I feel cursed. I recently posted about going to urgent care for my ear. Well, I woke up yesterday with my ear swelled shut and in immense pain, and I just knew it was a full-blown ear infection. I didn’t feel comfortable going to the same urgent care, so I had my husband take me to a different one, which was like night and day. The first was run down, and the second was what you’d expect for urgent care.
When the doctor went to inspect my ear, she proclaimed, “that is a massive ear infection,” within 2 seconds. So I’m not only on antibiotic ear drops but oral antibiotics, and I’m taking ibuprofen and using warm compresses. The consensus is that the first urgent care didn’t sanitize properly, or the liquid they used in my ear when they irrigated it was contaminated. And that the first doctor must have suspected as much because why else would he give me the prescription for the ear drops? When he first inspected my ear, he said there was no redness or infection.
I don’t remember ear infections being so painful as a child. I would take one of my migraines, even the worst of the worst of them, over this any day!
Ear infections are the worse! I used to have super painful ones as a child. I should have had tubes in my ears to drain them but we lived on a military base and my mom didn’t trust the doctors, the plan was always to do it when we were back visiting Canada, but it never got done. I so feel for you. My mom always used to give me warm compresses, tylenol when younger and I take ibuprofen when I get them now as an adult. Also a little olive oil (couple drops) mixed with either Tea tree oil, oregano oil, basil oil, or garlic oil (couple drops) on a cotton ball also helped me. My doctor suggested it, maybe see what yours says? It was the one thing that helped the best with my pain.
Thankfully after both antibiotics, I’m no longer in pain. Just a little bit of swelling is all I have left. I did endless warm compresses and Advil PM when it was at its worst.
I had ear infections as a child, but I don’t recall them being this painful!