Clogged Eustachian Tube in Ear

[ecotourist]

There are ten things that start with "T" that can cause ear pain:
teeth
tongue
tonsils
thyroid
tempera-mandibular joint
tenth cranial nerve
tensor veli palatini
and three others I can't remember off hand.

How many problems with any of those can be cured by sticking garlic in your external ear canal? None.

By the way I'm not dismissing the placebo effect. A placebo is quite powerful. The person receiving it just has to believe it's an effective treatment.

A proposed treatment always has to be compared to a placebo because of the powerful placebo effect. If a treatment has no better outcome than a placebo it isn't doing anything useful.

 

[Kira]

My ENT recommended against tube installation for adults over 30 because of an increased risk of permanent hearing damage. He said roughly 20-40% will have some level of hearing loss according to the studies at the time (circa 2020).

That's kinda what I thought when I read this thread. Tubes through the eardrum, which I know is doable because holes in the eardrum exist naturally, still seems like something I want to avoid. It seems too physical a treatment.

Also, the instruction of "And do continue to gently try and pop ears hourly" is vague.
The one thing I did not like about diving was equalization of my ears. I wasn't comfortable pumping pressure through my tube, even though I felt an evenness and control.

 

[vavavroom]

I case anyone wonders, the Eustachian tubes connect the inner ear with the throat behind the nasal cavity. Their primary functions are pressure equalization and fluid/debris drainage from the inner ear. If your ears "pop" you have experienced your Eustachian tubes equalizing pressure abruptly. If you have inflammation, for example from a cold, the flu, a virus, or an inner ear infection, etc, the tubes easily swell and become blocked.

 

[supton]

I had tubes put in twice as a kid. At one of the ENT visits the doctor did whatever to make my ear pop, and it wasn't until my 20's that I stopped flinching whenever a GP would look in my ear. Got to start school a year early for my hearing problems, and I don't think I've ever recovered from that. Kids are cruel.

I made the mistake of getting a head cold in London once, then flying home the day after. My ear would not pop--and I think the pilot dropped 20,000 feet in 30 seconds as we came into Boston. I was in agony. About the most pain I've ever experienced.

I haven't been diagnosed with a clogged tube but regularly take Sudafed year 'round with head draining issues. If it's not my ears then it's my sinuses. Makes me wonder if the cigs I smoked in my teens caused that or not. Dad has Meniere's disease (I think he's on the other side now, but only after losing all hearing in one ear) and I fear if/when that hits me.

Anyhow. No help to the OP but my condolences.

 

[ripcord]

Yes.

Me, too. There's no cure except blindness.

 

[Astro14]

Folks - let’s stop here. Despite the OP’s entreat, specific medical advice was given, several times. Bob is not the Medical Guy.

I’ve left the discussion on personal preventive measures and hygiene - and hope the OP finds some relief from their condition.