Any ADULT ever have fluid behind the ears that won't go away?

toughlovin

Well-Known Member
My hubby has meineirs disease. When he had a sudden major hearing loss and was finally diagnosed the ent told him it is an imbalance of something in the inner ear and that can be caused by sugar, caffeine or alcohol. So my husband experimented with giving each one up. Giving up caffeine or sugar made no difference but he stopped drinking and his hearing came back! After a while he had some amaretto one night and woke up in the middle of the night with his ears ringing! So now he rarely drinks and never very much.
 

pigless in VA

Well-Known Member
:welcomecat:Welcome, Tuffy. I'm sorry about the ear troubles. I frequently suffer from fluid in my ears which causes tinnitus. I used to get relief from an over the counter anti-histamine. That one is no longer available for purchase. The ones out now do not work very well for me. Did your ENT try giving you a nasal spray to use? have you seen an allergist? Sometimes when one doctor isn't helpful, it's a good idea to get another opinion.
 

ksm

Well-Known Member
You might try OTC Benadryl or sudafed... Now we have to adk the pharmacist and sign for the sudafed.. KSM
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Trust your instincts. If they say it is trapped fluid, do research to find out if it is possible and take the info to your doctor. It is your body and you know it better than any doctor because you live in it.

It almost sounds like clogged Eustachian tubes. Can you yawn? If you can then the tubes are likely clear. If you cannot, they may be blocked. I only have two suggestions to help. First is to put a few drops of peroxide in your ear. Lay on one and pour a few drops into the ear, enough so that it drips down into the ear. It may sound like firework, which is fine. It is just the peroxide cleaning in there. Stay on your side for a few minutes until the fireworks slow down or stop Then hold a few tissues against your ear and sit up, letting the peroxide drip out Repeat in other ear. This helps clean out your ear so that anything can drain. It really helps my kids when the wax builds up and won't come out. It also helps if you have a cold. it usually shortens my colds by a few days.

My other suggestion is to use a sinus rinse bottle or neti pot. They both rinse out your sinuses. I know that Walgreen's carries them, so other stores probably do too. The neti pot is used during a shower usually. You pour the water into your nose and it rinses out anything in your sinuses. I prefer the sinus rinse bottle because I can use it over a sink. You squeeze the bottle and water comes out of the top and up into your nose. It feels quite odd but it can be very helpful. My allergy doctor and ENT guy were talking sinus surgery because mine were so clogged but a week of using the sinus bottle 2x/day and I didn't need it. Everything was cleaned out by the end of week 2. Plus it kept Wiz and Jess entertained when they were little. They liked to watch the snot pouring out of my nose as the water came out!
 

BrightBeats923

New Member
I am having the same issue... My left ear is completely clogged and I cannot hear anything on that side. My right side as well is clogged but not nearly as bad as the left on top of tinnitis. I have seen an ear dr, an ENT and a hearing and balance specialist and no one can tell me what the actual problem is.. I am extremely frustrated and stressed out because I do not have any answers! My hearing test revealed 16% hearing loss on the right side and 19% on the left thus leading to an ENT reference. I've invested in hearing aids and an ID bracelet to let people know that I have difficulty hearing. I have no official diagnosis, but have been told that I have autoimmune inner ear disease, but there's no known cause other than possibly stress or the antibodies attacking my inner ear when I had a cold/flu/ allergies. The hearing and balance specialist as well checked my hearing and came up with the same results. He also hooked me up to a variety of machines to test the fluid level in my ears and said it was abnormally high-- hence the muffled sound when I'm not wearing my amps. I've already completed a z-pack which seemed to help a little, then proceeded for direct steroid injections- which was really uncomfortable! Approximately a week later I came down with a head cold or sinus infection that will not seem to leave. My ears are constantly being poked at and I as well have no wax, damage, or clogging that is evident to the naked eye. To relieve some of the pressure, I bought ear drops at a local drug store, applied it to the ear that is worse, and experienced by far the worst burning pain for about 90 seconds and felt the drip all the way to my left eye and down to my throat. I figured I was either having an allergic reaction or I have some nasty infection to cause that much pain. I only applied the drops the one time but later that same evening, my ear started to drain fluid- and it was quite relieving! Although my left ear is still clogged and I am waiting to see if my dr can prescribe ear drops to flush out the fluid in hopes that will help both the pressure and my hearing.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
My mother suffered with fluid in her ears for many years. At that time she was flying very frequently to visit her parents. Each time she flew, she got an ear infection.

Her ENT finally put in tubes when she was in her late 70s. It solved the fluid buildup issue, though in her case, she (as do I+plus environmental damage) has nerve damages and middle ear arthritis, with the tubes did not help. She is quite hard of hearing still, and I am well on my way.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I thought it was trapped fluid too
It isn't fluid at all. But this happened over a year ago. I think it was actually a sinus problem that felt like it was in my middle ear and was not treatable. It went away on its own.

An ENT can look for fluid in your ears.

I'm sorry. I do remember I wasn't too comfortable with this
 
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GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I don't have the fluid issue. My problem is nerve deafness and the little bones in the ear slowly freezing together due to calcium deposits. It's something that runs in my maternal family.
 

