Ear ache
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Ear pain is one of the most powerful types of pain known to a person. If this pain occurs in a small child, but he can not tell about it, it is enough to check what hurts, tapping on the ear with his finger. If the child can not tolerate and scream, then it hurts the ear. What are the causes of ear pain?
[Ear structure
Disease of the ears can make any part of it unworkable and painful. It can be the inner ear, as well as the middle or outer ear. The inner ear is a system of cavities called labyrinths. They are related.
The inner ear of the child develops in the womb and development ends before the child is born. And all the defects of the inner ear, if they exist, are manifested in the mother's abdomen. Then the inner ear grows again to 17-19 years, then the time when the reproductive system is formed.
The middle ear is a cavity with a tympanic membrane on one side, and on the other - an inner ear. This is the nature of our auditory system. When a person is sick, the so-called sulfur, pus, mucus can accumulate in the middle ear. These symptoms are exacerbated if Eustachian tubes are impassable. Through these pipes, unpleasant liquid and mucus flow into the nasal cavity. Then a person develops a cold.
When the child is small, Eustachian tubes are short and small. Because of this, children are affected by infections and their middle ear can be ill. These diseases affect 50% of small children under one year old. Children who reach the age of 6 years, in 90% of cases fall ill with inflammation of the middle ear. Although infections can occur in any part of the ear.
The structure of the outer ear is as follows: the auricle, the external ear canal and the tympanic membrane.
Ear infections
Infections can affect any part of the ear, and the pain can also be of different intensity. But even if the pain is not very strong, you still need to see a doctor, because the pain can intensify. And then to treat ears will be much more difficult.
The culprits of earache
Middle ear infection
The ear canal such diseases, as well as inflammation, are extremely rare. But if the auricle gets inflamed and infected with the infection, it becomes dense, red in color, and it can even have a rash - an allergic reaction to the toxins of bacteria. It is called eczema.
Infection often affects the external auditory canal of the ear. When the ear is healthy, the outer ear canal is protected by sulfur. And when the ear is sick, the sulfur inside it dilutes, makes the skin soft, supple, swollen. The skin can be covered with cracks, a rash. Either the skin can become covered with scales, which are formed due to the fact that sulfur inside the ear dries up. The ear becomes more sensitive and much sore.
External otitis media
It is also called the swimmer's ear. The ear becomes inflamed, increases in size, the person does not hear well, he has the impression that he has water in his ear. The causes of external otitis media are infections, attempts to penetrate into the ear with an extraneous object to clean it, chemicals that fall into the ear (hair spray, other chemical products). The disease, which is called the swimmer's ear, is most affected by young children.
Symptoms - an external auditory canal, strewn with small red pimples. The causes are viral infections, fungi. If you look into the external ear canal with a special mirror, you can see damage in the form of scratches.
Furuncles also enter into this sad list.
The person is also concerned about the itching in the ear, severe pain in the ear, pus, which is released from the ear.
Treatment changes the situation. The earlier it starts, the more likely it is to cure the ear faster. This can happen in five to seven days.
Middle ear: infectious diseases
Among these diseases, the most common is otitis. It is called otitis media after the name of the ear that is inflamed.
Risk groups for otitis media are children from half a year to a year and children from 4 years. Adults are also susceptible to otitis.
As soon as the child turns 8 years old, he is much less likely to have otitis media than younger children.
The middle ear is affected by otitis due to bacteria and fungi, this is the most common cause of ear pain. The pain becomes much stronger during the swallowing of food, and also when the baby's cold and mum try to free his nose. Even chewing, the child can feel a strong pain in the ear.
The most risky time for the colds of the ear is winter and autumn with their weather and drafts. This time is a cold, so people are especially prone to infections that affect the middle ear.
The culprits of otitis are eustachian tubes that become inflamed and clogged due to colds and bronchial tubes. Another cause may be allergies of different types and significant swelling and inflammation of the adenoid
Even if a child sucks mother's breast or milk from a bottle, lying on his back, he may develop inflammation of the Eustachian tubes or their blockage with sulfur. Then in the middle ear the pressure rises, there fluid accumulates, and the child can even scream from pain.
