How to Cure Ear Pain - TMJ, Ear Infection, Negative Ear Pressure, Ruptured Eardrum, etc.

The human body is a complex, fascinating mechanism with various interconnected systems, one of which is the auditory system. Our ears are fascinatingly intricate structures that can also be susceptible to aches and pains. If you've ever suffered from ear pain, you understand how troubling and uncomfortable it can be. This blog aims to shed light on common causes of ear pain and provide practical solutions to ease your discomfort. It's worth noting that if you're experiencing persistent or severe ear pain, you should consult a healthcare professional immediately.

Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction

TMJ dysfunction is a condition where the temporomandibular joint, located close to the ear, becomes painful. Various factors can contribute to this condition, including teeth grinding, an uneven bite, chewing food or gum on one side of your mouth, inflammation due to connective tissue disease, or a knot in your masseter muscle (jaw muscle). The proximity of this joint to your ear can often cause referred pain, which may make you believe the pain is originating from your ear.

You can treat TMJ dysfunction at home by taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs or massaging the masseter muscle. However, you may need to consult your dentist for bite alignment checks or night guard recommendations, particularly if you're grinding your teeth. In some severe cases, seeing a physician is essential to rule out any serious medical conditions.

Negative Middle Ear Air Pressure

Negative middle ear air pressure often occurs when you change elevation rapidly, such as when flying or driving through mountains. It can also result from eustachian tube dysfunction, preventing the eustachian tube from regulating the pressure inside the middle ear. To alleviate this type of ear pain, you can perform the Valsalva maneuver - plugging your nose and trying to blow air out of it simultaneously. However, you must be careful not to blow too hard, as this could cause positive middle ear pressure, which is also painful.

Middle Ear Infection

A middle ear infection, or otitis media, is when the tissue in the middle ear space behind your eardrum becomes infected. Fluid buildup, cold, sore throat, or an upper respiratory infection can further exacerbate this condition. Apart from being extremely painful, a middle ear infection can also cause temporary hearing loss.

Children are more prone to this condition due to the shallow angle of their eustachian tube, which impedes fluid from draining out of the middle ear space. However, adults can also be affected. Treating this condition typically requires a physician's intervention, who may recommend medications to address the pain and infection or even surgically puncture the eardrum to drain the fluid in chronic cases.

Outer Ear Infection

Otitis externa, or an outer ear infection, occurs when the outer ear canal and eardrum become infected and painful. Symptoms include ear pain, itchy ear canals, liquid discharge, and possible temporary hearing loss. Treatment usually involves a doctor prescribing pain medications, steroids, or antibiotics.

For temporary relief before visiting your doctor, you could consider using an over-the-counter product like Ear Pain MD from Eosera. This product contains 4% Lidocaine, a local anesthetic that helps by blocking pain signals at the nerve endings in the skin.

Excessive Earwax or Foreign Body in Ear Canal

Excessive earwax or a foreign object in your ear canal can cause significant pain due to the sensitive skin inside the canal. In the case of earwax, you may be able to remove it at home using a product like Earwax MD. However, for severe earwax impaction or foreign bodies stuck in your ear canal, you'll likely need a professional to remove them safely.

Ruptured Eardrum

A ruptured eardrum is a severe condition caused by puncturing the thin, delicate tympanic membrane. This could occur by sticking things like cotton swabs inside your ear canal. Besides severe pain, this condition can cause hearing loss, dizziness, and bleeding from the ear. If you suspect a ruptured eardrum, seek immediate medical attention. Knowing what causes your ear pain is crucial to addressing it appropriately. While some discomfort can be managed at home, it's important to seek medical help for severe or persistent issues. Remember, understanding your body is the first step to effective healthcare.

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Video transcript

Video transcript

Let's just hope that this is not the cause of your ear pain.

Ear pain is relatively common among children and adults, and it is highly likely that you'll experience ear pain at some point in your life. In fact, chances are that if you're watching this video right now, you're probably experiencing some ear pain as I speak, and you're looking for a quick temporary solution that may alleviate this ear pain until you can make it to the doctor. That being said, I promise not to waste your time, but in order to relieve your ear pain, you first have to understand what is causing your ear pain. I do wanna give a quick shout out to Eosera for sponsoring this video, but more on them in a little bit. There are several common causes of ear pain and several different ways to treat them. Let's start with temporomandibular junction dysfunction. What's commonly known as TMJ dysfunction is when the temporal mandibular joint that's located right here becomes painful.

This can be caused by a variety of different factors, including clenching or grinding your teeth and uneven bite, chewing food or gum on only one side of your mouth, inflammation in the joint capsule due to connective tissue disease, or a knot in your masseter muscle, also known as your jaw muscle. The reason this condition causes ear pain is because this joint is extremely close to your ear and it can often refer pain, which makes you think that it's your ear that's painful. Several at-home treatments could include taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs or actually massaging the masseter muscle. The way that you would do that is you would take your thumb, you would push it up against your masseter muscle and push down on that muscle to stretch it, and oftentimes that can alleviate the pressure inside of the joint capsule. You may also have to consult with your dentist for them to check your bite alignment or maybe even get you a night guard for your teeth in case you're grinding.

