-- quinn wolfe (wolfiequinn@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.

Sorry, quinn, but if you look long enough and hard enough, you can find both a doctor that will accept payments and a reduced fee clinic. A quick call to your county health and human services board will give you plenty of phone numbers.

I do apologize for getting upset at folks who immediately state "that I don't have health insurance, and I can't afford to go to the doctor". We are self employed and have ALWAYS paid for our own health insurance, we don't drive new vehicles at all or have "extra toys" because of these high payments every month, AND this health insurance is for hospitalization only, does not cover meds or doctor's office visits.

So we have always had to find doctors who take payments, dentists too, and pay for our own medicine, so if we can do it, so can anyone, if they want to.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), February 15, 2002.

If you cant find a doctor that will take you, you can go to the local emergency room, and arrange to pay them in small installments. Hospitals can handle it financially to treat those who cant pay right away. Hospitals always figure into their finances that small percentage of the population that will not be able to pay at all for services. I am not recommending that you aim on being that part of the population, of course, but that you should not feel guilty if you happen to land there occasionally. It's ok. Get help if you need it. You dont have to handle it all alone.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), February 15, 2002.

Ear specialists have never been able to help my ears - and they had to be paid anyway. What has helped is:

Myrrh

Goldenseal or Olive Leaf Extract

Mullien flowers, St John's wort and calendula infused in sunflower oil [for cleaning]

-- carol (kanogisdi@yahoo.com), February 15, 2002.

Ever heard of a neti-pot? Look in the archives under Herbs/Herbal and open the post "Anybody know of an herbal antibiotic". A neti-pot is used to rinse out your sinus cavities and it will also introduce salt water into the opening of your ear canal from the inside. After a few uses you will feel your ears unplug and your sinus' will be clearer. Great for chronic allergies and sinus infections. No drugs needed - only salt water.

Sara Perry on Vashon Island, WA

-- Sara Perry (JPerry1218@aol.com), February 15, 2002.