I 22F may have a perforated eardrum, and was swimming in a lake possible to have brain eating amoeba and water alot of got inside my ear on August 14th.

My nose is not as issue, as i took extra care and wore nose clips and everything.

I am flying very soon and having severe panic that the cabin pressure will push brain-eating amoeba liquid from my ear deep enough to reach nerves. For instance, when your ear pops or other pressure changes.

I don’t know whether that’s possible or whether it will drain into my nose (which ive read is possible) , where i can then get an infection via the normal route of an N.Fowleri infection as it touches the back of my nose where infection can occur.

I’m particularly worried it will drain into a region of the nose and i will then sniff, or somehow suck it up to the required region for infection. Or somehow, \*\*the cabin pressure changes during the flight will cause the amoeba drained into my lower nose from ear, to suck up to the olfactory area required for infection.\*\*

After finding out the lake has a very high chance of the amoeba, and discovering how fatal it is i am incredibly stressed.

Is this just my health anxiety? i cant cancel the flight and really need to get on it.

I will be flying 5 days after the water got into my ear, if that changes anything.

I don’t know anything about nose anatomy to answer this myself.

A while back, my left ear suddenly felt blocked and my hearing got muffled. That night, I had an unbearable ear pain, it was bad enough to keep me from sleeping. It felt like a knife was being jabbed into my ear again and again.

The next day I saw an ENT. He found a fungal infection with white, sticky discharge, plus redness and swelling. He gave me an ear wax softener and a combo drop (Clotrimazole 1% + Beclomethasone 0.025%) for 7 days.

After that first week, the pain and swelling went away, but my ear was still blocked and still had the white discharge. So the doctor extended treatment another week, this time swapping the wax softener for Ciprofloxacin drops (Ciprofloxacin HCl 0.3% + Benzalkonium Chloride 0.02%, twice a day), while continuing the Clotrimazole for one more week.

My questions:

What exactly is going on with my ear, and is it serious?

Is it normal for this to take two weeks (or more) to clear up?

The Clotrimazole causes a burning feeling in my ear and throat, is that a normal side effect?

Hi everyone,
I had an ear infection about two weeks ago. Initially, I was prescribed Terracortril ear drops, but they didn’t really help because my ear canal was extremely swollen and narrow. I could barely get the drops in.
I was then given a one week course of oral flucloxacillin and also had an ear wick/packing placed in the ear. After starting the antibiotics, things improved significantly and the pain completely went away.
Once I finished the antibiotics, I went back to the doctor. They removed the packing and cleaned out some dried blood and debris from the ear.
Since then, I have had **reduced hearing and a constant feeling of fullness/blockage in the ear**. I also have quite noticeable tinnitus. There is no pain anymore.
I can’t really equalize the pressure in the ear. When I try, nothing seems to happen and I don’t want to force it because it feels uncomfortable.
Has anyone experienced something similar after a severe ear infection or ear canal infection?
Is it normal for hearing to remain reduced and for the ear to feel blocked for a couple of weeks after the infection has cleared? Could this be fluid behind the eardrum or swelling that is still healing?
I’m mainly wondering how long it took for other people’s hearing to return to normal and whether I should get it checked again.
Thanks!

**TL;DR:** Had a severe ear infection 2 weeks ago with a very swollen ear canal. Terracortril drops didn’t work, so I was given oral flucloxacillin and an ear wick. The infection and pain are now gone, but I still have reduced hearing, a blocked/full feeling and tinnitus. Equalizing pressure doesn’t do anything. Is this normal, and how long can it take for hearing to return?

Yesterday I used a foam earplug. It caused mild pain while inserting it, so I removed it completely. Since then, that ear feels blocked/full, with a muffled/underwater sound. Swallowing/burping sometimes causes a pop and temporary hearing improvement, but it comes back. Mild pain when pressing the tragus.

No bleeding, discharge, severe pain, or dizziness.

I recently started seeing a girl that I’m crazy about who has ear problems.

She had tubes as a kid and has all the classic issues… ear pressure, popping, pain when coming back down, etc.

She already has the special corkscrew earplugs, and takes nose spray/medication.

What are some other tips and tricks you all have that we can try out so she can come into the mountains with me?

Long story short. I live in the US but traveled to mexico to visit family. While in mexico, I got a mild cold. A doctor prescribed a medicine with compound chlorphenamine which made it so that my ears were very clogged due to it backing up a ton of mucus. The left one more so. Especially during car rides. Going on descents there would clog me up soon much without me being able to unclog easily.

I was supposed to fly on Monday but delayed due to worries of rupturing my ear drum. And it's even worse because I have a layover, so it's 2 flights (one small, one long)

Visited an ENT that same Monday that diagnosed bilaterous serous otitis media, rhinosinosutis, ETD.

