Plugged ears: how to deal with this annoying disorder?
Plugged ears are a great annoyance because they prevent us from facing our day normally and make us live in a muffled and not at all pleasant world, plus they affect our balance.They are certainly a nuisance you can't wait to remedy but little compared to the selection of annoying things that can complicate our daily routine. Watch the video and discover the worst!
Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch: the importance of our senses
Our senses are all important, first of all sight, then hearing, touch, taste and smell: We have five organs for five senses, thanks to which man can interact with the world and with whom inhabits: eyes for sight, ear for hearing, mouth for taste, nose for smell, skin for touch. The sight allows us to distinguish shapes, colors, distances. The taste gives us indications on the flavor, on what is bitter, sweet, sour, spicy through the taste buds. The sense of smell is the sense that perceives smells. Touch allows us to recognize the characteristics of the objects with which we come into skin contact, transmitting them to the brain. Hearing receives sounds that it transmits to the brain which decodes them. Not being able to hear the sounds and voices makes only those who do not hear, isolated in a world of speakers that seem dumb to them.
See also
Main symptoms and causes of plugged ears
If your ears feel plugged, there can be many causes. This phenomenon causes the sounds that reach the brain through the acoustic nerve to be reduced. It could be caused by an obstruction of the ear canal due to an accumulation of earwax, a stagnation of pool or sea water, residues of cotton swabs or wax plugs, an otitis caused by an allergy or a strong cold, a stiffening of the neck muscles with compression of the acoustic nerve or a sudden change in pressure during an airplane trip, a hike in the high mountains or after a scuba dive. It could also be linked to a chewing defect. Let's analyze one cause at a time. Earwax: it is produced by some glands in the ear canal to lubricate it, protecting it from infections. The elderly have dry ear wax that comes out with difficulty, children accumulate it, because they have a narrower ear canal. Cotton swabs are used by many to clean the ears, but often instead of letting out the earwax they push it deeper and can cause the rubbing out of blood, infection and damage to the eardrum. Even water that stagnates in the ear can facilitate accumulation of earwax. In these cases, hearing drops, you hear your voice booming, when you speak and you hear buzzing and hissing. Other causes are problems with the temporomandibular joint, remains of cotton buds or other foreign bodies. Ménière's syndrome: plugged ears are also part of the symptomatology of this pathology along with dizziness. Pressure jumps: changes in altitude lead to rapid changes in pressure (ear barotrauma), when external pressure is very different from internal pressure and this causes a temporary sensation of plugged ears: it is a short-lived phenomenon. Phlegm: when the ear is plugged due to a severe cold, the plug can stay in the middle ear. Due to blocked turbinates or a very deviated nasal septum, the mucus is not drained from the nostrils and goes to clog the ear, causing a blockage and a catarrhal otitis media. It is an inflammation that can also lead to sore throat, greasy cough, itching, pain in the temples and ear and sometimes even fever. A difficult drainage of mucus, in fact , occludes the Eustachian tube, a narrow tube that connects the nose and ear. If it swells and closes, it does not allow air to pass into the ear. The pressure of the mucus on the inner membrane decreases hearing and can also break the ear. eardrum: in this case there is a yellowish leakage of serum from the ear. Hydrops: inside the cochlea and the vestibule there are various liquids, including endolymph, an excessive increase of which is the cause of this pathology that involves decreased hearing, dizziness and buzzing (tinnitus).
See also: Big and showy earrings, to be daring with jewels
Discomfort and a lot of pain too? Pharmaceutical products and an ENT examination
Spray products with isotonic saline solution are sold in pharmacies and online on Amazon, for cleaning and removing earwax and to eliminate water residues. There are also various local anesthetic and anti-inflammatory drugs in drops for pain relief. After a bath in the tub or in the sea, the earwax plug can swell with the water and cause not only some discomfort but also pain. In this case, an ENT is consulted to remove the earwax. If the emollient oily drops prescribed in these cases by the specialist for 4 or 5 days do not have a resolving effect, it will be necessary to carry out syringes of warm water without a needle in the ear on an outpatient basis. In particularly complicated cases, the operation takes a long time and sometimes the results will be unexpected. When the ear wax comes out it often amazes for its hardness, sometimes it becomes resistant as a stone. With an "ear serum test", the specialist will be able to understand if there are also bacterial or fungal infections. We advise you not to resort to other systems, such as hydrogen peroxide in the ear, following unprofessional advice. Those who have "hypertrophy of the adenoids and a deviated nasal septum, which does not let the mucus come out of the nostrils with great difficulty, are more likely to encounter these problems. In this case, fluidifying drugs that facilitate the escape of mucus, aerosols or spa treatments.
Prevention and remedies for ear muffs
This annoying inconvenience is sometimes, even if temporarily, disabling, as the sick subject perceives sounds and words with great difficulty, especially if there is a lot of noise and crowding: having the feeling of living in a strange and muffled world is really unpleasant. . Furthermore, the sense of balance is also conditioned by this problem. Sometimes someone recommends swallowing several times or inserting the index finger into the ear, but these are almost always useless attempts. If it is ear wax, you can try instead with emollient oil. If, on the other hand, the discomfort depends on inflammation due to problems of the respiratory system, it is necessary to disinfect the ear with antibacterial drops and use nasal sprays to decongest the nose, based on hyaluronic acid and sea water, which dissolve the mucus and free the nostrils, normalizing breathing. They have no side effects and can be used several times a day. Ear sprays are excellent for cleaning and ear wax and not cotton buds, which, as we have seen, often cause damage.
To prevent this disorder, it is advisable not to fall asleep on the plane, during take-off and landing, during which it is advisable to chew gum; if you dive, you must always go back to the surface very slowly, to get used to a different pressure; It is always very important to dry the ears well after shampooing, showers and baths in the sea or in the pool. Those who scuba dive should always be careful to take the right preventive measures, so as not to get a violent blockage of the ears and also to avoid any pressure trauma accident. For compensation, the Valsalva maneuver is considered very useful, useful for decompression of the ear, but also for tachycardia. This technique consists in closing the nostrils with the fingers so as not to allow the exit of air from the nose. After that, a slow and gentle puff should be emitted with a blocked nose. In this way, by pushing the air into the inner ear, it is possible to compensate the internal pressure with the external pressure: a lifesaver for divers, but which must be done with technique and instructions from a doctor, as it can have contraindications. for those suffering from cardiovascular problems.
.
