Earache

In the work of a general practitioner, complaints of pain in the ear are often encountered. If the pain in the ear is strong, then patients tend to seek medical help even at night. Complaints of pain in the ear are observed in all age groups, especially they are common in children.

When a patient complains of ear pain, the examination should not be limited to the ears alone as the source of these complaints [this may be external otitis media; furunculosis; otitis media, or middle ear inflammation, and mastoiditis]. You should also look for a source of pain radiating into the ear (ears).

[1], [2],

What causes pain in the ear?

There are several main causes that can cause pain in the ear.

Infection

The most common cause of ear pain - dull, deep, with acute lumbago - is otitis caused by a viral or bacterial infection. Determining the external otitis is quite simple: you need to press on the tragus, while in the ear there will be painful sensations. The average otitis media is usually accompanied by symptoms such as fever and headache. Such not so pleasant sensations occur because of penetration of an infection in the field of an external acoustical passage. Depending on the place of infection, fungi (spot localization of infection) or abscesses (infection spreads over the entire auditory canal) are distinguished. Many patients also complain of pain caused by infection of the middle ear or external auditory canal. The first symptoms: purulent discharge from the ear canal, headache, hearing impairment. Reason: Otomycosis (ear fungus).

In any of the cases of infectious or bacterial inflammation of the ear canal, self-medication is useless, and even dangerous. Refer to the help of doctors who will clean the channel with an ear probe. Usually, abscesses, furuncles, otitis and other consequences of infections are prescribed drops in the ears. The composition of such medicines includes antibiotics, so that after the course of treatment, you can get rid of ear pain without problems and consequences.

Eustachian tube occlusion

When the Eustachian tube is blocked , a sensation appears, as if the ear has been laid. If you do not start immediately to treat the disease, then the disease can lead to inflammation of the middle ear. In such cases, patients are prescribed vasoconstrictive drops or nasal spray. Thus, by narrowing the vessels, the patency of the Eustachian tube considerably improves. In some cases, antibiotics are added to the list of medications, if the main cause of pain in the ear is still an infection.

[3], [4], [5], [6], [7]

Barotrauma

Barotrauma can be obtained if the pressure in the middle and inner ear is different. In other words, the cause of the barotrauma can be a concussion, a sharp noise exceeding the sensitivity of sound by loudness, even a runny nose can cause the effect of "stunning". Pain in the ear due to barotrauma can occur under any circumstances, during which the pressure inside the ear changes dramatically: scuba diving, climbing mountains, a sharp stop after running, a shot. To alleviate suffering, you just need to close your nose and try to breathe out into it. A prolonged pain is a signal that you need to run to an otolaryngologist.

[8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15]

Ripe Cork

The occlusion of the external auditory canal with sulfur secretions or sulfur plug is most common in children who do not like to clean their ears. However, some adults, neglecting personal hygiene, can end up with such symptoms of sulfur plug as a worsening of hearing for a long time, and, as a logical result, pain in the ear.

The doctor will remove the stopper in two counts with a special syringe, which under pressure delivers warm water. You can clean the external auditory canal yourself. To do this, you must first make the cork "malleable", softening it with special drops. After, say, three days after these procedures, you must take a warm bath, while lying down so that the ears were under water. If the plug does not come out, go to the doctor safely. And most importantly - no further experiments with attempts to pull the cork itself.

Inflammation of the upper respiratory tract

Colds can also cause pain in the ear. They caught a cold, sat in a draft, overcooled - and the inflammation of the ear canal is right there. Usually he immediately pawns his nose. Such pain can also pass quickly and without a trace, just as a cold started, or it can stay a little longer, leaving behind an acute infection of the middle ear. Eyewitnesses say that the pain in the ear against the background of the infection just makes you crazy. However, do not despair. An experienced doctor will always tell you the right course of treatment.

Injuries

Traumatization of the auditory canal is mainly characteristic of children who like to stuff other objects in their ears: pencils, beads, beads, details of the designer and other objects. And anyway, any ear trauma can happen quite by accident, and not only in children. In general, pain in the ear can cause even a blow to the head, especially a blow to the very ear.

Symptoms of ear pain

Any painful sensations in the auricle say, first of all, about a certain inflammatory process. It can be otitis, acute and chronic tonsillitis, sinusitis, specific or nonspecific inflammation of the maxillary joint. In addition, pain in the ear can be a consequence of the inflammatory processes of the jaw, tonsils, and also because of sinusitis. The most common causes of such pain are pathological processes in the neck, spine, myofascial pain, neuralgia and so on. To determine the causes of pain and to establish the correct diagnosis, you need to contact a qualified specialist and take a survey.