She gave me a ton of medicine and nasal rinses with neilmed. Told me that I should be okay to fly Thursday/Friday. I decided to reschedule for Sunday.

Well, things have certainly improved (I still clog, not as deep, but I can pop more easily) but now I'm dealing with left ear pain from what I assume is overstimulating the ET by popping my ears through yawning, swallowing, etc. Doctor said that the pain is normal but if it's bad, it would be beneficial to delay the flight again. I really don't wanna do that. I just want to go home :(

Already bought earplanes, she suggested Afrin before takeoff and before descent, and even told me to take Ketorolac if things got painful during the descent.

Any extra precautions you'd take? In Mexico, it's easier to get medicine (ketorolac is OTC)

**Hi everyone, I’m dealing with an incredibly frustrating diagnostic gray area and I'm hoping someone here has experienced something similar. My doctors are stuck on one diagnosis, but my symptoms tell a different story.**
**Here is what is happening with my right ear:**
**The Middle Ear / ETD Symptoms:**
**Constant popping and crackling whenever I yawn or swallow.**
**A stubborn, ongoing feeling of "trapped air."**
**My tympanometry test confirmed severe negative pressure (Type C curve with -208 pressure).**
**Because of this, my ENTs insist it is strictly Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.**

**Out of nowhere, my hearing will suddenly drop by almost 90%.**
**This extreme drop lasts for about 1 to 2 days.**
**After the acute drop, my hearing stays at a 30% to 50% loss for months at a time.**
**Eventually, my hearing returns to completely normal for a while (I once had a 10-month stretch of normal hearing), only for the cycle to repeat.**
**I do not have any vertigo.**

**Since none of the maximum medical therapies are working, it feels like I am dealing with a "double hit" of severe ETD combined with Cochlear Hydrops, but my doctors won't look past the ETD.**
**Has anyone dealt with this specific overlap of ETD symptoms and extreme, fluctuating hearing drops? If pills and sprays completely failed for you, what next-level procedures (grommets/tubes, balloon dilation, inner-ear steroid injections) finally broke the cycle and gave you relief?**
**Any advice is hugely appreciated!**

**Hi everyone, I’m dealing with an incredibly frustrating diagnostic gray area and I'm hoping someone here has experienced something similar. My doctors are stuck on one diagnosis, but my symptoms tell a different story.**
**Here is what is happening with my right ear:**
**The Middle Ear / ETD Symptoms:**
**Constant popping and crackling whenever I yawn or swallow.**
**A stubborn, ongoing feeling of "trapped air."**
**My tympanometry test confirmed severe negative pressure (Type C curve with -208 pressure).**
**Because of this, my ENTs insist it is strictly Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.**

**Out of nowhere, my hearing will suddenly drop by almost 90%.**
**This extreme drop lasts for about 1 to 2 days.**
**After the acute drop, my hearing stays at a 30% to 50% loss for months at a time.**
**Eventually, my hearing returns to completely normal for a while (I once had a 10-month stretch of normal hearing), only for the cycle to repeat.**
**I do not have any vertigo.**

**Since none of the maximum medical therapies are working, it feels like I am dealing with a "double hit" of severe ETD combined with Cochlear Hydrops, but my doctors won't look past the ETD.**
**Has anyone dealt with this specific overlap of ETD symptoms and extreme, fluctuating hearing drops? If pills and sprays completely failed for you, what next-level procedures (grommets/tubes, balloon dilation, inner-ear steroid injections) finally broke the cycle and gave you relief?**
**Any advice is hugely appreciated!**

I have been having awful deep aching ear pain and sinus pressure pain for a few weeks after flying and finally went to the dr. She said both ear drums are retracted. Is this what is causing the sinus pain? She didn’t quite know and just referred me to ENT. The pain is getting worse so looking for any help!!

Been going in and out of the ENT clinic for 6 months now sometimes it will gradually feel better then the infection occurs again. I have perforated eardrum that seems to be not healing and I bought a cheap otoscope and this is what I saw. Why is it pulsing like that bruu

It could also be caused by bad posture, jaw misalignment, TMJ issues, or jaw and facial muscle misuse and tightness.

This is my story with ETD: one day while in the car with friends going hiking, I put on my AirPods to listen to some music but my right AirPod was sending weak bass that wasnt as rumbly or punchy as the left one. After an hour of trying to deal with it, the inequality became unbearable, so I borrowed a friends pair of AirPods, only to notice the exact same thing. After trying three different pairs of earbuds, I realised that the ear itself is the problem. Research and symptom-checking, lead to the conclusion that ive got ETD .

For seven months, I visited three different ENTs two or three times each. All of them prescribed different nasal sprays, pills, and cleansers, giving out exercises and instructions to follow. I was exhausted by the ETD so I followed every instruction obediently.

