When a person experiences any pain syndrome, this significantly reduces the comfort of life. The most unpleasant and very disturbing pains are dental, head and ear. In each individual case, special treatment is required. What to do if ear hurts?
First you need to determine the main cause of the pain. There can be a lot of them and they are all very diverse. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to immediately consult a doctor to determine the cause of the pain. Therefore, you should know why it occurs and what to do if your ear hurts.
The main cause of ear pain is otitis media. Inflammation in the ear canal with the formation of pus and severe pain. Otitis can develop on its own or be a concomitant disease with flu and tonsillitis. With severe itching in the ear canal, a person is ready to calm him by any means. It uses matches, knitting needles, various sticks. With minor damage to the mucosa and the introduction of foreign objects into the ear canal, it provokes the development of otitis externa. The main symptoms of this disease are pain when pressing on the auricle and the presence of a small boil or inflammation at the entrance.
What to do if ear hurts with otitis externa?
- You should warm the sore spot with a warming compress. To do this, you can use heated camphor oil or warm boric alcohol, applied to a gauze swab and inserted into the ear canal. Heated salt in a cloth pouch attached to the ear is perfect.
- If there is a boil, it should be removed before carrying out warming procedures. To do this, use iodine for cauterization and any antiseptic to treat the surface of the ear. Hydrogen peroxide is good.
- If you have otitis media, try to go out as rarely as possible so that there are no complications of the disease.
The most unpleasant is acute otitis media. Its characteristic signs are fever, sharp pain and backache in the ear, the presence of pus in the ear canal. Acute otitis media most often results from neglected or untreated viral and respiratory diseases. What to do if ear hurts with acute otitis media? Contact your doctor. Each disease has several stages of development and the treatment methods for each of them are very different. Therefore, with improper independent conduct of the treatment process, there is always the possibility of serious complications, up to hearing loss.
The presence of caries in the oral cavity can also lead to pain in the temple, neck and ear. Acute inflammation of the tooth and gums adjacent to it gives severe aching or throbbing pain, aggravated by chewing or exposure to hot and cold food.
What to do when the ear hurts with caries or acute otitis media? In this case, the heating of the painful area is strictly prohibited, since it leads to an increase in the inflammatory process and the formation of more pus. Treatment can only be prescribed by a doctor. Sometimes a little surgery is required to remove accumulated pus. Be sure to take antibiotics to eliminate the infection. The list of essential medications will include ear drops to help heal with an antiseptic effect. But you should not bury them directly in the ear. It is necessary to apply the medicine on small gauze swabs, which should be inserted into the ear canal.
Tinnitus can be a consequence of a nervous system disease, and also occur after a variety of injuries. The cause of pulling and throbbing pain in the ear can be a pinched nerve, neuralgia, or a blocked nerve. In such cases, the pain is more pronounced with sudden movements of the facial muscles, head, or chewing.
It is always unpleasant if the ear hurts. What to do, what drugs should be taken, only a specialist can tell. Therefore, do not self-medicate. After all, your ears are very dear to you, and improperly performed medical procedures can lead to undesirable consequences.