Ear infection?

Cleo has NO idea that she's a dog.
She's convinced she's a titian bombshell.
And she may be right.

Setanta does sing to her almost every night.

~~~~~~~~~

l'k, have you got cotton balls that you can put in to protect your ear from moisture in the shower?

sure, would that really help?

That's what the docs used to tell me to do when I had a bad run of ear infections. I always worried that the water would wick in, but it did seem to protect the ear - and sometimes sucked up a bit of fluid from the ear itself.

"a qtip when I get out. " NO, NO, NO !
never put anything smaller than your ELBOW into your ear - i.e. don't try to put anything into your ear (advice/order from our ear, nose, throat specialist).
if you need to dry out your INNER ear , vosol, vinegar or rubbing alcohol would be safer.
btw. using vosol or any other acetic acid prevents bacterial growth in the ears.

btw cleo has been given quarter-doses of tavist (hidden in a piece of TEEWURST , a kind of soft summer sausage ) when she started to scratch her ear over-and-over again. of course bailey would also demend his TEEWURST -without the tavist .

they were ready to bite my fingers in the haste to get at the TEEWURST. hbg

"a qtip when I get out. " NO, NO, NO !
never put anything smaller than your ELBOW into your ear - i.e. don't try to put anything into your ear (advice/order from our ear, nose, throat specialist).
if you need to dry out your INNER ear , vosol, vinegar or rubbing alcohol would be safer.
btw. using vosol or any other acetic acid prevents bacterial growth in the ears.

btw cleo has been given quarter-doses of tavist (hidden in a piece of TEEWURST , a kind of soft summer sausage ) when she started to scratch her ear over-and-over again. of course bailey would also demand his TEEWURST -without the tavist .

they were ready to bite my fingers in the haste to get at the TEEWURST. hbg

"a qtip when I get out. " NO, NO, NO !
never put anything smaller than your ELBOW into your ear - i.e. don't try to put anything into your ear (advice/order from our ear, nose, throat specialist).
if you need to dry out your INNER ear , vosol, vinegar or rubbing alcohol would be safer.
btw. using vosol or any other acetic acid prevents bacterial growth in the ears.

btw cleo has been given quarter-doses of tavist (hidden in a piece of TEEWURST , a kind of soft summer sausage ) when she started to scratch her ear over-and-over again. of course bailey would also demand his TEEWURST -without the tavist .

they were ready to bite my fingers in the haste to get at the TEEWURST. hbg

ok, no q-tip..... so, a little dose of rubbing alcohol, then? Would you reccomend regular white vinegar?

sorry for all the TEEWURST ! don't know how the TEEWURST multiplied ! ... and i could no longer remove it.

try just a few (2-3) drops of white vinegar as a kind of test. or better still, test your other ear first with a few drops of vinegar; see if there is any adverse reaction. we have used VOSOL/vinegar on doctor's recommendation for many years, but ... long-distance diagnosis is perhaps not a good idea.

(are you prepared to smell like a pickeled herring ?). hbg

(why not put your ear on the scanner, so we can all diagnose it ? ... bad joke, i know)

Somehow, it seems safer to put in some rubbing alcohol.

This has come up before, but one complication is that there are a few different kinds of ear infections. ehBeth's (good) advice is for an outer ear infection. If it's a middle ear infection, few things are better than lotsa steam.

If it's paired will illness/ cold, I'd tend toward middle ear infections, but in general I have tons more experience with middle ear infections than outer ear infections.

I just skimmed, will re-read and see if I have any other suggestions...

Argh!

You know what, if you're seeing the doc tomorrow, my advice would be:

1.) No self-medication/ self-treatment until you get a diagnosis.
2.) Lots of fluids.
3.) Rest.
4.) Ibuprofren for pain, if you have it.

Vinegar works - acetic acid ...

Vosol - from the doc - acetic acid

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic3/acetic.htm

You smell like fish and chips, but it does dry things out. The problem, I think, is just getting two or three drops in your ear.

...and is all for outer ear infections.

Couldn't hurt, I guess. But above advice stands.

Too late, I already dropped some alcohol in there.

Thing is, the kids both had this cold and neither wound up with an ear infection. The elder of the 2 has been prone to them. So, their mother/my boss thinks it's nothing. I will bring the kids with me if, tomorrow, it seems I must go to the doc.

Meanwhile, I will drink fluids, I will likely take a decongestant with acetaminophen tonight - soon.

Thanks Soz....

I don't think it means much if the kids didn't come down with ear infections. If we're not talking an outer ear infection, which comes from swimming and stuff like that ("swimmer's ear"), then it's just that a cold creates a condition that is conducive to a middle ear infection starting, but other elements have to be there, too.

Decongestant can help with congestion (er, obviously) but can actually make things worse for an ear infection. (Just got that from the ENT on our last visit, was asking what to do if sozlet got a cold and we wanted to head off an ear infection.)

I have a vague feeling that a change in elevation could have something to do with it, something off with the pressure, but that's not substantiated.

aaahhh, so, swimming 2 w/es ago and hiking last w/e could each be contributing factors....?

Hard to know. I think they would be contributing factors to different conditions, so not so much both of them as one of them.

Again, outer ear infections are not my thing, don't know much about 'em. Two weeks seems like a long time between exposure and infection, but I dunno.

One of the things ENT guy said is that the best defense against ear infections is just having a strong immune system. Eat well, get enough sleep, not too much stress, etc. So that's one thing I'd feel on more solid ground saying, is that the hike was enough of a stretch when your strength was already not at its peak that you were weakened enough for opportunistic stuff to strike -- whatever it may be.

The pressure idea is much more vague.

Not been eating well and have had significant stress.

Bah. And, too late on the decongestants too, I already took them. Oh well.