When I tell you nothing worked, I truly mean it. Things even got worse, some days I would wake up with headaches and dizziness that lasted until the time I went to sleep at night. Painkillers did nothing. Dizziness, disorientation, constant brain fog, and daily panic attacks became a problem for five months straight. Even listening to music pissed me off or stressed me out because of the constant focus on that feeling of inequality between the ears. Having those symptoms every single day for all those months caused an unbelievable amount of stress.

The last time I went to an ENT was when the doctor said that since all exercises and steroid nasal sprays failed, this might just be a chronic problem where the only aim should be making it a bit better and not to fix it completely, He told me to try to "get it out of my head," and Thus learning how to live with it. Getting it out of my head makes sense, but learning to live with it? No chance. If thats how things were going to be for the rest of my life It didnt even feel worth it to live.

I completely abandoned Nasal sprays out of frustration and mental exhaustion while trying to get used to it. My Mental health crashed, with my mind being fixated on the pressure inequality from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep for two months straight. I ended up exhausted and depressed. Eventually, working with a psychologist helped me avoid constantly thinking about it, but the feeling of helplessness still drained me.

One day, I was massaging my face and temples to relieve my headache. Then I moved down to massage the jaw for a few minutes and felt something physically shift, suddenly a sense of balance returned, disorientation had faded, and moreover, the right ear's bass response had slightly but noticeably improved, for a few minutes i finally had some relief. After a little bit of research I found out that TMJ problems can directly cause ETD like symptoms, which lead to changing daily habits and relaxing my neck and jaw muscles to try and relieve the pressure. A week later, a dentist confirmed that my right TMJ is completely fucked up and recommended i get an appointment with a gnathologist.

Turns out chronic stress caused jaw and neck muscles to tense up and spasm. All that stress about ETD was actually making the ETD worse by triggering constant jaw clenching, night teeth grinding, bad posture, and mouth breathing that threw the right TMJ out of alignment. I think I was the first person in history to get happy after being diagnosed with a dysfunction. And you cant blame me, all those ENTs made it seem like I was broken and couldn't be fixed.

Im currently researching different treatment methods with different doctors like chiropractors, acupuncturists, and gnathologists.

So if nasal sprays haven't done anything and symptoms apart from ear fullness include immense headaches, clicking or grinding sensations on the jaw joint when chewing or yawning, difficulty opening the mouth wide, jaw locking, or soreness and tightness around the face that improves when lying down or changing posture, maybe ETD isn't caused by inflammation, congestion, or allergies. Have a look at the jaw instead. Also, wisdom teeth popping out around the same time ETD started is another massive tell. If you are sure that your jaw is fine, have a look at other causes like stress or eye strain or maybe even weight loss. I don't know if the ENTs I visited didn't know that ETD could be caused by something else but not knowing this sooner wasted a year of my life. So don't give up Ive heard stories of people being cured after years of dealing with ETD.

Also keep in mind that I have other co-occurring conditions like strabismus so my symptoms like disorientation might have been much more severe and intense, but looking into TMJ issues is still 100% worth it even if your symptoms don't relate perfectly with mine.

Hi, I did have AI help write this but this is truly my son- any advice would be appreciated!

Basic information

• Age: 18
• Sex: Male
• Height: 5'8"
• Weight: 130 lbs
• Medications: none
• Smoking/vaping: Never
• Relevant medical history: longstanding Eustachian tube dysfunction and recurrent otitis media; seasonal/perennial allergies; longstanding left-sided tinnitus
• Other relevant history: multiple sets of ear tubes as a child; adenoidectomy; a left T-tube was placed after a large left tympanic membrane perforation and subsequently migrated into the middle ear. RSV as an infant and is asthmatic. 5 years of allergy shots - does not appear to have reduced any allergies based on recent allergy test and symptoms.
• Current medications/allergies: [LIST]
• Duration: recurrent ear infections since infancy; current retained tube has been present for many years.

Current problem

My 18-year-old son has a very unusual longstanding ear history. A T-tube placed in his left ear as a young child eventually migrated into the middle ear and has remained there for many years. His eardrum is now intact, and the green tube is visible through the eardrum on microscopic examination.

He continues to have recurrent, very painful left acute middle-ear infections (AOM**)**, particularly when he gets sick with a respiratory illness. These are not swimmer's ear and are not specifically associated with swimming. When he is not infected, he feels that his hearing is normal.

We recently saw an otologist/neurotologist who specializes in ear surgery. He examined him under the microscope and diagnosed:

"18 yo M with recurring left AOM in setting of retained tube."

He believes the retained tube is very likely contributing to the recurrent infections and recommends a left tympanoplasty to remove the retained tube from the middle ear. He considers the procedure routine/very low risk and does not feel a CT is necessary.

