I have had the flu / cold for the past week and in the last few days I have had problems with my left ear being plugged up. My roommate thinks that it is fluid buildup....how do you get rid of it (without a prescription?) I tried "eardrops" just in case it was wax buildup, but it isn't....

Ewwwww.... it depends on where the fluid is I guess. Could it be the other side of the ear drum? If so you will need to see a doctor, I think they have drugs that can help.

I have occasional problems with was build up and find that using the hydrogen peroxide stuff (Otex) and then about 5 mins later using a solder sucker bulb filled with hot water to blow it back is very effective. I have once had it syringed by the doctor - it is a strange but vaguely satisfying sensation!

Gareth

If it's that your eustatian (sp) tubes are clogged, then a nondrying nasal decongestant will help.

Until you get the pressure out of your inner ear, watch out for altitude changes. I had a friend who worked at an altitude that was over 1000 feet higher than where he lived. He actually ruptured an eardrum simply by driving to work one day. OUCH!

So in other words, if the decongestants don't work, definitely see a doctor. A plugged eustachian tube can become a serious problem if it doesn't get corrected.

Ewwwww....

What he said.

(Oh, and the least enthusiastic Doc-in-a-Box denizen is likely to do more justice to this draining mess than the most enthusiatic BBS. If in doubt, have some doc check it out. It would suck to lose 1/2 of your stereoability.)

I had my ears syringed too, it was delightfull sensation, I only wish I could find an excuse to get them done again!

Agreed - I've had it done twice and loved every minute! I thought I was just strange, I'm glad its not just me!

haha, me too. thought i was losing my hearing, so went to the doctor. pretty sick tho seeing what came out. what was clogging my ears were around 1 inch, looking like snot. but after that, i was able to hear high frequencies like nothing... and it felt good to be able to get water in the ears and letting it flow out when you turn your head instead of get stuck.

Yep, had mine done last week for the first time. I can't believe all the high frequency sounds I've been missing... It's like I can hear the vibration of atoms in distant galaxies

I've spent all week looking around trying to work out where all the new little scratchy noises are coming from... (one of them turned out to be a mouse in my attic, but I dealt with him...!)

Ah yes, being a diver I should have realised that reference to fluid in the ear other than the ear canal is probably refering to the eustachian tubes. The easiest way to tell is if when you swallow or move your jaw you *don't* get that popping sound then they are blocked. They basically join the throat to the inner ear and can easily be blocked by a severe cold or flu or other throat problems.

On Christmas Eve I spoke to a friend who wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef but had some kind of throat problems many years ago and has problem clearing her ears - it took her *ages* to get down to only 12m.

If you do burst an eardrum it's not the end of the world - it takes around 6 weeks before it "heals" and quite a bit longer before you can dive again. I don't think the ear is quite the same again though.

Here's an interesting article:
http://www.american-hearing.org/name/barotrauma.html

Gareth

well, I was going to recommend ear candling (not that I've ever done it) but then again maybe I won't

I have never had my ears done. However I do love the feeling you get after swimming/showering when you finally manage to break the surface tension (by jumping or stamping) on the now nice and warm drop of water in your ear. A similar feeling I would guess.

yeah, but if youve ever had swimmers ear youd change your thinking.

In addition to decongestants, a very simple thing you should investigate is a "saline nasal spray". You can "irrigate" your sinuses and other internal passages and it does help, particularly for me on airplanes. It's not a drug, so you can do it as often as you like. Just be careful not to squeeze too hard on the bottle or you'll have salty stuff going down the back of your throat. Yuk.

A doctor might have other drugs and such to offer you. There are some particularly powerful (and nasty tasting) spray antihistamines. I save mine for only the very worst of allergy attacks. There are also a number of nasal "steroid sprays" (I use Nasonex; Flonase and Rhinocourt Aqua are medically similar). These reduce inflamation and thus leave more room for all that fluid to drain from inside your ears.

Of course, I am not a medical doctor, but I've learned too much about this sort of thing dealing with my allergies...

"saline nasal spray"

Heh. I've never had such clear sinuses as I've had since I started surfing.

Hehehe. I made this discovery when I went swimming on a cruise. Since they fill their pool with seawater every day, it is, of course, saltwater. I dove in with a tremendous sinus headache, hoping that just the warm water would alleviate some of the pain. When I finished swimming 30 minutes later, my sinuses were clear as a bell. I didn't become clogged up again for the rest of the trip. God that felt good.