If you have several of these symptoms, you can state the fact of the disease of certain "parts" of the system of hearing:

• acute or dull pain in the ear,
• relapse of an earache,
• unceasing pain for several days,
• "Reflected" pain in the nasal sinuses, in the neck, in the region of the temples,
• deterioration of hearing,
• purulent or bloody discharge from the auricle,
• redness of the ear,
• elevated temperature,
• runny nose.

Irrassing in the ear pain

On 5 nerves can enter painful sensations in an ear. Transmitted from the auricular branch of the trigeminal nerve are pain sensations from the sfenoid sinus or toothache. On the large auricular nerve, the pain can radiate into the ear (along the nerves C2, C3) from wounds or inflamed lymph glands on the neck, as well as from the discs and joints of the cervical vertebrae, with inflammatory changes in the latter. On the sensitive branch of the facial nerve, the pain radiates to the geniculate ganglion of this nerve when it is infected with the Herpes zoster virus (Ramsay Hunt syndrome).

Pain in the ear can be irradiated along the tympanic branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve and the auricular branch of the vagus nerve with inflammatory changes in the pharynx, for example, in tonsillitis, carcinoma of the posterior third of the tongue, pear-shaped fossa or larynx, with peritonsillar abscess.

It is very difficult to diagnose pain in the ear in infants, when the only manifestations of the disease are crying and vomiting.

Pain in the ear is one of the most unpleasant pains, perhaps, after dental pain. It causes a lot of trouble, in addition, any inflammation of the auricle and other organs of the human auditory system can result in serious problems with hearing, up to its loss.

Pain in the ear can have a completely different character, depending on the particular disease and the degree of its severity. The focus of pain usually "hangs" in the region of the auricle and external auditory canal. Timely diagnosis and treatment of problems with the ears will not only keep the hearing, but also avoid more serious health problems.

Treatment of pain in the ear

Despite the fact that it is unbearable to endure the pain in the ear, you should not try to self-medicate, otherwise you can hurt yourself even more. However, you can slightly relieve the unpleasant sensations.

If the pain is localized in the area of the auricle and external auditory canal, in no case should it be allowed to enter the water and allow additional injuries. In such cases, it is possible to treat the interior of the ear shallowly with ointment with a celostoderm, lorindene and triderm. Painkillers, like ketanov, will relieve ear pain.

If the pain in the ear is spontaneous and accompanied by acute pain without discharge, high fever, you need to warm up your ear. This can be done using turunda with boric alcohol, an alcohol compress or a special ear heating pad. In parallel, it is worth to drink a couple of analgesic pill.

If there is excretion in case of pain in the ear, burying the ears, administering the turunda and allowing water to enter there is not in any case. Until the diagnosis is established, any actions related to the treatment of ear pain should be conducted under the strict supervision of the doctor, otherwise the consequences can be completely unpredictable, up to the perforation of the membrane.

If the thermometer shows the body temperature above 38 degrees, with the ear pain is not accompanied by secretions - warm up the ear can not in any case. It is better to call a doctor, since such symptoms may indicate a closed purulent inflammation without an outflow of pus. Often, such a diagnosis is found in babies. With purulent edema and other complications without the help of doctors can not do.

The average otitis should also be treated under the strict supervision of the treating doctor, as, as a rule, otitis can be accompanied by paresis of the facial nerve. 

What to do first of all with ear pain?

As we have already said, pain in the ear can indicate a completely different disease, similar to each other only by grave consequences. And they will be mandatory, if you are engaged in self-medication or cure the disease wrong. Therefore, at the first symptoms of pathology in the field of ears it is necessary to call the doctor urgently and not to postpone treatment in the long box.

The only thing that can and should be done with pain in the ear is to take an anesthetic (ketans, paracetamol), aspirin, antipyretic (in the presence of high temperature). If necessary, it is possible to warm up the ear, but only depending on the causes of the pain, which allow such a method. For example, with external otitis alcohol warming compresses and any methods of heating with the use of alcohol can not be done in any case, because alcohol has an annoying effect. Not always can help and drops. So, with average otitis, antibiotics in the form of drops will not have any effect, and with perforation of the membrane this is completely dangerous, since preparations containing salicylates can destroy the structure of the inner ear. For mechanical injuries of the tympanic membrane, the administration of turunda (with saline solution) is allowed, which must be changed every two to three hours.