My son was prone to constant ear infections during childhood. Every cold he had led to a severe ear infection that left him in pain and feverish. He couldn’t get a cold without it triggering an ear infection, and that would always lead to a ruptured eardrum and pus draining from his ear canal. It’s not fun.
The more you know about ear pain and infections, the faster you can act. Premium Urgent Care wants to help you understand the causes ear infections and ear pain, and what you can do to help your child through it.
The Different Types of Ear Infections and Their Symptoms
It helps to understand your ear’s anatomy. You have the entrance to your ear, which goes into the ear canal and leads to the eardrum. That is your outer ear. The area immediately behind the eardrum is the middle ear. It contains the small bones that sit above the middle ear and eardrum.
Beyond the middle ear is the inner ear. It includes the ear’s auditory and vestibular nerves, cochlea, and the semicircular canals.
Not just one thing causes an ear infection. There are many different types, and treatment options depend on the type of ear infection. Most ear infections are in the middle ear.
Acute Otitis Media
This is an infection of the middle ear that creates pain, pressure, fever, and even the build-up of pus. This is one of the most common ear infections in children. It may appear with a cold as sinus pressure makes it harder for the ear to drain. In addition to the above symptoms, you may notice your child pulling at the ear lobe or struggling to fall and stay asleep.
While antibiotics used to be used to treat this type of infection, it’s more common to wait it out and see if it clears up on its own. Ibuprofen helps to ease the pain, and you can also use a warm compress for pain.
When should you see a doctor? If pus starts draining from the ear canal, make an appointment with urgent care. If the child is six months or younger, see a doctor. It’s also important to go to urgent care if the pain isn’t decreasing after a day or two.
Treatments often are to wait it out, but if the eardrum ruptures, antibiotics may be necessary to prevent further infection. If ear infections occur regularly, it may be advised to have the adenoids removed to help the eustachian tubes drain and stop chronic ear infections.
Infectious Myringitis
In this ear infection, it’s the eardrum that becomes inflamed and causes pain and fever. It’s often tied to a bacterial or viral infection and can cause small blisters on the eardrum. If there are blisters, they may need to be drained to ease the pressure.
Generally, pain medications like ibuprofen are recommended. Antibacterial ear drops or oral medications may be prescribed to treat the infection.
Labyrinthitis.
Labyrinthitis is an inner ear infection that affects balance and makes it difficult to hear. Nausea, dizziness, and loss of hearing are key symptoms. It’s more common in adults, but it can happen at any age.
It’s often linked to a viral infection, such as an upper respiratory infection or stomach bug. In children, it may occur with meningitis. It’s important to have it diagnosed so that the right medication can be prescribed. If it’s viral, antivirals are the usual treatment. If it’s bacterial, your child will take antibiotics.
Mastoiditis
This ear infection is most common in children under the age of two. It’s caused by problems with the mastoid bone becoming inflamed and causing swelling, pain, headache, and fever. It’s often linked to Acute Otitis Media.
Antibiotics are one option. The use of tubes in the ear to help drainage is also a possible treatment.
Otitis Media with Effusion
With this middle ear infection, fluid builds up but doesn’t cause a fever, pain, or pus build-up. Allergies, upper respiratory infections, or blockages in the Eustachian tube cause fluid to build up, which creates pressure, difficulty hearing, and loss of balance.
Otitis Media with Effusion is most common in children between the ages of infancy and three years. In most cases, it clears up on its own.
Otitis Externa (Swimmer’s Ear)
Swimmer’s ear is an outer ear canal infection commonly caused when water is trapped in the outer ear canal after swimming or playing in water. It can also be caused by damage to the ear canal’s lining causing inflammation.
Ibuprofen is recommended for easing the pain and inflammation. Removing a blockage of ear wax from in front of the eardrum may help. Cultures to check for a bacterial or fungal infection may be considered, and treatments are based on the results.
Additional Causes of Ear Pain
There are other reasons your child is experiencing ear pain. One of the grosser ones is that an insect crawled into your child’s ear while sleeping and got stuck. In addition to bites and stings, the insect itself can lead to inflammation and infection. Removing the insect and washing out the ear canal is essential.
If your child has a sinus infection, that can create pressure that makes the ears hurt. This is one of the harder causes of ear pain because sinus infections can take weeks to clear up. If your child has a sinus infection or congestion, steam can help. Children’s decongestants may help, but you need to ask your child’s pediatrician or an urgent care doctor for the recommended brands.
Tips for Managing Pain and Discomfort at Home
Our best advice is to talk to a doctor to determine what is causing the ear pain. If it’s an insect in the canal or damage from something poked in the ear, the infection must be treated. If it’s a middle ear infection, warm compresses and over-the-counter NSAIDs like children’s ibuprofen.
Have your child sleep with the ear that hurts facing upwards to help with drainage. If your child has a cold or other virus, medications that help with congestion can help the ears drain.
When Should You Bring Your Child to Urgent Care?
Follow your instincts. If your child isn’t acting like normal, seems to be in severe pain, or has a fever of 105ºF or higher, go to urgent care. If your child has pus, blood, or other fluid draining from the ear, go to urgent care. If your child’s ear pain hasn’t started to subside after a couple of days, it’s also important to go to urgent care.
Premium Urgent Care makes it easy to see a doctor without a long wait. Before you arrive, check-in using the website. Print out and complete the paperwork to have it ready for the registration desk. This saves time and gets your child into a room and seeing a doctor as quickly as possible.