How does otitis media work?
It can occur with acute pain or with prolonged, but weaker. Otitis can be repeated if it is not treated or if it is not prevented.
After this, hearing may worsen. However, if the disease is treated normally, then it will not be repeated often and the health consequences will not be so serious. Hearing will not deteriorate.
In addition to the otitis media of the middle ear, the culprit of the pain can be sulfur, accumulated in the ear. It is called a sulfur plug. This plug is located in the ear aisle. When this plug is trying to dig yourself, the ear can be injured.
Another ear can get sick due to the fact that a person has suffered a sore throat or gum disease. These organs - the throat and mouth - are closely related to the ears, and the infections carried in one of these organs adversely affect the others.
Pain in the ear can occur due to diving to great depths or after a jump from a high altitude, for example, with a parachute, and also in flight.
How to distinguish otitis media?
You can not guess about the average otitis in children, if they do not complain about the disease. But they can cry with pain, feel heaviness in the sick ear, the child becomes nervous, afraid of everything, crying, irritated.
Symptoms, in addition to pain in the ear, can be high fever, dizziness, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, general weakness. In the ear can be extraneous sounds, buzzing, ringing, noises. If there are all these symptoms, it is worthwhile to take the child to a doctor for immediate medical attention. Otherwise, the child can completely deafen and the hearing can not be returned.
Is otitis treated?
Yes, otitis can be treated, especially if the disease is in the initial stage. Otitis can be complicated, but it is impossible to predict its course.
After the beginning of treatment, the otitis occurs after 10 days on average. But if the otitis is not treated or if you do not take care of colds, this disease can last for 9-10 weeks.
Complications from untreated ear diseases
The ear can hurt not only in the area of the ear canal, but also in the region of the tympanic membrane. It can be affected by an infection - bacterial or viral. Postponed infection gives a lot of negative complications, including increased pressure inside the ear, fluid in the middle ear. The tympanic membrane from the transferred infections and inflammation can strongly hurt and even burst.
When fluid from the ear flows out, the eardrum stops so much ache. If a person has a diagnosis of "arthritis," the tympanic membrane soon heals by itself. The pain subsides, but the hearing of a person is lost, and the person begins to hear much worse than before the illness. Only surgery can restore the eardrum, but hearing is not a fact.
Mastoiditis
It is a disease that affects the mastoid process (it is located behind the ear, it is the projection of the skull in the form of a bone). When this process is inflamed, the person is also in pain.
You need to see a doctor, even if you feel pain is not strong. If the disease is started, it can cause hearing loss. Mastoiditis occurs after the inflammation of the middle ear has not been cured or has been treated poorly.
Infections in the inner ear and their consequences
Infections in the inner ear occur in humans much less often than inflammation in the middle or outer ear. But the negative consequences of these infections are much harder and harder for health. One of the most difficult and complex diseases of the inner ear is the viral labyrinthitis. It is this disease - the culprit of the inflammatory process in the labyrinth of the inner ear.
When the human body strikes the virus, it can affect the health of the ear and hearing in general. If a woman is pregnant, the virus can have an irreversible negative impact not only on her health, but also on the health of the fetus. A child may develop hearing loss due to inflammation of the inner ear.
If the virus hits the inner ear of a child who was recently born, then the inflammation of the ear can also damage the hearing. And this hearing impairment does not develop gradually, but can occur suddenly. True, this disorder is treated within two weeks, the hearing is restored.
Viral and bacterial damage to the ear is different in its consequences.
The culprit of bacterial labyrinthitis can be meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes of the brain. Bacterial labyrinthitis can develop, as a rule, in a very small child shortly after birth and ends with complete deafness. Viral labyrinthitis is treated, its consequences are less tragic for a person.
Viral labyrinthitis can be distinguished from other ear diseases by noise in the ears, dizziness, severe ear pain.
Symptoms of bacterial labyrinthitis - elevated body temperature, dizziness, eyes move quickly, and their movement is out of control, pus is released from the ears. The ear in the region of the mastoid process reddens and becomes inflamed. Behind the ear may appear abscess.
If these symptoms are present in your child, do not self-medicate, you should immediately consult a doctor.