If you’re like most people, you value your ears a lot more than you may even realize. From being able to hear your alarm each morning to talking with your friends, and being able to enjoy music and television, hearing properly is part of what adds joy to the day. But while this organ provides a lot of good in your life, it can also drive you a bit nutty with common ear issues. To help you stay in the best health possible, below are 3 common ear issues, along with the symptoms that often accompany them.
3 common ear issues (and ear symptoms):
Blockages
It’s amazing that more people don’t suffer with ear blockages, given that the organ have large holes leading into it. In most cases, a blockage is the cause of the wax your ears produce, though, and will have little to do with the outside of your head.
Frequent symptoms of blockages include:
- Pain
- Popping sounds
- Infections
A loss of hearing can even occur over time. That’s all the more reason to understand how to keep your ears clean.
If you notice any of the above symptoms, see your doctor to have a professional ear cleaning to clear the blockage. While you can do so from home, it’s very easy damage the sensitive inner parts, thus causing serious issues beyond only the wax.
Cysts, and accompanying ear symptoms
A cyst is similar to a zit; it swells and can be extremely uncomfortable. The cause of this small sack of dead skin cells and oils in the ear can be many, include oil production in a skin gland being faster than its release.
The cyst can occur in many different locations, including within the ear canal, on the earlobe, behind the ear, or around the scalp.
If you have a cyst, ear symptoms can include a little bit of hearing loss. Other symptoms are:
- Ear infection
- Achiness
- Dizziness
- Ringing in the ear
As for the decline in hearing, that usually is a symptom only until the cyst decides to pop. Not only will this rupture cause a lot of fluid to leak from your ear, but it can also be very painful and lead to infections in many cases.
Thankfully, the worst part of this ordeal usually happens when people are asleep. But it is worth seeing your doctory if you worry you might have a cyst.
For a cyst on the earlobe, putting a warm compress to it can help ease the discomfort. If there is no alleviation of the ache, you may require antibiotics. Again, see your GP for details.
Hearing loss
Your ears are incredibly sensitive organs made up of incredibly complex parts necessary to work properly. One of the most crucial components of your ears are a set of small hairs that detect vibrations.
When you hear a noice that’s too loud, the vibrations can push over these fine hairs and cause you to lose some of your hearing. The hairs never recover from this, making it crucial that you talk to an audiologist if this trauma is a worry for you.
Common ear symptoms of hearing loss include:
- Issues hearing consonants
- Conversations become muffled
- Have to turn up TV volume
A lot of people find themselves losing their hearing over time, which is an age-related phenomenon. Hearing loss can be in one or both ears, as can tinnitis or ringing in the ears.
If the hearing loss is sudden, see the doctor right away. If it comes on gradually, you might not notice the symptoms for some time or until someone else points them out to you. This guide offers steps to deal with an auditory decline.
Final words on common ear issues
Use the insights above on common problems and ear symptoms to take care of this organ as well as possible. By maintaining your health and seeing a medical professional for assistance or with questions, you can enjoy good hearing for potentially more years and have peace of mind too in your body’s condition.
As your ears are exposed to so much in the environment and don’t have a lot of protection, it’s easy for them to experience difficulties. But that doesn’t mean you can’t safeguard against damaging hearing loss situations, see a doctor to alleviate a cyst or blockage, or wear hearing aids to gain back the enjoyment of sounds as you get older.
Protecting one’s ears from excessive noise is important as you mentioned in this article. It is always amazing to me that people do not take this into consideration. We watch more movies at home these days because the volume is generally so high in theaters. In the past I have actually taken some cotton to put into my ears to dull some of the sound. Using ear plugs would also help.
Ear plugs can certainly be helpful. I’m still looking for a good pair as there always seems to be some space between them and my ear so I still hear more than I want to sometimes (ahem, when my husband is snoring!). ;)
Thanks for this post, Christy. I had two ear infections caused by an ear wax blockage. Once the doctor figured out what was wrong it was easily corrected, but beforehand it was most unpleasant.
Oh I’m sure it was very unpleasant, Robbie! I’m so glad you got it sorted out.
Thanks for sharing this important topic, Christy :-)
As we age, many lose the sense of hearing everything. This might result in staying much alone, as it gets difficult to follow conversations, so a check sometimes is recommended.
A check is always useful, indeed. The professionals can tell us when we need to take action but we won’t know until we’re there at an appointment with them. HUGS