Earache

“ In nearly every case of earache it is necessary to treat the throat, as this is, as a rule, the seat of the trouble. An antiseptic gargle of equal parts of Borolyptol and warm water is an excellent mixture. It should be used freely every two hours. Children suffering from earache should be kept indoors. If the examination should show that it is not necessary to lance the ear drum, some local measure may be adopted to allay the pain. Putting the child in bed with the head resting on a hot-water bottle may be all that will be necessary. ”

“ One old enough to speak and in proper mental condition makes known the earache as soon as it occurs.
The mucous membrane of the tympanum, red and swollen from inflammation, secretes muco-pus abundantly; and this, pent up in the cavity, must obtain an exit before relief occurs. It is well if this secretion escape, though with difficulty, down the Eustachian tube. The destructive action of the pus upon the delicate structure of the ear is often such that, within a few days, irreparable harm is done and more or less deafness results. ”

“ This is greatly the case with earache, which is a trouble of the nerves of the ear—not those of hearing, but the ordinary nerves supplying the part. The remedy is to press cold cloths on the back of the head and neck. This will often give instant relief. It is best done when the patient is thoroughly warm. If he be cold and clammy in feeling, the feet and legs must be well fomented before applying the cooling. Rub all parts treated with warm olive oil when the treatment is finished. ”

“ As we emphasize in the chapter on Headache, probably most of the headaches of patients who have not much to occupy themselves with, are due rather to queer feelings in the head emphasized by the concentration of attention on them than to real pains. Earache may occur in the same way. Nearly always when one has been out in the wind, there is likely to be an uncomfortable sensation in the ear. ”

“ Pain, or earache, varies in degree from a mere sense of discomfort to acute agony. The pain associated with a boil in the external meatus is usually aggravated by movements of the jaw, by pulling the auricle, and by pressure upon the tragus. ”

“ The cry of hunger, for instance, is very characteristic,—it is unaccompanied with tears, and is a wailing cry; the cry of teething is a fretful cry; the cry of earache is short, sharp, piercing, and decisive, the head being moved about from side to side, and the little hand being often put up to the affected side of the head; the cry of bowel-ache is also expressive,—the cry is not so piercing as from earache, and is an interrupted, straining cry, accompanied with a drawing up of the legs to the belly; the cry of bronchitis is a gruff and phlegmatic cry ”

“ In infants and young children of two or three years of age it may appear and not be recognized until a slight discharge appears at the opening of the external ear. The child is feverish, fretful and peevish, seemingly suffering great pain, and the parents think it is, not very sick or has only an earache. Sometimes physicians fail to recognize the trouble until the discharge appears in the external ear. ”

“ Wax naturally forms in the ear tube to keep out bugs and flies. The outer part of the tube may be kept clean by wiping it with a moist cloth over the little finger. If you often have earache or a running ear, you should have it examined by a physician. Neglecting a sick ear may cause deafness. ”

“ Hot cloths, a bag of heated salt, or a hot bottle applied to the ear will often cure earache. A few drops of alcohol on a hot cloth so placed that the alcohol fumes enter the ear will often succeed. If neither is effective, heat a few drops of sweet oil as hot as you can stand, put a few drops in the ear and plug with cotton. ”

“ The nerve which chiefly supplies the skin about the ear is a branch of the inferior dental nerve, which supplies the sensation to the lower teeth. Consequently the presence of carious teeth in the lower jaw is an exceedingly common cause of earache, and is for certain the cause of the pain which you suffer. ”

“ Almost every conceivable thing has been used for earache by patients of high and low degree. With the exception of baking soda, already mentioned—and I have considerable hesitancy in trusting even that to popular use—nothing should ever be dropped in the ear except hot water. When the ear is throbbing with pain, the hot douche is the best means to employ for relief. ”

