This is kind of an odd one, but...

When I was younger, I had awful allergies, and because of them, awful
ear-infections.  It wasn't until about a week ago that I found out (my mother
knew) That what I had really had were yeast-infections in my ears, apperently
due to the allergies.  I remember very little of them, other then my ears hurt
and were itchy and I pretty much couldn't hear for 3-4 months in the winter.
Now I've got them again, for the first time in 15 years...and I'm trying to
figure out what to do to get rid of the stupid things!!!  (preferably without
going to the doctor, due to the fact that I have NO insurance...sigh)

Also, has anybody else dealt with this?  How did you at least make the itch
stop???

18 responses total.

My nephew and niece have both had ear infections, which run in the family,
even though my sister and I never had them (generational skip, I guess). 
Anyway, Rachel had to undergo surgery a couple of months ago to correct the
problem, and Joshua may also have an ear infection himself.  Joshua's greatest
fear, though, is having to wear a bathing cap when he goes swimming, and being
called a sissy by other children.  I may try to explain to him that
competitive swimmers, male and female, have worn swim caps, and none of them
are being called sissies by their peers.

The usual kind of ear infection is not yeast, but bacterial, and if neglected
can lead to agonizing pain and/or structural damage to the ear.  If you're
confident that this is yeast/allergies, my two thoughts would be 1. treat the
allergies -- avoid, avoid, and take *lots* of vitamin C with other nutritional
goodies  2. treat the ear, take decongestants and lots of fluid.  I have
no experience with yeast infections, there may be something specific to that.

Ohhh man have I dealt with this. When I was a sophomore in college I got the
ear infection from hell. I had allergies as a kid but never had ear infections,
not even swimmer's ear. The doctor looked in my ear and asked if I had lost a
Q-tip cotton in my ear. I hadn't... I just had not been eating properly or
taking care of myself. He said it was a yeast infection in my ear. That freaked
me out, I mean I have never had a yeast infection, in my ear or um, elsewhere.
And it hurt and pounded, and I could feel the blood pulsing through my head, it
was so clogged.

Eardrops cleared it up, but I ended up getting about two more that year.
My outer ear was all red and gross for months. Nowadays, when doctors check my
ears, they ask if the right one is hurting, when it isn't. The infections
altered the shape of my inner ear, and I'm told it is much redder than the
other. Not sure whether it affected my hearing. One doctor thought it had made
a hole in my eardrum, but it didn't.

I haven't had an infection in three years. I am careful not to get much water
in my ears when I wash my hair. I usually swab them with a Q-tip while I dry my
hair. Just a quick swipe, not digging with the thing.  That seems to have
helped. Plus, I no longer live exclusively on fast food and frozen dinners and
no exercise. 

Yeast infections of the ear are not common, to my knowledge, but...if that's
indeed what you have (even as a result of allergy) I'd think you could get
some releif from any of the _mild_ anti-yeast drugs that are OTC.  ask you
pharmacist what's available.  also, in agreement with earlier
response...avoid, avoid, avoid.

For general care to prevent future problems, be sure to wash/rinse well and
_dry_ your ear canal as described above, with a gentle wipe of a Q-Tip (or
two).  I usually use 2-3 of em for each ear after I shower.  another method
is to cover your ear with a dry towel, cover that with your hand and do a sort
of plunger action to draw the moisture out.  be careful!  too hard of a push
could damage your eardrum!

Might also want to rinse the ear canal with some sort of astringent solution
like burrows solution, or maybe a mild acid (like 1:4-5 of white vinegar).
Those can usually supress yeasts and molds as well as fungi and many bacteria.

I'm actually starting to get over it.  I'm not sure what allergy is caouse
it though...most likely dust, and if that's the case, there is NO way for me
to avoid it in the mal!!!

I recall when I was getting over the infection my outer ear itched like mad. I
think I may have taken amoxicillin for one infection too. The infection itself
had to make its way out of my ear, which was pretty gross. It felt good when
they flushed out my ear with water at the doctor's... although what came out in
the pan was skanky!

Well, right now I'm cleaning out a couple times a day with a mix of water
and alcohol...seems to helping a lot...as long as I add enough water...If I
don't...oh the PAIN!

Alcohol is pretty rough on  the ear.  try the mild vinegar mix, or just plain
water, instead.  Make it very warm (not hot!) and apply it with a compress.
You'll see the exudate come out after 5-10 minutes (10-20 minutes per
'treatment' is optimal).  Use a few layers of tissue, or paper towel between
your ear and a warm, wet wash cloth.  As the compress draws out the exudate
you can throw oway the paper and replace with a new one (re-moistening/heating
the wash cloth at the same time).

Well, now that I have insurance, I finally got in to the Dr....Yup...it's
from my allergies...she gave me antibiotics, eardrops, allergy pills, and a
nose spray.  The allergie pills she gave me a 6-9 month supply of (geesh!),
and the eardrops she gave me about 1.5 or so months of.  (She said "get used
to them...you'll be doing this for awhile").  I don't like it when Dr's look
into your ears and say "OH!" in surprise.  It's basically chronic (from
liquid behind the eardrums), and has really just been in a 15 year remission.

The major ouchie of this....I have to be super careful swimming....and if my
ears start to hurt a couple of days after swimming, then the infection is
back....this stands for pretty much the rest of my life.  (Grumble).  If it
does, then I'm supposed to drop in drops of .5 alcohol and .5
vineagar....OUCH!

If your doctor would have found out that it was a regular ear infection, you
could of blamed it on your mother.  I read somewhere that if your mom didn't
breastfeed you, you are likely to get many more ear infections than if she
did.

I'll blame it on her just for the sake that it's mostly her genes that gave
me all my stupid allergies.  ;)  She also has the same chronic
liquid-behind-the-eardrum problem.

I had allergies as a child. But I'm not sure why I still get the infections.

I had fluid in my ear two weeks ago, and could feel the ache. I went to the
doctor and got antibiotics and pills for ear fullness before it got infected
again. So I guess the fluid just collects in the ear? How?

One theory that my mom and I have discussed is because of our jaws...we both
have failry messed up jaw-joints....mine worse then hers, and I have more
liquid problems then her.  I'm guessing that ecause of the way the jaw moves
against the earspaces (?) it might cause fluid to move in somehow.

you might ask your doc for a prescription for antibiotic ("eye") drops, maybe
something like sodium sulamide (a sulfa drug...if you're not allergic).  put
a couple of drops in each ear after (maybe even before) you go in swimming
as prophyaxis against a more serious infection.

are e-tubes an option?  they're great in kids, but I don't know about adults.

I've got a prescription for now, and then she gave me some other stuff for
later.  Ear tubes were berifly discussed many years ago, but never done...and
since it's sort of on-again-off-again.....The other thing is that they don't
seem to be doing much in the way of tubes anymore.

Jaw problem? Maybe. But I inherited my dad's jaw problems (underbite, TMJ) and
he never gets an ear infection.

Yeah, but combined with Allergies....Like I said, it's a guess of ours,
nothing more...:)

I went to an ENT physician today. The mystery of my many ear infections is
solved. Turns out I have another infection now, and didn't know it. What is
happening is the eustachian tube in my right ear is not draining properly.
Fluid backs up in it, and it gets infected. I'm on mega antibiotics, and
decongestants. If I get another infection, we'll then look to more desperate
measures. I assume it involves tubes.

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