Ear pain is considered one of the most painful, it is almost impossible to endure. In this case, this symptom is very dangerous, because many ear pathologies can quickly lead to irreparable consequences, among which - and complete deafness. Therefore, with pain in one or both ears, it is recommended to consult a specialist as soon as possible. However, it often happens that the problem arises suddenly, and there is simply no opportunity to get medical help immediately. Therefore, before people who have an earache, questions arise about how to treat it, what can be done at home, and whether it is permissible in this situation to apply any folk methods.
How to help at home, if your ear hurts - first aid
Help in this case should be determined by the factors that led to pain in the ear. Because a person without medical education and special medaparatury can not do this, it remains only to make assumptions. In order to find out why the ear pain most likely arose, one should pay attention to its nature and to what other symptoms are present.
Average otitis media
Most often, the ear pain develops due to the average otitis media, i.e. inflammation of the middle ear. The pain is strong, it increases when you press the auricle, accompanied by worsening of hearing, increased body temperature.
In this case, as a first aid, any vasoconstrictor drops in the nose can be used once to reduce edema of the mucous membrane of the Eustachian tube. Also, dry heat should be applied to the ear in the form of cotton wool, covered with polyethylene and fixed with a cap, bandage or kerchief. To reduce painful sensations it is possible by reception of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent - Paracetamol, Ibuprofen.
External otitis media
If the pain in the ear is associated with external otitis, then, characterized by a different intensity, it always increases with chewing and pressing
First aid may consist in processing the external ear canal with antiseptic solutions (for example, a solution of boric acid, furacilin). To do this, you should put in your ear a gauze turunda, moistened with antiseptic. As with otitis media, it is recommended to apply dry heat, take a tablet of Paracetamol or Ibuprofen.
Inflammation of the inner ear
If the pain in the ear is accompanied by symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, imbalance, fever, you can suspect the inflammation of the inner ear (labyrinthitis). The same signs as noise and crackling in the ear, poor audibility of external sounds against the background of increased loudness of one's own voice, a sensation of transfusion of fluid in the ear, may indicate the inflammation of the eustachian tube ( eustachiitis ).
With these two diseases, first aid is similar to that recommended for otitis media.
Other factors
There are many other causes of pain in the ear:
- benign and malignant ear tumors;
- lesions of the nervous system and auditory nerve;
- lesions of neighboring organs (throat, salivary glands, brain, vessels, etc.);
- foreign body in the ear, etc.
Identifying them can be an even more complicated process. If the pain is unbearable, the only thing that can be done before a visit to the doctor is to take an anesthetic.
Further treatment at home, when the ear hurts
In many cases, ear pain does not require hospitalization, and the treatment prescribed by the doctor is carried out at home. As already mentioned, only a specialist is able to determine why the ear hurts, so only he can appoint what to dig in and what measures to take at home to eliminate the pathology. It should be ready and to the fact that diseases that cause ear pain, may require surgical intervention, physiotherapy procedures, a long recovery period.