What to do if your ear hurts
One of the most unpleasant and painful pains is rightly considered the ear pain. It can completely disrupt night sleep and significantly degrade the quality of life. Therefore, the first desire that arises in a person, faced with a painful symptom, as soon as possible to get rid of unpleasant sensations. And here most often serious mistakes are made. So what should you do if your ear hurts? And how to determine the causes of pathology?
A little about the ear
To understand which particular departments and problems we are talking about, you need to carefully study the structure of the ear. This is a fairly complex body, which includes three departments:
Outer ear. This area includes all that can be considered without any additional devices. This sink and visible auditory canal.
Middle ear. Invisible part consisting of the tympanic cavity and auditory ossicles. This section is protected by the temporal bone.
Inner ear. The most difficult department, consisting of bone channels. It transforms incoming sounds into impulses that are transmitted to the brain and recognized there. In addition, there is the vestibular apparatus, which is responsible for the coordination and balance of the person.
Ear hurts: the main reasons
Ear diseases are not uncommon. Almost every person, at least once in his life, faced a painful sensation. The causes of ear pathologies are many. And each disease needs its own treatment. That is why it is very dangerous to independently diagnose the disease and begin therapy.
If you do not want to face the unpleasant consequences of improper treatment, then begin the fight against ear disease with a visit to Laura.
Pain in the outer ear: causes
Diseases of this department are usually associated with infection. Microorganisms can easily attack the outer ear. However, you should not overly fear infections, because with strong immunity the body will give a fitting rebuff. Another common source of trouble is injury. Improper cleaning of the ear canal, various strokes and damage can lead to an inflammatory process.
Injury ear can be while cleaning the ears.
The main symptoms of lesions of the external division are the following signs:
itching in the ear;
pain (most often acute);
jaw movement causes increased pain;
touching the sink is accompanied by increased discomfort.
The following diseases can lead to the appearance of pain in the external ear:
External otitis. Most often this disease has a bacterial nature. However, there are other types of otitis (for example, fungal). The patient has complaints of pain, ringing in the ears, a feeling of congestion. Hearing impairment is possible. In severe cases, otitis media is accompanied by fever and purulent discharge.
Furuncle. An abscess may form in the auricle. At the initial stage, it causes severe itching. Then pain begins to appear. She can radiate to the head. Feelings are greatly enhanced when you click on the tragus. When probing, swelling is felt like a giant pimple.
Injuries. They can be obtained by stabbing, cutting, thermal, gunshot, chemical damage. Such injuries are usually well marked. When the ear canal is damaged, a person complains of severe ear congestion, pain. Sometimes bleeding may occur.
In addition, pain in the outer ear can speak of sulfuric plug, the presence of a tumor, a foreign body. Sometimes a similar symptom can manifest eczema.
Middle ear pain
This section communicates with the outer ear and nasopharynx. Accordingly, the disease can “come” on both sides. Pathological processes that develop in the middle ear can negatively affect the state of other organs and tissues. For example, otitis media of the middle ear can be complicated by paresis of the facial nerve or provoke the development of meningitis.
On the pathology of the middle ear, these symptoms indicate:
shooting pain in the ear;
feeling of pulsation;
hearing loss in the affected ear;
autophony (strong and unusual perception of own voice).
When a person has an ear disease, he unusually perceives his voice.
Ear pain may indicate the development of the following pathologies:
acute middle ear inflammations (OVSU);
tumors in the area of the tympanic cavity;
injuries and perforations of the eardrum;
malfunction of the auditory tube.
Sometimes pain in the ears occurs after swimming or diving. Both the external ear (as a result of infection through water) and the middle one (with excessive water pressure during diving) can be affected.
Problems in the inner ear
If the inner ear is affected, pain is extremely rare. Most often, such pathologies occur rather “silently.”
For the diseases of the internal department are characterized by the following symptoms:
lack of coordination;
difficulty keeping balance;
nausea;
noise (or ringing) in the ears;
headaches;
progressive hearing loss;
dizziness.
Common diseases of the inner ear are considered:
labyrinthitis (infectious-inflammatory process);
neurosensory hearing loss (defeat of the apparatus, perceiving sound waves)