TrustyourGut:)

New Member
I have read all of these replies and have not seen one mention of IBPROFEN? I am not sure why this is , as it is an anti-inflammatory.
I have been suffering with fluid in my right ear now for over two months ..have had 3 different doctors examine my ear even 1 in emergency care ..and all said its only fluid no infection and to keep taking corticosteroids spray even for as long as another couple of months. So i started doing online research as most of us in desperation do and saw somewhere on one of the million blogs out there about ibuprofen might help open the inner ear tube since its a anti-inflammatory ..so it seemed harmless to try i had some leftover ibuprofen tablets from a pulled tooth and i am now on day 3 of taking 600mg ibuprofen every 6 hours and low and behold!! I am starting to be able to close my jaw again wich i haven't been able to do in 2+ months..and am starting to feel fluid moving FINALLY and knock..on wood... So i decided to write a reply fir the first time on any site ever!!! Since this seems to be helping me so far..... If this takes a turn for the worst though..i will be replying also as this is my personal trial and error for fluid buildup ..am am just so curious as to why i wasnt recommended to take this simple yet faster working solution then the nasal spray ?
 
I came across this forum in a desperate Google search to find some relief for my ear. It started about 7 months ago with a ear infection. ..and ever since my ear has the stopped up/fullness feeling. The ENT I am seeing now thinks it may be Meneires disease and just has been treating me with steroids and diuretics. Neither has fixed it. I'm slowly going crazy.. it has impacted my life tremendously! I don't think it's meneires. .. I think it's trapped fluid. . If I have the sniffles I can feel fluid in my sinuses move to that ear and the pressure increases. I also thought it could be impacted ear wax because i have had that issue before, but dr says ears are both clear! Has anyone had this issue and any thing that has helped? I've had an mri, hearing test.. pressure test
.. everything comes back good.
I have the same problem, for a year now i have had a constant headache, pain in both ears, constant ringing, popping and crackling sound which gets worse when i tilt my head or lie down, a feeling of not being able to think straight, and now my lower jaw is constantly trying to clamp shut and i have to try to prevent it which is another source of pain.As this has been going on for so long, the lack of sleep and constant pain has had a serious effect on my mental health as well.Tried 2 nasal sprays, debrox swimmers ear, and the eustachi machine.No luck and the fluid continues to build up making it more painful.Just recently the fluid has changed consistency from sticky to running like almond oil and feels acidic burning sensation.G.P. Says could be a eustachian tube issue, and it feels like it could be, and i have 9 out of 10 of the symptoms.ENT consultant dismissed hearing loss for someone my age ( i'm only 49 ), and did not mention the tymp test showed a higher than normal pressure which was worse in the ear that gives me the most pain and hearing loss.He done c.t. scan which did not show anything at all, and wont do any further tests.Went to private ENT consultant today who looked in ears with microscope and could see nothing.He would not try anti biotics, an mri scan or another tymp test which i believe would show that it is getting worse.I have looked into endoscopic diagnosis, but this is not available, so now i am trying to book an mri scan, and hope that the fluid shows on that.Now the ENT consultant says its just the normal popping everybody gets, but my mood is making it worse somehow, even though i had it for almost a year before i began to get stressed.I have found this affects my sleep, my appetite, and my depression level, and my days are spent lying on my side for up to 8 hours until the pressure eases and then i have around half an hour to try to eat, fall asleep, or live my life.Being in so much unrelenting pain, the lack of sleep and not having any appetite is destroying my life and all around me are doctors who wont help.CAN ANYBODY OFFER ANY ADVICE?, I AM AT THE END OF MY TETHER WITH THIS.
 
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I am having the same issue... My left ear is completely clogged and I cannot hear anything on that side. My right side as well is clogged but not nearly as bad as the left on top of tinnitis. I have seen an ear dr, an ENT and a hearing and balance specialist and no one can tell me what the actual problem is.. I am extremely frustrated and stressed out because I do not have any answers! My hearing test revealed 16% hearing loss on the right side and 19% on the left thus leading to an ENT reference. I've invested in hearing aids and an ID bracelet to let people know that I have difficulty hearing. I have no official diagnosis, but have been told that I have autoimmune inner ear disease, but there's no known cause other than possibly stress or the antibodies attacking my inner ear when I had a cold/flu/ allergies. The hearing and balance specialist as well checked my hearing and came up with the same results. He also hooked me up to a variety of machines to test the fluid level in my ears and said it was abnormally high-- hence the muffled sound when I'm not wearing my amps. I've already completed a z-pack which seemed to help a little, then proceeded for direct steroid injections- which was really uncomfortable! Approximately a week later I came down with a head cold or sinus infection that will not seem to leave. My ears are constantly being poked at and I as well have no wax, damage, or clogging that is evident to the naked eye. To relieve some of the pressure, I bought ear drops at a local drug store, applied it to the ear that is worse, and experienced by far the worst burning pain for about 90 seconds and felt the drip all the way to my left eye and down to my throat. I figured I was either having an allergic reaction or I have some nasty infection to cause that much pain. I only applied the drops the one time but later that same evening, my ear started to drain fluid- and it was quite relieving! Although my left ear is still clogged and I am waiting to see if my dr can prescribe ear drops to flush out the fluid in hopes that will help both the pressure and my hearing.
Hello Brightbeats923,

I am glad to hear that you are on the mend.Do you know what the machines were that showed the excess of fluid in your ears?.Also you mention that the fluid started to drain when you used the eardrops, can you tell me what they were, and how the fluid drained, did it drain from your eardrum, or your nose.
 

Deni D

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
Staff member
Hi Brian, this is a very old post. The people you are asking questions to have not been on the forum for years. I'm sorry you are going through this. It's really bad that it seems you are now being told it's because of your stress level, when it's what caused your stress level.

Maybe someone with some experience with these type of things will come along to give you a suggestion. I have a suggestion, but only because you have been trying everything you can with an ENT and haven't gotten anywhere. You could try a chiropractor who knows how to work on things like sinus pressure, TMJ and vertigo. Not that it will be a final solution but just to get some relief for now as you work on getting an ENT to figure it out.
 
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