My fucking ear

[BIBI J]

At my own personal discomfort this post is fueled by ministry.

For those of you who don't know the score of the game....
I February my ear started hurting and accompanying it was hearing loss and ringing.
It went away but came back with a vengeance.
Due to a few factors (money, insurance, finals etc…) I didn’t go to the doctor right away. When I did go they flushed both ears with hot water and peroxide and gave me some antibiotic eardrops. They didn’t work. So I went back but saw a different doctor. He gave systemic antibiotics (yes for an ear infection…) and a different kind of eardrops. All this seemed to do was wreck hell on my stomach and make my ear feel worse. So I quit taking the eardrops. I went back in to the doctor and was seen yet again by some one different. They looked at my ear and said I see nothing wrong but I will refer you to a specialist.

I went to the specialist (This is now April). I had an audiogram (hearing test) and even brought in an older one to compare it against. There was a noticeable but not drastic overall amount of hearing loss with the left ear (infected? Ear) being the worse of the two.

After the hearing test the Doc took a look at my ear. She said it looked like there was some irritation and eczema of the inner ear and some irritation due to the meds. Other than that she had no explanation of why my ear hurt, was ringing and why I couldn’t hear shit out of it. She said something like “we still really don’t understand the ear and why it dose what it dose…”

Let me tell you that made me feel good to know that that is the treatment I was paying for. She did however give me a different eardrop. She said to use it twice a week or when ever my ear started itching. I said it didn’t itch. She told me to just wait. (Again I get a warm fuzzy feeling). These drops were alcohol and acetic acid with some hydrocortisone. They made my ear itch like a MoFo.

It took about two weeks and my ear started feeling better, the ringing subsided, and the pain stopped… for the most part. It seemed to flare up about once a week but not that bad. Well for the past 2 or three weeks it has gotten unbearable again. It seems to bother me most when it is getting ready to rain…

There is something appealing about a weather detecting ear but the novelty has quickly worn off as I can no longer hear out of the left side of my fucking head, except of course that god damn ringing sound. Normal conversations are difficult. I can only use the phone if I am using my right ear. Loud noises are reduced to high pitch aggravating sounds (in my left ear). Life fucking sucks.

So I go back to the doctor today, different doctor as I no longer trust the last one. This time it is a GP (getting a primary care doc for those who care). The doc gives me a physical (4th one of the year… I am getting sick of strange people squeezing my balls in a medical manner), takes my medical history, the whole bit.

We talked about my ear. She looked at it and confirmed the eczema in the left and found some in the right. But what disturbed me was when she said hmmmm…. The left one defiantly looks different than the right one. I will refer you to a specialist. He will call you in a few weeks. Ok bye bye now.

So I get a few more weeks of not being able to hear out of the left side of my fucking head. A few more weeks of not knowing what is going on with my ear and a few more weeks of being able to predict rain with great and painful accuracy.

I am a very hostile person right now.

 

[Stuart D]

There is an indian ear candle you can pick up at a lot of natural health food stores, I have used it on my kids ear infections and it works great.

Or, you can try filling a warm sock (out of the dryer or heat up for a minute or two in the oven) with epsom or sea salt (table salt will work but not as good) then laying the infected ear on the sock.

You can also try this http://www.nativeremedies.com/ear-heal-ear-infection-treatment.html I've used it on myself it stings but works.

PS: Doctors are very educated scam artists.

 

[BettyBM]

I'm sure you thought about this, but did you change laundry detergent lately? Fabric softener? When's the last time you washed your bedsheets? Do you sleep on your side?

I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Agent Orange]

DG,

After the hot flaming dripping wax incident that could have ended a lot worse than it did i swore those things off... besides they usually made my ears feel better for a few days then they would feel like crap for a week. Kind of a twisted trade off for me. Others have had better success with them than I.

So far my opinion on Dr's is not as kind as yours.

Gea,

No I have not changed my detergent. I still use the same tree hugging hippy crap I have been using. I wash my sheets often as one of the simple pleasures in life is clean sheets. Usually I do not watch my self sleep so I have no clue. If you are asking If I go to sleep on my back, stomach or side it just all depends. I don't sleep very well at all so it is usually whatever feels like it will work.


Edit note.

I don't think it is infected. I think something else is wrong with it. There was (and has been for a while) no sign of infection in the ear. I am a gambling man and am willing to bet it is something else causing the problem.... hopefully not something more insidious.

 

[snowbd122006]

Good thing it's your fucking ear, and not your regular ear.