Just back from ENT hospital as picked up a savage ear infection while out in Egypt , what followed was lots of pain and painkillers before getting it sorted .

order of events

pain in one ear whilst in Egypt local Dr prescribed some ear drops and antibiotics £20 lighter I used both as advised ears just got worse and pain was terrible .

came home and went to GP who never even looked in the ears and just prescribed some ear spray
used as prescribed for 2 days no result still in pain and eating painkilers like sweeties.

Desperate in the night so went to A n E at local hospital they had a good look and prescribed some different antibiotics with the instruction that if no improvement after 48 hours to visit GP again

48 hours later and in great pain GPs was shut so back to A-E another doc looked and ummed and arred then prescribed a different set of ear drops
I am still taking painkillers and very grumpy also cant hear owt

2 more days of using the new drops to no avail and midnight on sunday finds me pacing up and down holding my head in pain waiting for some strong pain killers to kick in
so off to A-E for a third time and this time saw a doc with some sense at last he listened to me , he looked in the ears . then made an emergency referral to the local ENT hospital but had to wait till monday afternoon

Kept the appointment and saw a very nice consultant who proceeded to look in the offending ears and ask a lot of questions which was funny as I could not hear her at all so me wife had to answer for me .

Then came the toe curling bit Microsuction clean of the ears
not pain full but very strange feeling sounde like a jumbo jet was flying around in there and very weird as she sucked the nasties out
but the relief was fantastic 90 % of the pain was sucked out also
Still cant hear as she packed my ears with wicks and drops but so much relief actually had a nights sleep without painkillers last night .

Got to have these wicks removed tomorrow and another vacuuming .

My conclusions here are see the right people first if at all possible and courses of antibiotics dont work for ear infections

Yes micro suction has reduced me to tears previously, i get it done every 6 months due to ear problems. However it is preferable to siringing(do they still do that?)

Am I strange? I like having my ears syringed.

Trout, as you say yourself, see the right people, but I can’t see what more you could have done. I’d have done the same. Tears maybe?

Bah I was hoping a bug of some sort had buried it’s way in there

Pooley
Oh yes there were tears too and still got pain but hoping for improvement as the hours tick by

I wish I’d not read this 🙁
Why??
The ear infection I had a few months ago seems to have returned this week!

Bah I was hoping a bug of some sort had buried it’s way in there

Me too 😆

Trout you have Otitis externa, caused by the water in Egypt, also known as ‘swimmers ear’. I’m an ENT nurse and even had my ears syringed for wax. Therapeutic for me as improved my hearing.
Big no-no is using cotton buds too. That wick they’ve put in your ear is called a ‘Pope’ wick. Probably the drops they’ve used is a Hydro cortisone and antibiotic drops, gentisone HC or sofradex. Best way to avoid this is by keeping your ears as much as posssible.
It can be very painfull.
I have seen insects in the ear canal, requiring theatre. Haven’t seen earwigs yet…
Regular Ibuprofen and paracetamol if you can take those.

did they use one of these?

I like the sound of this ear suction, might clear up my stuffy ears/bad hearing. Although then I can’t pretend to ignore the missus 😕

and yes, lack of a gory ending made me 🙁 I was expecting them to find a weird creature in there.

But glad you’re all sorted eventually. Must have been driving you nuts.

Then came the toe curling bit Microsuction clean of the ears
not pain full but very strange feeling sounde like a jumbo jet was flying around in there and very weird as she sucked the nasties out

I had that procedure once a week every week for about 4 years when I was a teenager, horrible.

Ah micro suction!! I was diagnosed with a Mastoid Cavity about 15 years ago which resulted in the removal of half my ear drum and now have the pleasure of visiting ENT every 2/3 months to have my ear canal cleaned.
I don’t find it too bad except for when they have to pull hard lumps of wax off my ear drum. That smarts a bit. The spinning room isn’t much fun either. 😯
I have to go tomorrow, can’t wait!!!
Glad you’re feeling better now. 🙂

That sounds propper rough, hope you are feeling better and it all clears up quickly.

I had an inner ear infection when i was 12-13, fortunately that cleard up with antibiotics as i think microsuction or syringing would have scared the crap out of me at that age. My infection totally threw my blance off, i couldn’t walk as i kept falling over, i can still remembr my dad joking it was good practice for when i turned 18 😉

Ah micro suction!! I was diagnosed with a Mastoid Cavity about 15 years ago which resulted in the removal of half my ear drum and now have the pleasure of visiting ENT every 2/3 months to have my ear canal cleaned.

Exactly the same problem / procedure I had.

I had an inner ear infection when i was 12-13

Was it Labyrinthitis? Now that is grim, pity anyone who’s ever had that. 🙁

I had it done last week. Eardrum got perforated and badly infected last year and have had middle ear problems since. Shortly after the microsuction I got another ear infection 🙁 so am taking otomize spray at the moment to clear it up.

The microsuction can hurt a bit but I really hate my ears being blocked. It seems to make the tinnitus worse. I have started to get into the habit of using oil ear drops once a week (once the infection has cleared) to help soften and clear out my lugholes.

I can relate to that.

a while back I had a raging earache that had me in pieces. GP prescribed antibiotics, no change after a few days. Had teh out of hours doctor out. Stronger drugs, no change. Back to GP and had an instant emergency referral to hospital. By this time it was in both ears and my whole head had blown up like a beach ball. I had the hoovering done both sides and the wicks and lots and lots of drugs (including morphine). I had 2 drips and was shut away in an isolation room. I ended up in hospital for a week and it was a really hideous experience. Utter horrible it was. When I was discharged, they also casually mentioned that it looked like I was diabetic and I ‘might want to mention it to my GP’ 🙄

When I went back a couple of weeks later, they didn’t recognise me as my head had returned to it’s normal shape!

And it all started with an earache!

piedi di formaggio wins.

Mulletus Maximus

Was it Labyrinthitis?

I don’t remember what it was called, I do remember my mum getting annoyed at me for saying i can’t get up to get ready for school though, then making triple sure I wasn’t winding her up that I couldn’t balance properly before taking me to the local doctors.

My conclusions here are see the right people first if at all possible

In my experience not getting this ^ is part of the issue with the NHS..

is this more like it

lots worse to see on the tube 😯

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgLWl1bjH84[/video]