Javik
Registered
I've recently gotten done with a terrible and really painful outer/middle ear infection, coincidentally starting 1-2 days right after the swimming pool part of the PADI certification. It was so bad I basically had to give up on the open water part of it. Hoping to try again in a few weeks.
In the first week that the infection got going, I tried to combat it with pseudoephedrine, since that is a vasoconstrictor. And it did work.... at first.
My left ear was plugged up with slime inside and hurting, and no amount of Valsava blowing would equalize the vacuum. In fact with moderate pressure blowing, my right ear (which was normal) would inflate, and then my left Eustachian acted more like a tight balloon neck, squeaking and farting as I tried to blow in air. (An interesting discovery is that this is audible to others if they hold their ear next to mine, while trying to blow in air.)
,
Anyway, in the first few days as this infection started, my left ear would gradually become more painful, so I would take 1 dose of 4-6 hr pseudoephedrine, and the pain would diminish. At the same time, I could feel a slime running down the back of my throat, which I could swallow and which tasted awful.
This would continue until the drug wore off, and then the slime flow would stop, and ear pain would return until I took another. I then bought some long-lasting 12 hr pseudoephedrine, since it was very annoying to have to take the short acting stuff so frequently.
But the pain was still gradually getting worse, to the point that I started taking 12 hr pills back-to-back. But after about a week of this, I reached a point where taking the pseudoephedrine did nothing. The pain stayed the same, and the crud wouldn't flow out.
About this time I tried switching to an antihistamine Benadryl, and then eventually both together, which I researched and found is used in some preparations for extreme allergy.
,
But in the end it got to a point where this all did nothing at all, and the left ear pain was ridiculous. Finally went in and got the usual big white Amoxicillin pills, and Ofloxacin ear/eye drops (potential outer ear infection too), a couple Tramadol for the intense ear pain, and stopped cold on the pseudoephedrine and the antihistamine.
After stopping with all of that, my right ear which was not involved in any of this, also started to feel "full" and plugged up. It took another couple days for my right ear to feel normal again.
After the Amoxicillin ran out, my left ear still felt full and poor hearing, but the pain had gone.
But now the Valsava started working again.. If I tilted my head to the right and held it there, the slime would slowly run off the inside of my eardrum, pool over the Eustachian, and I could hear normally. I would then slowly blow in air, until my left ear was inflated, and hold the pressure, waiting for the air bubbles to rise through the slime, then release and wiggle my jaw, swallow, etc, to open the Eustachian. I could feel and taste the slime running out, but it took a couple days of doing this for the slime to finally clear out.
At this point, now 30 days later of not swimming at all, I am finally clear and back to feeling normal again, good hearing in both ears, no fullness, no pain.
,
So, my attempts to initially self treat this with pseudoephedrine apparently ran up its own rebound effect, which I have not seen documented anywhere.
Additional research on how vasoconstriction works tells me that it involves smooth muscle, which has limited endurance, and can only remain highly contracted for a short period of time before it starts to become exhausted and can't keep up the pace....
Vascular smooth muscle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apparently any kind of vasoconstrictor is going to run up against the same problem eventually, whether it be just the nasal sprays or a systemic constrictor like pseudoephedrine.
Since the purpose of vasoconstriction is apparently to regulate blood flow, there may be other long term negative effects from using pseudoephedrine continuously, to try to combat a middle ear infection.
In the first week that the infection got going, I tried to combat it with pseudoephedrine, since that is a vasoconstrictor. And it did work.... at first.
My left ear was plugged up with slime inside and hurting, and no amount of Valsava blowing would equalize the vacuum. In fact with moderate pressure blowing, my right ear (which was normal) would inflate, and then my left Eustachian acted more like a tight balloon neck, squeaking and farting as I tried to blow in air. (An interesting discovery is that this is audible to others if they hold their ear next to mine, while trying to blow in air.)
,
Anyway, in the first few days as this infection started, my left ear would gradually become more painful, so I would take 1 dose of 4-6 hr pseudoephedrine, and the pain would diminish. At the same time, I could feel a slime running down the back of my throat, which I could swallow and which tasted awful.
This would continue until the drug wore off, and then the slime flow would stop, and ear pain would return until I took another. I then bought some long-lasting 12 hr pseudoephedrine, since it was very annoying to have to take the short acting stuff so frequently.
But the pain was still gradually getting worse, to the point that I started taking 12 hr pills back-to-back. But after about a week of this, I reached a point where taking the pseudoephedrine did nothing. The pain stayed the same, and the crud wouldn't flow out.
About this time I tried switching to an antihistamine Benadryl, and then eventually both together, which I researched and found is used in some preparations for extreme allergy.
,
But in the end it got to a point where this all did nothing at all, and the left ear pain was ridiculous. Finally went in and got the usual big white Amoxicillin pills, and Ofloxacin ear/eye drops (potential outer ear infection too), a couple Tramadol for the intense ear pain, and stopped cold on the pseudoephedrine and the antihistamine.
After stopping with all of that, my right ear which was not involved in any of this, also started to feel "full" and plugged up. It took another couple days for my right ear to feel normal again.
After the Amoxicillin ran out, my left ear still felt full and poor hearing, but the pain had gone.
But now the Valsava started working again.. If I tilted my head to the right and held it there, the slime would slowly run off the inside of my eardrum, pool over the Eustachian, and I could hear normally. I would then slowly blow in air, until my left ear was inflated, and hold the pressure, waiting for the air bubbles to rise through the slime, then release and wiggle my jaw, swallow, etc, to open the Eustachian. I could feel and taste the slime running out, but it took a couple days of doing this for the slime to finally clear out.
At this point, now 30 days later of not swimming at all, I am finally clear and back to feeling normal again, good hearing in both ears, no fullness, no pain.
,
So, my attempts to initially self treat this with pseudoephedrine apparently ran up its own rebound effect, which I have not seen documented anywhere.
Additional research on how vasoconstriction works tells me that it involves smooth muscle, which has limited endurance, and can only remain highly contracted for a short period of time before it starts to become exhausted and can't keep up the pace....
Vascular smooth muscle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apparently any kind of vasoconstrictor is going to run up against the same problem eventually, whether it be just the nasal sprays or a systemic constrictor like pseudoephedrine.
Since the purpose of vasoconstriction is apparently to regulate blood flow, there may be other long term negative effects from using pseudoephedrine continuously, to try to combat a middle ear infection.