In some extreme cases of TMJ dysfunction, you may also have to see a physician for them to rule out any other serious medical conditions, especially if it's a connective tissue disease. A second common cause of ear pain is a significant negative middle ear air pressure. Negative middle ear air pressure typically occurs when you're changing elevation quickly, like when you're flying in an airplane or when you're driving through the mountains. It can also be caused by a condition called eustachian tube dysfunction that prevents your eustachian tube from regulating the pressure inside of your middle ear space. The eustachian tube connects your throat to your middle ear, and when it opens and closes, it regulates this pressure to keep it neutral. A significant negative middle ear pressure will suck in on your eardrum causing a lot of tension where your eardrum is attached to your ear canal skin. The quickest and easiest way to alleviate this type of ear pain is to perform the Valsalva maneuver. You can do this by plugging your nose and then trying to blow air out of your nose at the same time. Let me demonstrate this for you.

And I just felt my ears pop. The reason I could feel my ears pop is that I was able to push air through my eustachian tubes into my middle ear, regulating the pressure. Just be careful because if you blow too hard and push too much air through your eustachian tube, it can actually give you a positive middle ear pressure, which can also be painful, so just blow as hard as you need to just to very push some air into your middle ear. If this doesn't work, I would probably start looking for the phone number of your doctor because the third common cause of ear pain is a middle ear infection. A middle ear infection, also known as otitis media, is when the tissue in your middle ear space behind your eardrum becomes infected. You can also have otitis media with effusion, which is when there's fluid buildup behind the eardrum, and this can occur in conjunction with a cold, a sore throat, or even an upper respiratory infection.

Not only can a middle ear infection be extremely painful, but it can also cause a temporary hearing loss, especially if you have fluid building up behind your eardrum. This condition is much more common in children than it is adults because of the angle of their eustachian tube, it is much more shallow and it prevents this fluid from draining out of the middle ear space, but it can occur in adults as well. Middle ear infections typically require intervention from a physician who may prescribe medications to address the pain and the infection. Your doctor may recommend over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen and allow the infection to heal on its own. In more chronic cases, middle ear infections can require the intervention of an ear, nose, and throat physician who may puncture your eardrum to drain the fluid and put in a pressure equalization tube to allow it to heal.

Hey guys, if this video is helping you out, do me a huge favor and click the like button that ensures that this video gets recommended to more individuals who might be going through the same thing that you're going through right now. And while you're at it, go ahead and hit that subscribe button with notification bell so you get a notification every single time I post a new video and I publish multiple new videos every single week. That being said, I really appreciate it, and let's get onto the fourth common cause of ear pain, which is an outer ear infection. Similar to a middle ear infection, an outer ear infection, also known as otitis externa, is when your outer ear canal and eardrum become infected and painful. Some of the common symptoms of this condition are ear pain, itchy ear canals, liquid discharge from the ear, and possibly even a temporary hearing loss.

This particular condition also typically requires intervention from a medical doctor who may prescribe you things like pain medications, steroids, or antibiotics. Additionally, if you want some fast acting temporary pain relief before you can get in to see your doctor, you may want to consider Ear Pain MD from Eosera, today's video sponsor. Ear Pain MD is a doctor recommended eardrop that provides rapid temporary pain relief. It contains 4% Lidocaine, which is the maximum amount that is allowed inside of a non-prescription over-the-counter product. Lidocaine is a local anesthetic that helps by blocking pain signals at the nerve endings in the skin. By using Ear Pain MD from Eosera, you could temporarily relieve your ear pain long enough for you to make it to the doctor. It is available at your local Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens. If you want to go out and pick some up right now, you can also check it out through the link that I'll put in the description of this video.

If you've had ear pain caused by an outer ear infection, you know as well as I do that any pain relief, even if it's temporary, is your number one priority. And having a bottle of Ear Pain MD in your medicine cabinet means that you'll always be prepared just in case you experience ear pain. A fifth common cause of ear pain is due to excessive earwax or a foreign body inside of your ear canal. The skin inside of your ear canal is very sensitive, so if you get a significant amount of earwax impacted inside of your ear canal, or you get a foreign body stuck inside of your ear canal like the tip of a cotton swab, that it could cause a significant amount of pain, especially if it happens to be pushing up against your eardrum. In the case of earwax, you may be able to remove it yourself at home using a product like Earwax MD and just flush it out of your ears.

In cases of a severe earwax impaction or a foreign body stuck inside of your ear canal, you're likely gonna have to go see an audiologist or an ear, nose, and throat physician so they can professionally remove these from your ear canal so the pain will go away. And the sixth common cause of ear pain, and this is a nasty one, it is a ruptured eardrum. The eardrum, also known as the tympanic membrane, is only comprised of three layers of skin, and it does not take a lot to puncture through these layers. The eardrum is so thin and delicate because it's designed to take the vibration of sound and transfer that vibration into your cochlea, which is your hearing organ. Ruptured eardrums are typically caused by sticking things inside of your ear canal, like cotton swabs, so keep the cotton swabs out of your ears. There's a reason why there's a saying, don't stick anything smaller than your elbow inside of your ear.

If you feel severe pain after you stick something inside of your ear, chances are you just put a hole in your eardrum. In addition to this pain, you may also experience hearing loss and dizziness, not to mention, you might also see some blood actually coming out of your ear. If you feel like you've injured your eardrums because you stuck something inside of your ear, you just need to go see the doctor right now because chances are it's gonna require surgery to fix, and let's just hope that you didn't cause any damage to the ossicles, which are the smallest bones in the body that transfer sound from your eardrum into your cochlea. If you cause damage to those, sometimes it can cause a permanent hearing loss, not to mention it's incredibly painful. At the end of the day, ear pain is no fun, but you have to know what's causing it so you can know how to address it. Sometimes this ear pain can be eliminated by doing things yourself, and other times it does require the intervention of a medical doctor. So hopefully this video has helped you identify what's causing your ear pain and what you can do to fix it.

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