Now Hear This
There’s a lot to hear in the world, but if you’re dealing with ear problems, you might not hear a lot. Most people are going to have some problem in their ears at some point. Hopefully some insect avoids laying eggs that hatch later, but things like that have happened before. They’re uncommon.
Common ear issues are more than enough for the subject of this writing, and that’s what we’ll focus on here. Following are three things that can affect how well you’re able to hear, and how comfortable you are generally. Some of these you can treat on your own, others will definitely require the help of health professionals who have skill in audiological medicine.
1. Perforated Ear Drums
This can happen in a number of different ways. Sometimes eardrums are perforated through injury via an object. Maybe you’re trying to clean your ear with a Q-tip in a way the side of the box says you shouldn’t. That can perforate your eardrum. Maybe the wind whips a pine needle at you in just the right (or wrong) way to hurt you.
However, sometimes you’ll get perforated eardrums from internal factors. If you go in and out of a high-pressure area, your ears might just pop so bad an eardrum is perforated. Also, if you’re sick, and you’re congested, and you sneeze or cough or blow your nose hard enough, you may also perforate an eardrum.
In such situations a little blood will likely trickle out of your ear, and you may hear things differently. The sound isn’t entering through your eardrum to the rest of your ear, shall we say, “apparatus” quite the same, and you’ll be able to tell. Generally, this clears up on its own, but sometimes you’ll need medical attention.
2. Contending An Earache
A common earache can be very painful. This is one of the most notable issues people tend to have when it comes to hearing problems. Here’s what happens: a bit of bacteria or something else gets in your ear, then it starts to breed, then your body’s immune system responds in a way that’s inflammatory, then your whole head gets stuffed up and you can barely hear.
Generally, antibiotics are recommended. There are different options you can choose, but guidance from professionals like this Waterbury ENT specialist represent wise ways of handling the issue.
3. Common Earwax Issues
When your ears get blocked with ear wax, it can produce discomfort, and it may even muffle your hearing. Earwax can be reduced a few different ways, Q-tips don’t tend to be one of those ways. Essentially, Q-tips are just going to compress the “wax” to the sides of your ears, and if you use them a lot, it can actually be bad for your audiological health overall.
A better idea is having an ENT look at your ear and tell you if you’ve got too much wax, then use one of their solutions to help you get rid of said wax. You might be surprised at some of the ways they can help clear out your ears.
Having Healthy Ears
Like skin health, bodily health, or eye health, the level of health your ears have will in part depend on you. It’s recommendable to clean your ears, but you want to do it the right way. If you haven’t had a checkup via ENT recently, you might want to do that. Also, try to avoid noises that are too loud; these also damage the ears, and can lead to hearing loss.
Read our other health related articles to improve your knowledge.