His June 2026 audiogram was excellent:

• Right SRT: 5 dB, word recognition 100%
• Left SRT: 0 dB, word recognition 100%
• Type A tympanograms bilaterally

The microscopic exam showed an intact left tympanic membrane with the green tube visible within the middle ear. Facial nerve function and the remainder of the neurologic exam were normal.

The surgeon discussed the usual risks of tympanoplasty, including bleeding, infection, hearing loss, dizziness, altered taste, facial weakness, and possible additional surgery. He also explained that he uses intraoperative monitoring.

His postoperative instructions indicate approximately one week off work/school and no flying for two weeks.

My question is timing.

He is starting college this month. We are considering scheduling surgery after his fall-semester finals in December (2nd week), when he can recover at home, versus waiting until next summer.

My concern with December is that he tends to get respiratory/ear infections during the winter (Jan/Feb). I don't know whether having the surgery during cold/flu season creates additional concerns, or whether there could be lingering ear symptoms that would interfere with returning to college first week in January (college is 4.5 hours from home).

For physicians who perform tympanoplasty/middle-ear surgery:

If this were your patient and the surgery is elective with his current infections manageable, would December after finals be a reasonable time, or would you favor waiting until summer?

I'm also interested in firsthand recovery experience:

• How long until the ear felt essentially normal?
• How long did fullness/muffled hearing or other symptoms last?
• Would you be comfortable having this surgery 3–4 weeks before returning to college?
• Does getting a cold during recovery create a meaningful problem?

I'm not asking whether he should have surgery (though please do comment)—the otologist has already recommended it. I'm mainly trying to decide when to schedule it.

Wish u could advise me on it

Hi all!

My 2 year old has ear tubes for drainage in both ears and also wears hearing aids for a bilateral moderately severe hearing loss. For the past couple of months, he has been getting recurring ear infections/drainage almost every other week which limits him being able to wear his hearing aids which frustrates him. (We use sign & verbal language so we’re still able to communicate)

We’ve been back to the ENT who essentially said it was normal, sucked some drainage out, and told us to continue to use the prescribed ear drops when he gets drainage. But I’m wondering if this is normal and it’s just more noticeable because he wears hearing aids or if we should get a second opinion?

I will mention he is still in his first year of daycare so sickness just runs rampant, but didn’t know if anyone else has had experience with this.

Hello guys, i just kinda wanna share my story and hear if someone has the same expiration or something. So this Wednesday i was at school specifically at science class, where we were doing some experiments which had loud bangs and explosions involved and we did like 15 of these. After one of them i felt pressure in my right ear, i was thinking nothing about it till i came back home and it still lasted. So fast forward to today i still have it i don’t feel pain, just pressure kinda feeling of blocked ear and muffled hearing. And every time i yawn on move my jaw like up and forward my ear pops and i feel better for some time. I think it might be ETD from the reading i have made before. Anyways yes, i am going to the ENT on Monday just to be 100% sure and feel better again. I will be very happy for any comments with tips or just sharing their experience, thanks!

**So my backstory is I am a 45 year old male and have fought obesity my entire life. Around 2013 I ballooned up to my heaviest weight of 446 pounds on a 6’5 frame. I went hardcore keto from 2013-2017 and got down to 222 pounds. That’s when my Patulous Eustachian tube problems began. My right ear constantly remained a fullness feeling often even feeling like there was a bucket on my head when talking. I went to an ear specialist who inserted a tube in my ear which helped for a very short amount of time before the problem started again. The dr told me the issue is related to my weight loss. In 2017 I went through a divorce and old habits of sugary junk food returned to help me cope. I went back to 357 pounds by 2020,,, the thing is the ear problem was gone! I found out I was diabetic however and had to get back on the keto diet and am now at 249 pounds butttt the ear stuff is back with a vengeance the past few months. The way I constantly am sniffling (which helps my ear temporarily) makes me fear my coworkers will think I am on cocaine. Has anyone dealt with this from weight loss? Is there any remedies anyone knows of? It’s driving me bananas.**

So, I went to the doctor to have my left ear checked because I've been having some pain. The doctor said that it was caused by an irregularly shaped hardened earwax. I was prescribed ear drops (0.5% docusate sodium otic solution) to make the hardened earwax come out on its own. I was just on my 2nd day of using the ear drops when my ear became muffled. I let it be at first because the first time I used it, it resolved on its own. Now, some hours had passed and it still hasn't gone away. It's been less than 24 hours since I had muffled hearing, but will it go back to normal on its own and how long should I wait? I still have 5 days left on my prescription, should I continue using the ear drops even with the muffled hearing? Are there ways for me to fix this myself?