Do I need to see a doctor for a [possibly] ruptured eardrum?
Asked by
J0E (
13172
)
May 25th, 2011
This morning I woke up to an ear wax blockade in my right ear, so I battled back a little too aggressively in my morning stupor and went too deep with the q-tips. I felt a pain in my ear, but I decided to go back to sleep. I woke up a few hours later and I can barely hear out of my right ear.
Symptoms:
-Hearing loss.
-Dull “static” sound.
-“Popping” sensation during yawns and hiccups.
-I noticed blood once, but none since.
All the research I have done says it will heal on it’s own in a week or two and I just need to keep it clean and dry. I have no idea how accurate this is.
Anyone do the same thing? What should I do? I’m thinking I will wait a week, if there’s no progress I’ll see a doctor.
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I was a former lifeguard once apon a time and we treat a ruptured eardrum as a major incident which requires calling paramedics. You definitely should go to the docs to rule out any infection. They usually like packing the ear too. You may also notice a loss of balance. So be careful in what you are doing.
Yup. Doctor would be good. For future reference don’t EVER put a q-tip in your ear.
Go to a Dr. I ruptured an eardrum from an infection. Get it looked at and fixed.
@wackytrixxie I’ve noticed zero loss of balance, and I’ve even done some physically demanding tasks today.
Wow, the answers on here are much different than I’ve been seeing elsewhere.
I’d go to the doc, just to be on the safe side… It may turn out that he tells you to just take it easy, and take something for the pain/discomfort, but it could also be that he wants to put you on some sort of antibiotic. You should have it checked out just to be sure.
Side note: My eardrum ruptured twice in two months, when I was about 12, from having a severe ear infection. It never completely healed after the second time, and I’ve been about half-deaf in my left ear ever since.
Did you wake up with a lot of stuff crusted to the side of your face? That’s what happened to me when my eardrums busted.
I’m a pro at this stuff, it’s happened to me four times. :(
@KatetheGreat Not on my face. My ear was just blocked with a lot of wax.
I talked to my mom and she said I should go see a doc tomorrow. Will that be alright or should I go ASAP?
@J0E Just go tomorrow. If it starts dripping out of your head, then that is when it’s a huge emergency. Now if you can’t hear at all out of that ear or the pain is excruciating, you need to go to the emergency room. Whenever mine hurt really bad and I waited over night, I found out that my hearing was reduced by 25% and I couldn’t gain it back.
@KatetheGreat Mine has never hurt much, but I think I will just go tomorrow to be safe.
Thanks everyone else.
You may have just pushed some of the ick in your ear deeper and compacted it, so it is causing some pressure or something? You should go to the doctor as others said above. If the doctor decides it is just wax, maybe he can clear it out and you will magically have your hearing back. If it is something worse, it will be really good you went.
I think you have ear wax blockage, so i would go to the doctor to possibly see getting your ears washed out.
FYI: It wasn’t a ruptured eardrum. The Doc said it’s ear wax pushed against the ear drum. I’ve got my ears irrigated twice in the last 2 weeks, and there is still some wax being stubborn, so I’m heading to an ear specialist this week to get it vacuumed out.
That’s good news and much better than an eardrum being ruptured. Been there, done that….
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