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Ear infection - round 2 - ??


snickerplum
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Right before New Year’s dh and I got colds, and mine turned into a double ear infection. Ten days of amoxicillin, and 3 days later the pain started coming back, mostly in my left ear. The doctor said the membrane looked cloudy with a red streak. Now I’m a week into augmentin and it’s starting to hurt again. I’ve been going to a walk-in clinic so far and when I called today they said since that I’ve come in twice for the same thing and it’s not getting better I should see an ENT. 

I really don’t want to.

1. I don’t want to pay for it. 

2. The ENTs in my area don’t have glowing reviews.

What can I do/take/use to help this go away? I’m going on vacation in February and I want to be done with this whole thing. 

I am not a huge fan of antibiotics, but it hurt so bad (especially the first time) that I was willing. 

 

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Are you using a steroid nasal spray and taking a decongestant and mucinex? Those are my go to things for ear congestion. Make sure to get the behind the pharmacy Sudafed, not the stuff on the shelf. That stuff is useless. Steroid nasal spray will help reduce swelling in the eustachian tube hopefully, and mucinex will help thin things out (if you drink a ton of fluids with it) so it can drain. But out of all of it the Sudafed is the biggest help. 

Edited by Ktgrok
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Something that you could try, is chewing gum?
The Eustachian Tube, runs from the each ear, to the back of the throat.
But it stays closed most of the time, to prevent bacteria traveling up it to the ear.
Though when we Swallow, it automatically opens briefly. Allowing the fluid to drain.
When chewing gum, it produces saliva.  Causing us to Swallow much more often.
Which in turn, will allow more fluid to drain from the inner ear.
So that something as simple as chewing gum, could be helpful?

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I've had a double ear infection while on vacation.  Both my eardrums ruptured and I spent the rest of my vacation sponging bloody liquid out of my ears with tissues and yelling, "what?" a lot.  Then I spent 2 months with a big reduction in my hearing.  

On the plus side, the pain disappears once they rupture.  On the minus side, the hours leading up to the ruptures were more painful than childbirth.  

Fun times.  

I'd see an ENT!!!

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28 minutes ago, snickerplum said:

Thank you all! I’ve started something like Sudafed, using ibuprofen, and I will try gum in the morning.

I do have some mucinex, but I assume I can’t take that at the same time as the Sudafed stuff? 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Maybe I should swap it out tomorrow. 

You can take both at the same time. In fact, they make a Mucinex D, which has both in it. So, if your mucinex is the one with a big D on the front (for decongestant), then don't combine that with another decongestant. If it's just regular mucinex then yes, you can and should take it and the Sudafed at the same time. 

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