Congestion and now deaf in one ear ahhhhhhhh

Ears, nose and throat
1

Hi 

My daughter 17 years old has had congestion for over a week now.  We have used dicongestant, steam, and saline spray and ear drops.  The congestion is better but she is still completely deaf in one ear.  no real pain just wont pop.  cant get to see doc but i dont think its an infection anyway cause no pain or fever.  Any tips would be good.  She will try anything 

2

Quite probably embedded ear wax, at the base of the ear canal

Soften with one of the proprietary ear drops (get ones with hydrogen peroxide in them - they work better).  Then persuade the nursing staff at the GP to syringe the ear with warm water!  They try to avoid doing this - not a very pleasant job, and a risk of damage to the ear

However, it works

You can try yourself - with special aerosols available from the chemist.  Quite expensive, they are saline with a special nozzle to allow the saline to wash out of the ear at the same time as you are squirting it in!

Best done whilst under the shower; and I warm the saline beforehand under the shower (wants to be blood temperature, around 37 Celsius to work best)

Fford05

3

Thanks for that.  We have been using these ear drops but nothing has happened.  She is trying to see a doc today or tom but if that dont work we will try the spray.  thanks again 

4

Ear drops, in my experience, are only useful for softening the wax prior to removal by syringing with warm water

You still need to persuade the nurse to do the syringing

Or (less good) buy a saline spray from the chemists

FFord05