Safe - Ears!!!

[x-mixedemotions]

Hey. Hopefully Someone can help me out here!
I've been ill with what I believe is the flu for a week now. And since Sunday I've had problems with my hearing. It started with just my right ear but now it's BOTH of my ears. Everything is really really muffled and I can hear static like sound (you know where you turn the tv or radio on and there's no program or station on.... That sound). I went to the doctors on Monday (when it was just my right ear) and she said just wait it out. She suggestsed I use decongestant sprays or tablets. So I got both. Still no improvement. I need to get back to work but can't if I can't hear anything!!! Any tips on what I can do to clear it? I've heard warm olive may help? Sorry for the random post this is just getting so annoying and horrible and really uncomfortable! I need money! Do I go back to the doctor if it doesn't go by... Tuesday I guess seeing as its bank holiday?

[roiben]

Yours ear, nose and throat are all connected, so your ears can become blocked as part of having a cold or flu. It may pay to try blowing your nose, as sometimes that can help with blocked ears.

Otherwise, it is worth seeing if your pharmacist can recommend something. I am not sure if what you need is the stuff that loosens ear wax, as I don't know if what you have is the same thing.

Do keep taking the decongestants though, as they should help given time.

Roiben x

[JillWesker4ever]

Sounds like it could be a sinus problem that I sometimes get.
Which for me causes a head cold, stuffed nose, really muffled hearing and ringing in the ears and sometimes pressure just above the eyes.

Decongestants can help, but it's once of those things you have to usually let it run it's course if it's (acute).
But if you get it often(chronic) then seeing an:
ear, nose and throat specialist, would be your best bet.

[Animad]

Really with the flu your nose gets bunged up and that can affect the eustacian tubes which are little tubes between your throat and ears (as often the throat is sore and swollen too). This therefore blocks up these little tiny tubes a bit alongside making them swollen which can definately affect hearing and if you've still got any flu symptoms then that's likely to be what's going given when it started. The decongestants, if used all the time as prescribed will help a bit even if it isn't noticed at first. As well as that it would also be worth just getting some ear cleaner/ using olive oil and putting that in your ears; a few mins in each ear twice daily before cleaning out the TOP part of your ear (don't use cotton buds/ finger nails/ go poking around in there). This should loosen any wax which may be there and bring it up to the surface and if there is any there that can also affect your hearing.

The sinuses themselves are separate to the ears and don't tend to affect hearing (they're different to the nasal cavity and areas behind that which people often don't realise though they are connected) and problems with them, though in serious cases do affect the ears, mainly with balance, cause headaches and such so given the timing and that no other symptoms of sinus problems have been mentioned I don't think that is what is going on here at this moment.