Why does earache occur? Relieving pain in this organ is quite simple, but before that, the cause of its development should be identified. The treatment of such an unpleasant phenomenon should not be aimed at eliminating the symptoms, but at the complete elimination of the existing disease.
Main reasons
Before relieving pain in the ear, it should be determined why a similar condition arose.
According to experts, pain in the hearing aid is a fairly common symptom that worries not only children but also adults. Such a pathological condition may occur due to:
- inflammatory diseases of the ears (eg, otitis media) or neighboring organs;
- lesions of the auditory nerve and nervous system;
- pathologies of neighboring organs (ENT organs, neck, brain, blood vessels, etc.);
- tumor processes.
Nature of pain
What is the pain in the ear? Only a doctor can relieve pain in this organ, relying on the symptoms. With various diseases, such unpleasant sensations can have a different nature. They can be stitching, shooting, crushing and throbbing. Also, pain in the ear is often accompanied by other signs. The patient should tell his doctor about them in order to facilitate the doctor's process of making the correct diagnosis, which will allow him to prescribe an effective treatment.
Causes of discomfort in healthy people
Why do healthy people get earache? The patient himself can also relieve pain in this condition, since such sensations do not always indicate the presence of a disease.
Sometimes a similar phenomenon occurs in a healthy person:
- After long walks in cool or windy weather. According to experts, if strong gusts of wind, including cold, affect the auditory organs, then a person will have a painful bruise. It is visible on the skin of the ear in the affected area. Such a bruise has a bluish tint and eventually becomes painful. As a rule, such a condition goes away on its own without the use of any medical procedures.
- A fairly common cause of earaches is often swimming in ponds or a pool without special plugs. This phenomenon is called the swimmer’s ear. It occurs if water enters the external auditory meatus, which helps soften the skin and form puffiness. If this condition is frequent, then it can provoke external otitis media.
- Why else can there be pain in the ear? You can relieve pain in the hearing aid through its banal cleaning. Indeed, this condition is often the result of excessive production of earwax. By the way, people who neglect personal hygiene, except for pain, can very often feel noise and stuffiness in their ears. What is the reason for this? The fact is that, accumulating in large quantities, sulfur clogs the ear canals, thereby causing pain and other unpleasant sensations.
It can not be said that pain, as well as dryness in the ears, often indicate a lack of earwax. Typically, such sensations occur in too clean people who clean the ear canals several times a day.
Earache Disorders
If your ear pains are not associated with any of the above reasons, then this disease is most likely to blame.
Most often the ear hurts (we will tell you how to relieve the pain just below) in those people who suffer from external, secondary or internal otitis media. Only an experienced otolaryngologist will be able to make such a diagnosis, on the basis of the received analyzes and personal examination of the patient.
We can not say that such sensations can be associated with the development of perichondritis, that is, inflammation of the skin covering the cartilage of the auricle, as well as a boil in the ear.
Pain after injury
Ear injuries very often cause pain. They may occur due to:
- bruises of the auricle;
- barotrauma, that is, a sharp increase in pressure inside the eardrum (for example, with sharp or loud sounds);
- the presence of a foreign body in the ear canal;
- frostbite or burns of the auricle, as well as skin in the ear area;
- ruptures of the eardrum (for example, after getting into the ears of one or another foreign body).
How to relieve ear pain?
Only an experienced otolaryngologist can answer this question. As a rule, the treatment of such pain depends on the causes of its development. Therefore, many experts do not recommend getting rid of discomfort on their own. It is better to go to a hospital where experienced doctors can not only make a diagnosis, but also select the necessary treatment regimen.
So how to relieve ear pain in a child and an adult? If the discomfort in the ears is associated with inflammatory diseases, then you should immediately contact an otolaryngologist. Before visiting a doctor, in order to alleviate their condition, patients are advised to carry out the following activities:
- instill drops in the nasal cavity that facilitate breathing;
- drip three drops of a 1% solution of Dioxidin into a sore ear;
- take an antipyretic once.
Such measures will reduce pain and calmly wait for their turn to a specialist.
Trauma therapy
If the pain in the ears occurred due to a bruise, then on the first day of the injury, you can topically apply cold. Then, on the second or third day, thermal procedures should be carried out (for example, use iodine nets, a warming compress, etc.).
In case of severe damage, you should immediately contact a trauma center.
With ear burns, first aid to the victim depends on the degree of damage:
- If only redness occurs, then grease the skin with an alcohol solution.
- If a burn of the second degree was received, as a result of which blisters appeared on the skin, it is necessary to rinse the place with cold water, and then apply a clean bandage and immediately consult a doctor.
- With a severe burn, you must visit the emergency room as soon as possible.
If the eardrum breaks, you should cover your ear with a cotton swab, and then go to the hospital.
If a foreign body enters the ear canal, then in no case can you remove it yourself. This should be done by an experienced ENT doctor.
Standard treatment
What to do if a child’s ear hurts ? To relieve pain that arose for no apparent reason, you can as follows:
- Make an alcohol compress in your ear. To do this, a piece of gauze is impregnated with alcohol and imposed on a sore spot. Then it is covered with cellophane, after which they are insulated with a woolen or cotton scarf.
- If the pain in the ear is too strong, then you can take painkillers.
- Also, for severe ear pains , special drops are often used (for example, Otipaks).
How to relieve pain in the ear at home?
For earaches, folk remedies such as:
- Instillation of warm almond or nut oil in your ear.
- Applying a compress of beets cooked in honey.
- Washing the ears with a strong infusion of chamomile.
- Laying a tampon with onion or garlic juice in the ear canal.
- Burying a weak infusion of lemon balm.
- Use of drops prepared from alcohol tincture of propolis and honey in a ratio of 1: 1 (3 drops once a day, at bedtime).