Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to drain fluid from your middle ear at home. Such home remedies include applying a warm compress, inhaling steam, popping your ears, and a technique known as the Valsalva maneuver. Over-the-counter medicines may also help.
- Applying a warm compress to the troubled ear may help to lessen swelling and encourage fluid outflow. - To get the fluid to move and drain out, tilt the head to the affected side and lightly tap the back of the ear.
Colds, allergies, infected adenoids, or sinusitis, can cause congestion of the nose and eustachian tube. This congestion causes the tube to be blocked. With the tube blocked the fluid in the middle ear cannot drain.
Most fluid goes away on its own in weeks or months, especially if it was caused by a cold or an ear infection.
Fluid often builds up inside the ear during a cold or allergies. Usually the fluid drains away, but sometimes a small tube in the ear, called the eustachian tube, stays blocked for months. Symptoms of fluid buildup may include: Popping, ringing, or a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear.
Pseudoephedrine is used to relieve nasal or sinus congestion caused by the common cold, sinusitis, and hay fever and other respiratory allergies. It is also used to relieve ear congestion caused by ear inflammation or infection.
It can take up to three months for fluid in your ear to clear up on its own. 7 If you continue to have problems, your provider may prescribe antibiotics and look for an underlying problem that could need specific treatment.
Symptoms most seen in adults include drainage, ear pain, recent decrease in hearing, ear fullness sensations, recent dizziness or balance difficulty, fever (if there is an infection), and even pain, especially in children. It should be correctly diagnosed and treated swiftly.
Clogged ears can also result from swollen or blocked eustachian tubes, which connect the middle ear to the back of the throat. This can happen for brief periods during air travel, but also due to allergies, sinus or ear infections, or other respiratory viruses (including COVID-19).
Your ear congestion may have happened during an ear infection and never went away, or may get worse when eating certain foods, or they may have become plugged at the onset of an autoimmune condition.
An instrument called a pneumatic otoscope is often the only specialized tool a doctor needs to diagnose an ear infection. This instrument enables the doctor to look in the ear and judge whether there is fluid behind the eardrum. With the pneumatic otoscope, the doctor gently puffs air against the eardrum.
If your ears are plugged, try swallowing, yawning or chewing sugar-free gum to open your eustachian tubes. If this doesn't work, take a deep breath and try to blow out of your nose gently while pinching your nostrils closed and keeping your mouth shut. If you hear a popping noise, you know you have succeeded.
Mucus or pus can build up behind the eardrum, causing pressure and pain. In general, COVID-19 has not been associated with ear infections, and generally these types of infections do not share a great deal of common symptoms.
Close your mouth, hold your nose, and gently blow as if you are blowing your nose. Yawning and chewing gum also may help. You may hear or feel a "pop" when the tubes open to make the pressure equal between the inside and outside of your ears.
Ears and Nose
Believe it or not, by the nasal passage does connect to our ears. The ears, at roughly the same level on our heads as the nose, are also connected by the Eustachian tube, which drains from the ears into the nasopharynx.
Exactly how long your blockage will last depends, not unexpectedly, on what the cause of the blockage is. You may need to get medical attention if your blockage isn't the kind that clears itself up quickly. You shouldn't let your blockage linger for longer than a week, as a general rule, without having it examined.
If the pain and the clogging don't stop after one or two weeks, you should go see your doctor. Some more serious inner-ear infections could potentially (in rare cases) be followed by meningitis, a ruptured ear drum, or hearing loss.
In general, we recommend trying the topical sprays before resorting to oral decongestants. Sudafed is the most commonly available over-the-counter oral decongestant. Pseudoephedrine is the generic name for Sudafed and is just as effective.
“The first line of defense for those experiencing muffled hearing or clogged ears due to allergies is over-the-counter antihistamines,” says Patel. “Medications like Claritin, Zyrtec and their generic bottles can begin working within a few days.”
Decongestant Nose Spray (Age 12 years or Older):
Don't use for more than 3 days. Reason: can cause rebound swelling in the nose. Decongestants given by mouth (such as Sudafed) are another choice. They can also open a stuffy nose and ears.