An earache can start off as a dull pain, but it can quickly turn into agonizing, pulsating pain if you don’t notice some of the warning signs. When it comes down to it, earaches and inner ear pain is quite common. This is especially the case during the late fall – when the flu is traveling around. Moreover, earaches can pop up around springtime as a result of allergies. However, if you let an earache go on for too long, you could be causing irreversible damage. The truth of the matter is that the ear stores some important functions that are essential to hearing and balance. If you don’t seek medical care, you could lose your hearing. Most of the time it is no big deal, but it is always better to be safe than sorry. Here are some signs that you should seek medical attention for your earache.
- If you have an earache and a very bad headache at the same time, there may be something more serious going on. If you have a stiff neck, an earache and a headache, you definitely want to visit a doctor. This is a sign that you have a severe viral infection that could be spreading to your lymph nodes and it could become paralyzing and painful if you don’t get help.
- If there is blood in the ear canal you definitely want to want to get help. In fact, you want to visit an urgent care center, like ExpressMD Urgent Care, right away. Blood is usually a sign that there is a serious complication or you may have an object lodged inside. If you have been cleaning your ears and have gone too deep with a cotton tip, you may have punctured an eardrum and will need medical assistance.
- If the pain doesn’t go away, you will need to visit a doctor. If after a week the pain doesn’t subside, there may be something more serious going on that you should worry about. Excruciating pain is usually a sign that the body has been injured and needs help. Usually, if the pain has lasted more than a week, you will need to go to the doctor right away.
- If you are noticing an excessive ringing sound or if you are losing your hearing, you want to find out if you have a more serious infection. In some cases, the infection could be viral and attacking your eardrum, which could cause hearing loss. If you don’t visit a doctor soon, the hearing loss could go from being temporary to permanent.
- If your balance is off – if you have an earache and your balance is off, there is a good chance that you have an infection. When it comes down to it, the infection may be attacking the canals in your ears that are responsible for balance. Indeed, there are unique channels in the inner ear that tell our bodies which way is up and which way is down. In the end, an infection can throw this entire system off.