“ These dangers, however, follow almost entirely on long-continued discharges from the ear, but do not attend that acute inflammation of the passage to the ear which is often met with in childhood, and the symptoms of which sometimes cause needless fear, from being taken for those of inflammation of the brain. Attacks of earache are most frequent before the first set of teeth have been cut, and are by no means rare in young children, who are perfectly unable to point out the seat of their sufferings. ”

“ Another great class of troubles which is sadly misunderstood by the public is the acute inflammations of the ear. There are few pains in the human body more distressing than earaches. Many have been the nights of agony passed with pain in the ear, because the proper remedy has not been known in the household. ”

“ The cries are moaning and seem like hopeless cries. A child or infant that cries that way and will not be quieted, should be suspected of having earache, and hot applications of dry or wet heat should be applied to the ear. ”

“ Earache is always serious, and since it is usually indicative of trouble which, if left untreated, may cause deafness, it demands thorough treatment from skilled hands.
Running ears invariably need medical attention and should never be neglected. ”

“ Give adults milk and other liquid foods. If persistent, see doctor.
Earache.
Caused sometimes by bad teeth, but generally by cold or hardened ear wax.
Hold ear over cloth wrung out of hot water, on which are several drops of alcohol. Syringe ear with warm bicarbonate of soda water—1 tsp. to a cup; or peroxide of hydrogen water—1 tbsp. to a cup of water.
One drop laudanum, or one drop arnica to three drops very warm olive oil, dropped into ear with a medicine dropper, often relieves pain; or cotton may be saturated with the warm olive oil and placed in the ear and covered with dry cotton. ”

“ Where the disease is a chronic affection, and the patient is subject to frequent attacks of pain in the ear, especially on a change of the weather, from dry to moist, Mercurius is the proper remedy, especially if it is worse at night, when warm in bed.
If it arises from a shock or blow, Arn. is to be used. In scrofulous persons, whether there is ulceration or not, Phosphorus and Pulsatilla are the remedies.
Children and even adults, not unfrequently suffer from earache, without any known cause sufficient to account for it. ”

“ There is danger from the closure of the tubes by inflammation, because the inflammation may creep up to the middle ear and cause serious trouble, both there and in the mastoid region adjoining. Earache in children should be carefully watched, since it usually means that the middle ear has been invaded by the same inflammatory condition that is present in the throat in colds, and may do serious damage to the delicate structures there. Often in children, and sometimes in adults, the hearing is impaired by the accumulation of wax in the ear canal. ”

“ When this disease proceeds from an obstruction of the lachrymal duct, or natural passage of the tears, it is called a fistula lachrymalis, and can only be cured by a surgical operation.
OF THE EAR. The functions of the ear may be injured by wounds, ulcers, or any thing that hurts its fabric. The hearing may likewise be hurt by excessive noise; violent colds in the head; fevers; hard wax, or other substances sticking in the cavity of the ear; too great a degree of moisture or dryness of the ear. Deafness is very often the effect of old age, and is incident to most people in the decline of life. ”

“ The teeth should be looked after in and for themselves, and, if toothache spreads to the ear, that is the more reason for taking them thoroughly in hand; for prolonged pain in the head, arising from the teeth, may itself injure the hearing. When a child's ear becomes painful, as it so often does, every thing should be done to soothe it, and all strong, irritating applications should be avoided. ”

“ The subject of the hygiene of the ear is so intimately connected with conditions influencing the nose and throat, which have already been explained, that but few words are needed to cover this part of my subject. In general, the best care of the ear is to leave it alone. Ear scoops are injurious; the ear should be cleaned simply on the outside, and nothing, as a rule, should be inserted into the external canal. I have seen many cases of abscess and the most severe inflammation due to endeavors to clean the ear with the omnipresent hairpin and other objects used for this purpose. ”

