The ear hurts, what to do and how to treat?

If you delve into the anatomical structure of the ear, you can find out that the ear is divided into three parts: the external ear canal( outer ear), the middle ear and the inner ear. The ear cavity is structurally related to the nasal cavity and oropharynx.

People with discomfort often prefer self-medication, but the causes of pain in the ears are great, and accordingly treatment in certain situations is completely different.

Why does it hurt in the ear?

Often, the pain in the ears occur in young children, which is due to the anatomical structure of the organ - the ear canal in babies is wide and short.

Infection from the pharynx or nasal cavity during acute respiratory infections easily enters the middle ear in the absence of timely medical care or the wrong treatment of a primary disease.

In adults, the inflammatory process is the cause of the development of otitis - a disease in which the ear is very sore inside. Other causes of ear pain are the following conditions:

• Sulfur plug - in case of hyperproduction of earwax, a so-called cork is formed in a person, which presses on the tympanic membrane and causes constant pain;
• The resulting injury - most often happens when cleaning the ears with sharp objects( pins, pencil, matches and others) or deep stuffing the cotton swab inside during hygienic procedures;
• Ear piercing - pain localized in the ear lobe region;
• Tear of the eardrum;
• Problems with teeth - with pulpitis or growing wisdom teeth, the patient often complains of dull pain in the ear from the side of the lesion, which is aggravated by chewing, swallowing, talking, yawning;
• Abscess of the pharyngeal tonsil - the patient complains of pain in the throat and ear from the localization of the inflammatory process;
  Inflammation of lymph nodes;
• Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine - when turning the head and pinching the nerve, the patient may complain of shooting pain in the ear and neck on one side.

Hurts an ear, what to do?

If you have earaches, a person should consult an otolaryngologist, the doctor will check and establish an accurate diagnosis. What to do when the ear hurts depends, first of all, on the cause of soreness - consider the main ones:

With sulfur plug, the treatment consists in washing the external auditory canal with a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide( several times), after which the ear is buried and the patient goes home. In the future, prevent the formation of sulfuric plugs by carefully performing hygienic procedures.

If an adult has an earache on the background of a trauma, a blow or a damage to the tympanic membrane with a cotton swab, it is necessary to seek medical help as soon as possible. Lack of timely medical intervention will lead to self-infection of the ear membrane and development of a serious complication - hearing loss.

Depending on the cause of the earache, the patient is treated appropriately:

• In case of problems with the teeth - consultation of the dentist and treatment of caries, pulpitis, removal of the wisdom tooth;
• When otitis, antibiotics can not be avoided, depending on the severity of the disease, patients are prescribed drugs in the form of drops, tablets or intramuscular injections;
• In case of osteochondrosis or pinching of the nerve, neurologist consultation, massage course, exercise therapy is necessary;
• With lymphadenitis - antibiotic therapy, the identification and elimination of the main cause of the inflammatory process( the disease often occurs when there are malignant tumors in the body).

Pain from earrings

If the ears hurt from earrings, it is necessary to exclude the inflammatory process in the ear lobe, which often develops in violation of the rules of asepsis and antiseptic during puncture. With the allocation of pus at the puncture site, and the lobe itself is swollen, hot to the touch and hypermeric - the earrings must be removed, and the ear itself is treated twice a day with alcohol or other antiseptics until the wound is completely healed.

Sometimes the inflammatory process develops as a result of wearing earrings from an alloy, which includes nickel. To solve the problem, it is enough to treat the lobe with an antiseptic solution and replace the usual earrings with silver or a medical alloy product.

If your ear hurts, do not try to diagnose yourself at home and prescribe a treatment. Pain can cause serious conditions, and delay and wrong therapy often lead to complications, such as hearing loss or total deafness.

The ear hurts in the child: what to do?

A kid who knows how to talk will necessarily complain to his mother about the pain in his ear - but how to deal with a baby, because he can not tell what is bothering him? In such situations, the mother of the baby should be attentive and pay attention to any change in the behavior of the crumbs. The reason for applying to a pediatrician is such symptoms:

• A child constantly cries, can not sleep;
• The Kid tugs at the earlobe with his fingers, which makes it start to cry even more;
• Breastfeeding, bottles or eating are accompanied by increased pain, resulting in the child refusing the proposed;
• Body temperature can rise to 38 degrees or remain unchanged.

Before the doctor arrives, the mom and herself can check whether breast rejections or bottles cause earaches. To do this, put the baby on the back and gently press your finger on the tragus of the ear. If a slight depression causes strong crying and anxiety of the child, then he really hurts his ear.

What if the ear has been laid, but does not hurt?

The main reasons for the situation when there is stuffiness of the ears, but there is no pain, are:

• Flight in the plane - when climbing, many people complain of stuffiness of the ears and hearing impairment, which is caused by pressure drop and increased eardrum loading;
• Water in the ear - when diving, swimming;
• Vegetosovascular dystonia;
• Sharply lowering of arterial pressure, vascular collapse - to prevent this condition, you can not get up from bed quickly, stay in a stuffy place for a long time, exercise physically on an empty stomach.

The correct behavior of the person at the moment will help to cope with the discomfort. During the recruitment of airplanes, you can get rid of the stuffiness of the ear if you open your mouth slightly or chew the cud. You can just swallow periodically, as if swallowing food - thus, the increasing air pressure is evenly distributed on the Eustachian tube and the eardrum.

If there is water in the ear, you can get rid of stuffiness by tilting your head sideways in the opposite direction and jumping on one leg. When water gets into the inside and the ear hurts - it is allowed to drip a couple of drops with boric acid inside or make a warming compress.

With increasing pain, congestion and fever, consultation of the otolaryngologist is necessary, as such symptoms signal the development of the inflammatory process.

If the ears caused by a violation of the tone of the vessels, it is necessary to undergo an examination and a neurologist who will prescribe a course of treatment and help get rid of discomfort.