Allergy ears
Do your ears feel full, pop, itch or produce excess wax during allergy season? You’re just experiencing some of the common ear-related symptoms of allergies, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Most allergy ear symptoms are easily managed with antihistamines and reducing exposure to allergens. The idea is to keep your body’s immune reactions under control to avoid affecting the ears.
Sometimes excess earwax builds up. Allergies may cause the ears to overproduce wax. Your body does this to trap things like dust and other small particles, and prevent them from reaching the eardrum or even the sinus cavity.
Most often, excess wax dries up and falls out of the ears. My husband is one of those individuals with an oddly shaped ear canal who cannot get rid of earwax this normal way. Instead, he often ends up with an impaction of wax and must see a doctor to have the wax removed. I can always tell his ears are getting impacted because he turns up the volume of the television much louder than normal and doesn’t hear when spoken to.
If too much earwax builds up, it can cause pressure, pain and sometimes infections. Symptoms of earwax impaction include: decreased hearing, dizziness, ear pain, plugged or fullness sensation, ringing in the ear, or itching or drainage from the ear canal.
You can reduce earwax by a number of methods but do not stick a Q-tip in your ear. It will only pack the wax further down into your outer ear canal. This will put pressure on your eardrum and increase, not lessen, your ear pain and “plugged up” feeling.
Your doctor can recommend the best earwax removal method but some common ones are:
•Over-the-counter (OTC) softening drops such as Debrox. You turn your head sideways and put drops into one ear. The drops should remain there for a few minutes before repeating the procedure with the other ear. Some people use hydrogen peroxide instead of these OTC drops. The procedure is the same.
•Use a bulb-syringe to gently flush the ears with warm water. Make sure the water is at body temperature.
Most allergy ear symptoms are easily managed with antihistamines and reducing exposure to allergens. The idea is to keep your body’s immune reactions under control to avoid affecting the ears.
Sometimes excess earwax builds up. Allergies may cause the ears to overproduce wax. Your body does this to trap things like dust and other small particles, and prevent them from reaching the eardrum or even the sinus cavity.
Most often, excess wax dries up and falls out of the ears. My husband is one of those individuals with an oddly shaped ear canal who cannot get rid of earwax this normal way. Instead, he often ends up with an impaction of wax and must see a doctor to have the wax removed. I can always tell his ears are getting impacted because he turns up the volume of the television much louder than normal and doesn’t hear when spoken to.
If too much earwax builds up, it can cause pressure, pain and sometimes infections. Symptoms of earwax impaction include: decreased hearing, dizziness, ear pain, plugged or fullness sensation, ringing in the ear, or itching or drainage from the ear canal.
You can reduce earwax by a number of methods but do not stick a Q-tip in your ear. It will only pack the wax further down into your outer ear canal. This will put pressure on your eardrum and increase, not lessen, your ear pain and “plugged up” feeling.
Your doctor can recommend the best earwax removal method but some common ones are:
•Over-the-counter (OTC) softening drops such as Debrox. You turn your head sideways and put drops into one ear. The drops should remain there for a few minutes before repeating the procedure with the other ear. Some people use hydrogen peroxide instead of these OTC drops. The procedure is the same.
•Use a bulb-syringe to gently flush the ears with warm water. Make sure the water is at body temperature.
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