Ear popping

[Berserker]

About 2 weeks ago my ears was popping for a couple hours, went away when I wo. Then next day did it a little bit. Woke up with it popping this morning, its been doing it for over an hour.
Whats going on, my head has finnally gotten to big and I am blow the releif valve?

[Tryska]

you got pollen allergies?

[Delphi]

Your Eustachian tubes are partially blocked and your having trouble equalizing the pressure in your middle ear. Could be allergies, could be a middle ear infection. If somebody looks in your ears with an otoscope they see one of two things:

1) bulging tympanic membrane (TM) with fluid behind it, possibly with air bubbles in the fluid. That's otitis media (infection). Big bag of worms on whether that should be treated with antibiotics.

2) retracted TM. The air that was normally in the Eustachian tube has been absorbed by the blood and tissues in the area. The tube is blocked by swelling due to allergy, and new air can't get into the tube to replace the air that's been absorbed. The swelling of the tube can be treated with an antihistamine or decongestant.

You can GENTLY do a Valsalva maneuver for #2- pinch your nostrils shut and exhale with your mouth tightly closed. The increased pressure will push some air into the tubes. If your hearing all of a sudden gets better, you fixed #2. If you have #1 the Valsalva maneuver isn't a very good idea- you'd just be increasing the pressure even more in the middle ear and could possibly rupture the TM. It can also push more bacteria and/or virus from the upper respiratory tract through the tube into the middle ear and could make an infection worse. The otoscope exam is a safer way to diagnose the problem than the Valsalva maneuver. If an antihistamine or decongestant doesn't fix the problem, see your doctor.

[Tryska]

agreed.

tis where i was going, but you got their faster.


consdiering the season, i'm gonna venture a bet on pollen. (especially cuz i got a touch of the same thing...not as bad as during ragweed season, but still)

[Delphi]

'Tis the season for pollen. We've got a visible layer of it on top of the water in our pool right now. I'm having to wait to do my annual filter cleaning until it's gone. I hate the sh!t.

[Tryska]

my car is a nice shade of green with a little black underneath. i'm waiting for nature to do it's job cuz there's no point spending the money on a carwash. my complex is lined with pines.

[Delphi]

Do you ever get that sappy crap on your carpet?

[Tryska]

no. we don't have the sappy stuff over here...jsut the big fat yellow pine sperm all over everything.

[ectx]

Originally posted by Delphi
Do you ever get that sappy crap on your carpet?

*resists urge to be immature*

[Gyno Rhino]

Originally posted by Tryska
jsut the big fat yellow sperm

That only happens if someone has poor hygeine.

But seriously, pollen here in TN Valley is catastrophic. It bothers me a teensy bit, but not like some people I know. Some people I know spend springtime with an inhaler in one hand and an air filter in the other while sniffling under their sheets. It's really bad for some folks. :(

[Berserker]

I do have allergy problems. When I was a kid I used to get shots weekly. MY sinus do get ****ed up this time of year. But I've never had popping before. Its driving me nuts. Its only my right ear, same as 2 weeks ago.
When I run water in there when in the shower it seems like it drains slow or just feels differant.
I do have flonase. I don't have insurance right now, I am displaced corparate citizen.
I tried blowing and blocking my noise no good. I don't think I'll try any more after what I read. I was getting read to suck on an air compressor.

[Tryska]

2 things for allergy sufferes without insurance (or cheap bastards like me):

1. An OTC antihistamine/decongestant.

when i spent my first ragweed season here in georgia, i started developing dizziness whenever i woke up or stood up or anything. it wasn't dizziness like low blood sugar, more like the reeling before you puke when you are drunk. everyone i told about it asked me if i was pregnant. (i wasn't). i went to kaiser permanente and met with a PA there. he proceeded to take a urine sample (not clean catch, because he told me he wanted to rule out pregnancy) and then proceeded to tell me I had a UTI that had traveled to my brain and was causing dizziness. I walked out of there and changed insurance companies. I then went to an old school doc at an urgent care facility near my job. he took a look in my ears, and proclaimed "ragweed!" and gave me some antihistamine/decongestant samples. Since then i keep benadryl caps on hand for this kind of thing.

2. Local Honey. (i'm not sh*ttin' ya).
I had heard about it when i used ot work in a natural foods store back int he day, but didn't put much stock in it. Until this pollen season. My office-mate is usually paralyzed with his spring allergies, with the inhaler and everything. This year he started taking a tablespoon of local honey, every morning, and he is just fine. he can't get over how weel it works. he still uses his claritin-D, but in prior seasons, he was on 3 or 4 meds and still feeling miserable.

[ectx]

Originally posted by Tryska
2 things for allergy sufferes without insurance (or cheap bastards like me):

2. Local Honey. (i'm not sh*ttin' ya).
I had heard about it when i used ot work in a natural foods store back int he day, but didn't put much stock in it. Until this pollen season. My office-mate is usually paralyzed with his spring allergies, with the inhaler and everything. This year he started taking a tablespoon of local honey, every morning, and he is just fine. he can't get over how weel it works. he still uses his claritin-D, but in prior seasons, he was on 3 or 4 meds and still feeling miserable.

NEUTRACEUTICALS ARE CRAP!

j/k... :D I've used this stuff too...don't know why it works, but it does.

[Tryska]

i'm not sure either...other than the bees collect the local pollen, it goes through your digestive tract, and that's where your immune system copes with it?


i think you need to make that one of your research projects. would prolly tie in with the lectin stuff nicely, i'm guessing.

[ectx]

LOL, NO MORE LECTIN RESEARCH PLEASE. Can you tell I want to graduate...like now?!?! haha.

The lectin I study is a bacterial portein that adheres to the sugars on the mucous membrane and uses them to gain entry into your body.

[Tryska]

wonder if the pollens do something similar, therefore enabling those sweeper cells to create antibodies?


sound plausible?

[Delphi]

Where do you get local honey?

[Tryska]

at your local market. either farmers or natural foods market, or maybe a cooperative or something.

anyplace where local beekeepers might sell their wares.

[Berserker]

I am going to the store in a little bit. Is there a difference? Organic bees?

[Tryska]

nope. you jsut want to make sure the honey is from your specific area. so that the stuff the bees fed on is basically the same vegetation you are having allergies too.

[Berserker]

I wouldn't have guessed that,makes sense I guess. They do have Michigan honey, not sure where from. Could be ghetto bees for all I know. I think theres some semi-local stuff at the gas station actually.

[Tryska]

well michigan honey should work. depends i think on how many different zones you guys cover, you know what i mean?

Like south georgia honey, or coastal georgia honey would be different then what i would need for my area (north georgia).

mainly because we are in a temperate to subtropical zone.

[Berserker]

I am in the UP so it could be differant. I was gonna buy anyway to try a protein bar recipe I saw.

[Tryska]

ace. well definitely try the local stuff and see if it works for ya.

[Berserker]

Well I found some stuff from my town. Seems like alot sugar to take in at once. I know its natural sugar and supposed to be better, but awful sweet. Maybe I'll try some in tea tommarrow. Don't think that would change its chemical state.

[Tryska]

yeah, a tablespoon can be gag-worthy when you are not used ot a high sugar diet. i don't see why putting it in t would change it much, other than melting it up.