Middle Ear Infection or External?

That doesn’t sound external at all. Ringing is more a symptom of increased fluid and pressure behind the eardrum.

And antibiotic drops won’t work on an internal infection unless there is a hole in the eardrum to allow the med to penetrate.

May be time to head back to the doc…or a different doc.

From a voice of experience, hie thee to an ENT specialist ASAP! I messed around with ear infections and having them treated by GPs until the infection went into my bone, and I had to have it scraped surgically. Also, my hearing is not the same in that ear.

General rule of thumb for any infection here: if there is no perceptible improvement within the first 48 hrs. that Doc is hearing from me again wanting to know why.

In this case, find an ENT specialist ASAP.

First stop blowing your nose really hard. Try some nose drops with saline to try to drain your sinuses. That being said, if your ear still hurts you may need a stronger antibiotic. You probably have fluid trapped in your ears. Do see a doc again. A ENT like suggested already. Oh, and try taking some actifed to help with the fluid in the ears. It will not only dry your sinuses but your ears as well. I use to get fluid in my ears whenever my sinuses acted up and the doc recommended I take actifed and it worked to clear up my sinuses and my ears.

I posed a very similar question just a few weeks ago and the noise in my ears was driving me nuts.
I seen another doctor who prescribed antibiotics for 2 weeks and that finally cleared the infection. I too was first of all given antibiotic ear drops but they were useless according to the second doc.
You need to be swallowing antibiotics not putting stuff in your ear.

If I don’t take Sudafed on a regular basis, I end up with an ear/sinus infection. Not the Otc stuff since they changed the formula. The pharmacists now keep the real stuff behind the counter. Don’t need a prescription tho. Just ID and signature.

You’re right. Ear drops don’t do squat other than enrich the drug companies. Plain old Amoxicillin 500 pills do the trick every time.

Years ago a good ENT guy nailed it for me with the simple comment. “you really don’t drain adequately”

When I asked him what the solution was, his one word answer was the essence of simplicity: “Decongestants” (Sudafed)

If this is an ongoing problem for you there is a relativitely new solution which is far less invasive and/or damaging than traditional sinus surgery which often results in scar tissue.

It’s not surgery. A balloon is threaded up with a scope and expanded. This gently expands blockages without collateral damage.

It’s similar to angioplasty for heart blockages. I’m considering it for myself as I’m tired of the constant need for Sudafed which raises blood pressure.

You can research it further for yourself and maybe ask the ENT doc about it.