Constantly getting ear infections.?

I'm 20 yrs old... and I've been getting ear infections my entire life. When I was a kid, it was ALL I ever went to the doctor for.. I'm still getting over a very very bad ear canal infection - and my Aunt recommended that I see a doctor about my frequent ear infections.

I have allergies, and I read that taking medicine for that will help .... but I constantly take medicine for it, does nothing for ears, and I've tried about 90% of allergy medications out there, both prescription and over the counter.

Please don't say, "Ask your doctor." duh... I'm asking on here because before I spend MORE money to go see a doctor who may just tell me to put warm compresses on my ears every night... gargle salt water (I read that in another forum).. and so on and so forth.. I'd like to hear what some people say. Eventually I am going to go see an Ear/Nose/Throat Specialist, I just want some opinions beforehand.

Does anyone get frequent ear infections?

You poor baby, I know what you are going through and the pain is unbearable! I describe the pain as "having a throbbing toothache in my ear"! My ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat Doctor) told me that I had the cleanest ears he's ever seen. I said thank you; but he said it's not meant as a compliment. He said it's not healthy to have wax free ears. He told me the reason I keep getting ear infections (he called it "swimmer's ear") is because my ears do not produce any wax to keep out the impurities. He told me to wear ear plugs when I am taking a shower to prevent water and soap from entering my ear canal. Also, he told me to dip a q-tip in virgin olive oil or liquid vitamin E (this works best)and circle it in the entrance of my ear canal to prevent the impurities from entering (that's what natural ear wax does). Since I've been following the doctors directions, I haven't had any ear infections. I hate having to do this every time I take a shower, but worse than that, I hate getting ear infections. Also, if I feel like I got some water in my ear, I use "AURO-DRI" which is ear drops for ear water-drying aid which dries and relieves water clogged ears. It is non-prescription and can be found in the drug store near the ear drops.

i think you're not too old for ear tubes. ear infections are nothing to play with. my son had them all his life, too. when he was 17 he had one, took the medicine in its entirety. a week later he bumped his head and the little bit of infection that was in his ear found its way to the base of his brain and almost exploded. it took 2 surgeries to get rid of it. get a referral to a specialist.

Check your diet. Most of our illness comes from eating the wrong food. I never had a ear infection but I had fungus infection on my right foot. The funny part is that it never get cured no matter what kind of medication (oral and apply) is given to me by my doctor and even a skin specialist.

I read about the acid-alkaline diet from the book "pH miracle for weight loss". I learn the bacterial like acid. Since I like to eat meat in every meal, I tend to have this problem. I balance my food intake (especially acidic ones) and the foot fungus was cured by buying a simple anti fungus cream off the shelf.

My fungus infection can never fully go away according to my skin specialist. But now I don't have to spend a lot of money to see that specialist.

Hope that my experience help.

Yes this happened to me after I swam in the med
about fifteen years ago - It is only juts starting to clear up although I have had long bouts of being clear - in the beginning it was very hard to get rid of.

Foul tasting Chinese herbs helped me clear it for a while.

A homeopath I saw said that the skin is where the body chucks out all its waste and having found a nice spot to do it in will keep chucking out in that place. Because its on the outside its not so important as the major internal organs.

Time helped as part of the problem was that I had eczema as well which fed the infection.

I found seriously not getting any water into them at all was a real help.

Hopi ear candles didn't help me but I tried a real load of things - strangely I didn't notice when they got better it was so gradual. the coils of bandage in my ears didn't help because I picked at them in my sleep and hey came all unraveled.

Good luck because it is so annoying as well as not ebing able to hear so well.

the main cause of ear infection is eustacian tube obstruction
you may have postnasal discharge felt as a mass of mucous dripping from behind ur nose to ur pharynx
in my opinion treatment is
1-alkaline nasal wash very important
it improves action of respiratory cilia & helps expectorates this sputum
2-mucolytic to dissolve this mucous
3- planity of oral fluids
4- antibiotic if infection ex;ampicillin 500mg
(if yellowish or greenish sputum )
5- avoid manipulation of ur ear & know that if sore throat , u may have raferred pain in ur ears
6- decongestant nasal drops very important to open eustacian tube
7- nasal steroids spray if u r allergic patient
8- avoid antihistaminic drugs as cause dryness of secrations

my daughter did...and after years and years of on again off again anti-biotics we discovered she was allergic to milk/all dairy and the ear infections were symptoms of this allergy..check with an allergist get tested to see if you react to any common items that you may be using or eating not suspecting it as a culprit