An adult ear hurts: what to do?

Ear pain is a common problem that people of all ages face. Sometimes it passes after a couple of moments, in other cases it causes discomfort and can cause serious consequences. If the ear hurts, only a specialist will tell you what to do - in other cases, you can only aggravate the situation.

To know when you can get along with a first-aid kit, and in what conditions you should urgently contact a doctor, we recommend that you read this article.

Causes of pain in the ear in an adult

For pain in the ear, it is important to remember what conditions could have recently occurred for the appearance of discomfort. When an ear hurts in an adult, the cause can be both a serious illness and a problem that can be fixed in just a few days.

The most common causes of tinnitus pain are as follows:

• inflammatory processes: acute otitis media, mastoiditis, myringitis, abscess, perichondritis;
• mechanical damage to the eardrum;
• sulfuric cork;
• a bite of an insect,
• foreign body;
• frostbite;
• burn;
• injury.

To determine the exact cause of the pain, consult a doctor. He will inspect, ask about the details that could provoke one or another cause of the discomfort that arose. After that, he will analyze the information received from the patient, evaluate the results of the examination, make a diagnosis and make a list of how to treat pain.

Note! Pay special attention to the problem if the pain begins after bathing in a dirty pond, as well as if unpleasant sensations arose against the background of a cold and general weakness.In this case, it is recommended to contact the ENT for examination.

How to relieve pain, first aid

The best thing that can be done before consulting with a specialist is to take an anesthetic and protect the affected area from moisture, dirt, as well as from mechanical stress, hypothermia and overheating.

For protection, if the ears are sore inside, it is recommended to twist a cotton swab and place it in the ear canal. But not very far, but so that it was easy to take out. At the same time, the fleece should hold well, without creating friction.

If you see a doctor on time, the treatment will be relatively simple: drops, ointments and tablets await you. But if you start the disease, then the case may end with inpatient treatment. At an advanced stage of the disease, there is a risk of hearing loss.

When to see a doctor

It is especially dangerous to engage in self-medication, having noticed such symptoms:

• suppuration, especially accompanied by an unpleasant odor;
• bloody issues;
• itching
• auditory hallucinations, noise, ringing;
• hearing loss or, conversely, increased perception;
• swelling of the ear and surrounding areas;
• the ear is blocked, and deafness does not pass for several days;
• increase in body temperature;
• soreness when touched;
• pain intensifies when opening / closing the mouth.

Pay attention to the area behind the ear, examine it for swelling, discoloration, pus, pain on palpation.

If at least one of the above symptoms is present, you need to urgently contact the clinic - the signs indicate a serious pathology of the auditory organ.

Read also:boric acid in the ear

Ear hurts inside, outside

According to statistics, adults more often than children suffer from ear problems. Men and women get sick equally often.

This ailment is especially well known to lovers of water sports: their ears are often in adverse conditions. This is an excess of moisture against the background of hypothermia and mechanical damage, sometimes invisible to the naked eye.

Contributes to the disease swimming in dirty water, as well as non-observance of personal hygiene.

It happens the other way around: a person too diligently cleans the ear canal, deeply sticking a cotton swab, thereby damaging the "details" of the ear. A bacterium can even get into a small scratch, which soon causes inflammation, and if untreated, the disease progresses.

Ear diseases can be asymptomatic, but are more often expressed in external manifestations. There are many nerve endings in the auricle, and therefore the disease almost never goes unnoticed.

• The affected organ turns red, makes itself felt when palpating.
• Pain inside the ear can be either acute or dull.
• Sometimes pain impulses are pulsating or firing.

All these details are important to note in consultation with the ENT specialist - with their help, the doctor will be able to put together a complete picture of the patient's condition and assess the degree of development of the pathological process.

What to do if an adult ear hurts

The victim has two options: to resort to traditional medicine or consult an otolaryngologist (ENT).

The best thing you can advise is to take pain medication and consult a doctor right away to avoid serious consequences.

Even if a person prefers to use the most natural means of treatment, it is still recommended to be examined by a specialist to determine the diagnosis.

Waiting for admission, take care of your body especially carefully: observe personal hygiene, do not allow overheating and hypothermia, beware of colds, viral diseases, and bacterial infections.The ear must be protected from environmental influences.

Note. A diseased organ is particularly vulnerable to environmental influences. To protect it, you can wear a gauze bandage covering your ears.

Drug treatment

What to do if there is no opportunity to see a doctor, and discomfort does not allow you to live normally?

We recommend using the following tools:

• multivitamin complexes - to enhance the body's defenses, increase immunity, eliminate vitamin deficiency;
• painkillers - to relieve intolerable pain;
• propolis tincture - for local antiseptic treatment;
• preparations for dissolving earwax (in case of sulfur plug);
• preparations made independently (folk remedies);
• warm herbal compresses - not hot, so as not to contribute to inflammation, and not cold, so as not to catch a cold in the ear (placed on the behind the ear lymph node).

Any medicine should be used in strict accordance with the instructions that are attached to it.

Alternative methods of treatment

1. In the early stages of the disease, propolis tincture can have a positive effect. Fold the pieces of gauze bandage with a tube, soak them with propolis and carefully insert into the ear, but not too deep! The exposure time is 15 minutes.
2. A more affordable antibacterial agent is onion juice. It needs to be instilled in 3-4 drops twice a day.
3. Try rinsing with infusion of pharmacy chamomile, it is sold in portioned filter bags. The composition is prepared simply: you need to pour chamomile with boiling water at the rate of one glass of water per filter bag. Insist 30 minutes. You can rinse or put in your ear a lot of cotton moistened with chamomile infusion.

All buried liquids should be heated to body temperature.

What can not be done

Some actions not only do not improve the patient’s situation, but can also lead to a worsening of the condition.

• Do not perform mechanical cleaning. If the cause of the pain is a sulfur plug or foreign matter, then unprofessional interference can push an unwanted object deeper into the ear canal.
• It is forbidden to warm the ear at an elevated temperature, the presence of pus, bloody or transparent discharge.
• Avoid crowded areas: the affected body is sensitive to viruses.
• Do not drip alcohol and alcohol-containing drops into a sore ear.
• Avoid hypothermia, moisture, mechanical stress.
• Forget about recovering from a visit to the pool, beach, bathhouse, solarium.

No matter how insignificant the problem under discussion may seem, it is by no means impossible to ignore it. Pain inside the ear can be a symptom of serious diseases, the development of which is extremely undesirable due to the proximity to the affected area of ​​the brain and organs of vision.