Help! Need to rid Ear of fluid, possible infection! Fast!

[DocVikingo]

Sounds like you lucked out, Frank.

As long as there is no infection, the medication regimen described should provide relief.

BTW, not to fret over the generics. They should prove equally as effective as the brand name drugs originally prescribed.

Best of luck.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[deco_martini]

Turns out the doc is an active diver who also is well versed in diving medicine. Guess who's switching primary care physicians?

Awesome, way to go Frank.

 

[vladimir]

We could argue all day about overmarketing, wildly overstated claims of benefit, and the like. There is no question that some advertising is misleading to the point of fraud. But on the other hand, we indulge in any number of traditional medical practices that have poor support. MRIs, for example, have not been shown to have ANY effect in better choosing candidates for back surgery. Cortisone injections into backs don't heal back pain, and at best are a temporizing measure. Arthroscopic cleanouts of arthritic knees not only turn out not to help, but may actually result in earlier knee replacements.

This is interesting in light of recent news coverage. Yesterday's NY Times had an article in this vein:

The treatment, vertebroplasty, injects an acrylic cement into bones in the spinal column to ease the pain from cracks caused by osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disorder common in older people. Doctors began performing it in this country in the 1990s, patients swore by it — some reporting immediate relief from terrible pain — and it soon caught on, without any rigorous trials to determine whether it really worked

.

And then there's hormone replacement therapy, which went on for a decade or so encouraged by "research" papers ghost-written by Wyeth. As yesterday's WSJ put it:

Ghostwriters paid by Wyeth worked on dozens of articles about hormone replacement therapy that were published in the medical literature under physicians’ names

Independent research has since implicated hormone replacement therapy in higher risk for breast cancer, stroke, and dementia. And new research strongly suggests that vertoplasty "does not work" any better than a placebo.

Nevertheless, Deco Martini's points are well-taken. The failures of Western medicine should not push one into the arms of the various quack treatments. At least in the cases mentioned above we eventually got an independent, well-controlled study to either confirm or refute claims of efficacy. You can go thousands of years waiting for similar scrutiny of traditional medicine.

 

[blue steal]

Fluticasone Propionate.......good stuff. I've used it for my sinsuses many times..
Have fun Frank.

 

[SeahorseDeb]

I have read the posts and don't see anything mentioned about taking Musinex or nasal sprays under the guidance of a physician.

I had my first ear infection about 3 weeks ago, cleared up fine with antibiotic called "Z Pack." After that I noticed itchiness and pain localized within my auditory canal. The discomfort worsened with manipulation of the outer ear by pulling back and forth on the ear or pushing gently on the flap that covers the outer ear. I was a bit confused. Thought the infection had cleared up! Went back to the Dr but this time I requested one familiar with scuba. Got my Doc! He told me although the infection had indeed cleared up I had swimmer's ear now. (But I hadn't been in the water since before the antibiotics)He told me I needed to dry up the fluid in my Eustachian tube and by taking Musinex twice a day and using nasal spray per his instructions it would clear up. Well, it did, and I also now understand why toddlers do nothing but scream when they get an ear infection. Sheesh. From now on, he told me to towel dry my ears well and turn my head from side to side and gently pull the earlobe in different directions to help water run out. Oh shoot, there goes Puget Sound, I just drained it out of my ear. Sorry Puget Sound Divers, didn't mean to bring the entire Sound back home with me!! As mentioned in the above posts, we have to be careful when introducing home remedies because we can alter the pH balance within the ear canal which can then lead to bacterial and fungal growth. So, whether or not I originally had an ear infection is debatable, but the first doctor was not familiar with ears and scuba. Only the second doctor was. So perhaps the antibiotic helped, but it wasn't the cure-all. Prevention is best, but staying out of the water is a terrible price to pay. I hope I am not "chronic" now. I just have to focus on prevention.

 

[canasm00]

Well I would advise to follow the known and well tested remedy of aromatherapy, but since he will be underwater I would suggest to smear some aromatic oil (preferably lavander) in a flashlight and diving with it on.

Also, since he likes the herbal approach, history has proven with Socrates that a good hemlock cocktail reads of all pains and cares in life, it also reads of life but you can’t have it al.

A good bleed and some good purging as well as several enemas (an old Indian purification tip of which Mahatma Gandhi was very fond of) in the days before diving complemented by leeches during the dive (make sure you make the required holes in the wet suit, we don’t want the poor things to suck on neoprene!).

Attach a rabbit’s foot on the snorkel and sacrifice at least a gecko to Poseidon before every dive goes without mentioning.

Finally, a bonfire to the forces of nature in gratitude for a safe dive before retiring at night will work wonders.

Hope all goes well.


Disclaimer: This is definitely not medical advice and is given just as an opinion based in true and proven techniques used during ancient times and the Middle Ages. The author does not take any responsibility for any harm caused by this article that is given for information purposes only.