ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Ear Infection - how to treat ear infection

Updated on April 9, 2013
Source

Ear infection is one of the most common problem in children. Ear has three parts, outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. Inflammation of the ear is called otitis.

Otitis externa
Otitis externa is the outer ear infection which is highly prevalent among children and swimmers. Generally, it is caused by swimming in polluted water. It is also called swimmer’s ear.
In otitis externa, the outer part of the ear (pinna) and the external auditory canal are gnerally affected. Symptoms of Otitis externa is severe pain when the pinna is moved. Other symptoms of otitis externa are redness as well as swelling of the auricles, itching of the external auditory canal, drainage from the ear and temporary hearing loss.

Common bacteria that can cause otitis external are Psuedomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and funguses like Candida Albicans.

Otitis media
The most common type of ear infection is middle ear infection which is called otitis media. Runny nose, common cold and upper respiratory tract infection leads to build of fluid in the middle ear and inflammation of the tympanic membrane or eardrum. When bacteria and viruses start growing in it, infection occurs. Pathogens travel from the pharynx to the middle ear through eustachian tube, the tube that connects the pharynx and ear.

Acute otitis media or middle ear infection is usually caused by an upper respiratory infection, injury to the ear or may be associated allergy. Symptoms may by mild, just a fullness in the ear and some hearing loss. Other symptoms of infection like pressure or pain. It can be painless as well.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common bacteria that causes otitis media.
For viral otitis media, respiratory syncytial virus and rotavirus are the common viruses.

Signs and symptoms of otitis in ear is due to the pressure of fluid accumulation. The inflammed Eustachin tube cannot effectively drain the fluid out. This causes pressure and pain. Other common middle ear infection symptoms are tinnitus, fever, feeling of fullness in the ear, irritability and deafness. Sometime the tympanic membrane or ear drum can rupture.

Acute otitis media can become chronic when it persists for more than three months. As pressure builds up, eardrum may rupture leading to fluid drainage to outside.

Otitis interna
Upper respiratory tract infections, viral infections and otitis media can spread to the inner ear. In otitis interna, the most common clinical symptoms vertigo and loss of balance. The inner ear maintains the balance of the body during head movements and changes in body position.

When an ear infection occurs in children they usually pull their ears, cannot sleep at night and cries for pain.

Ear infection treatment

Otitis externa is treated with topical antiseptic solutions as well as antibiotic and steroidal ear drops. Antifungal treatments with Clotrimazole and Ketoconazole creams are effective against fungal infection.

Otitis media is treated with antibiotic of choice, Amoxicillin. If allergic to this medicine, other antibiotics can be used.

For Otitis interna infection, viral medications, as well as corticosteroidal drugs like Prednisone are prescribed. For bacterial infection antibiotics like amoxicillin is prescribed.

Consult your doctor for treatment before any complications develop.

My personal experience with ear infeciton
When my child was getting ear infection one after another, even there was no runny nose or respiratory infections or swimming. I tried to figure out what kind of food he had before having ear infection, what was the extra food he had than usual. I thought may be orange juice is the one that he had the day before. I stopped giving him orange juice and he did not have any more ear infections. After six years of no ear infection, I thought may be it will not affect him anymore and one day gave him orange juice, that night he woke up at night and said his ear was hurting. Took him to the doctor and he had ear infection. Then I was confirmed that it was the orange juice which was causing the ear infection.

So from my experience, I think avoiding orange juice and any kind of citrus juice will prevent young children getting ear infection.

Source

Home remedies for ear infection

Garlic in oil

Put one to two cloves of garlic in mastard oil and warm in low heat till the oil boils. Remove it from the heat and cool it to room temperature. Then, put two to three drops of the oil in the ear and leave it for half an hour to an hour. It will clear the infection and pain. Garlic is a powerful natural antebacterial, antiviral and antifungal agent. It is a good remedy for ear infection.

Vinegar

Mix one teaspoon of white vinegar and on teaspoon of water. Put two to three drops of this into the ear and this will clear the infection. Vinegar has antebacterial property which helps to kill the bacteria.

These are very useful home remedies for ear infection that can be applied immediately.

Disclaimer

The information in this hub is not a substitute for medical help. Consult your physician before using home remedies.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)