“ In some forms of deafness blisters behind the ears are useful. A clove of garlic wrapped in cotton or gauze, or a few drops of the juice introduced into the ear, is extremely efficacious in nervous deafness. When imperfect hearing depends upon obtundity of the auditory nerve, or an extensive obliteration or malformation of the internal ear, it scarcely admits of cure.
Deafness, Taylor’s Remedy for. Prep. From oil of almonds, 1 lb.; garlic, bruised, 2 oz.; alkanet root, 1⁄2 oz.; digest for a week, and strain. A little is poured into the ear in deafness. ”

“ Detection of slight deafness may lead to the discovery of serious defects of nose or throat. Inflammation from cold or catarrh may cause deafness, which if neglected may permanently injure the ear. Often deafness is due to an accumulation of wax. A running ear should receive immediate attention, as it is an indication of inflammation which may imperil the integrity of the eardrum, and, if neglected, may eat its way through the thin partition between the ear and the brain and cause death. ”

“ Symptoms.—There is one symptom present in all cases of inflammation of the ear; that is, fever. Pain may or may not be present; it is present in a majority of the cases. Children with inflammation of the ear are exceedingly restless and do not sleep long at a time nor do they sleep soundly.
Treatment.—The treatment is to open the drum membrane, at the right time, which of course will always be done by a physician who has had some experience in this work. ”

“ Many cases, indeed, have occurred of injury to the ear, producing permanent deafness, from descents in diving bells, undertaken by persons ignorant of the way in which the ear is made; though the simple precaution of frequent swallowing suffices to ward off all mischief. For, if the Eustachian tube is thus opened, again and again, as the pressure of the outside air increases, the same compressed air that exists outside passes also into the inside of the drum, and the membrane is equally pressed upon from both sides by the air, and so is free from strain. ”

“ The eardrum is not absolutely essential to hearing, but it is of great importance to exclude sources of irritation, dust, water, and germs which are likely to set up middle-ear trouble. More ordinary after-effects are chronic discharge from the ear following acute inflammation and perforation of the eardrum, which may mean at any time a sudden return of pain with the occurrence of the more dangerous conditions just recited, together with deafness. ”

“ Symptoms.—A large mass of wax may remain in the ear for many years without causing any special loss of hearing so long as the plug does not rest against the drum and there remains a passage between the mass so that the sound-waves can strike the drum. Generally the hearing gradually grows less. Loss of hearing may take place suddenly, as after washing the head, or after a general bath, or after an attempt to clean the ear with the end of a towel. Patients will often say the dullness of hearing appeared suddenly. ”

“ In other cases the hearing is lost so gradually that a considerable degree of deafness may exist before the person is really aware of the fact. Either condition is often accompanied with noises in the head of every conceivable description, increasing the distress of the sufferer. The delicate bones of the ear are sometimes detached from their articulations, the drum is ulcerated and perforated, and through the orifice thus made, the bones or small spiculæ may escape with the thick, purulent, and offensive discharge. ”

“ In the open air the hearing is better than in a confined situation; in a noisy, than in a quiet society; in a coach when it is in motion, than when it is still. A pulsation is often felt in the ear; a noise resembling sometimes the roaring of the sea, and at others the ringing of distant bells is heard. This deafness generally begins with a diminished secretion of the wax of the ear, which the patient attributes to cold. ”

“ The ear trouble (otitis) usually occurs during the scaling. The patient may be up and around. There is a rise of the temperature to 103 or 104 degrees, the patient begins to vomit food and has a headache. At night the child starts from its crib and cries as if in pain. They do not always locate the pain in the ear. The face and hands may twitch. The fever may fall to normal and rise sharply again. Such symptoms should call for a thorough examination. ”

“ If there is more motion of one ear than the other, if the head is jerked to the one side, if there is a measure of deafness in the one ear (to be ascertained rather in the intervals between attacks) , if there is disease of the pharynx, the Eustachian tube or pouch, or swelling about the root of the ear, if there is wax, scurf, or acarus in the ear, if the animal rubs it frequently, aural vertigo may be suspected. ”