Fluid in the ears

[New_Natural_Mom]

I have a lot of fluid in my ears. I have had a productive cough for over a month now which my doctor said was allergies. I have a lot of drainage as well. How does one get rid of fluid in the ears? Can alcohol (drops in the ears) help dry it up?

[New_Natural_Mom]

No one has had this sensation or knows of a remedy? Really? Is there some flag on my profile that says "Every time New_Natural_Mom posts a question in Health or Healing - No one must respond. Responding to NNM violates the UA?"

[BellinghamCrunchie]

I guess I will violate the UA and respond, although I don't have anything particularly helpful to say

I have chronic allergies and they are right now at their worst (every year at this time).

The allergies cause the ear canal to "weep." I am not sure if you are referring to having wet ears, which I usually fix by cleaning out every morning with a Q-tip to help dry up, or if you mean there is fluid stuck in your ear in the same way that water can get trapped in there while swimming, causing that annoying sensation and distortion of sound. I have never found a cure for that except that benadryl eventually stops the fluid buildup enough that it dries up on its own. The danger in trapped water is bacteria, so a drop of hydrogen peroxide into each ear once a day can help that.

Or if you are referring to the other side of the eardrum, where the eustacian tubes get annoyingly clogged with sticky fluid and cause an itchy feeling. I usually resolve that by sticking my fingers in my ears, wiggling them, sticking out my tongue and swallowing madly.

[SunshineJ]

LOL don't take it personally, I realized long ago I tend to be a thread stopper myself.

I HATE that feeling you're describing, but there is a fairly easy way to help it. It doesn't always work, but it's a trick I learned when my ex was going through chiropractic school. Tug on your earlobe, kind of out and slightly up. What this does is it moves around the eustacion (sp) tubes slightly to help open up the line and allow things to drain better. When you have that fluid buildup you can feel it move and it's kind of disconcerting. If you're swollen, etc. it can hurt a little but shouldn't hurt a lot ever (don't pull really hard, kwim?). I don't know all the details about fluid buildup, but for me it seemed if I was sick where the buildup was "thick" then it was a lot less effective. Also, eating crunchy foods helps shake things loose a bit as well. Hope you feel better! I'm just getting over a sinus infection turned bronchitis that I've had for a month and I'm quite finished with all upper respiratory sickies this year!

[SleeplessMommy]

I take an over the counter decongestant for a day or two. The behind-the-ear rub can also halp, as sunshine suggested.

[summermay]

In Grannies case, her ND suggested that the fluid in the ears is there for a reason and almost always it leaves the earcanal in right and due time. Certainly it's not a very pleasant feeling, but rest and healty eating is all that is recommended (of course no exposure to additional water).

Hope you feel better soon!