ear drops?

[duyechi]

Hey all, I know this doesn't really fall into the "surfing hardware" category but I was just wondering... A lot of times after long sessions I tend to get sick and I'm thinking that it might be because salt water gets trapped in my sinuses. In fact, I once blew a hole through my left ear drum after a gnarly wipeout. Anywho, just wondering if there are any kind of ear drops or pills or somethings that can help to prevent sinus infection after long, heavy sessions.

[boco rio]

You might want to consider using ear plugs. They help when the, "surfers ear" start to become an issue. Another suggestion is to clear you nasal passages everytime you surface. After you get out the water tip you head forward and clear them again. That should do it.

[Sar]

I get loads of ear infections since I started spending more time in the water, not sure if would help your sinuses but my chemist recommended ear calm for when the infection first starts or lemon juice - bacteria dont like the acidity

[Stone Fox]

Thats handy to know, I KEEP getting ear infections. I've got one at the moment, I have a hospital appointment tommorow morning.

About your sinuses though, I've just been doing some reading (I love wiki!) and you might have more luck sealing your nose than your ear. Failing that I block my right ear with a Zogs silicone ear plug.

[Sar]

I meant to say, the treatment I outlined was for outer ear infections...not those nasty inner ear ones!

[SDCali]

Another idea is a blend of rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol (to dry out the ear) and hydrogen peroxide (to loosen wax), both will help kill bacteria as well. I was prone to ear infections when I was a swimmer, small ear canals, just my luck.
Also never use q-tips/cotton swabs in your ears.

[thaya]

I have a really bad pain in one ear and I've been surfing alot recently. I was searching through past threads looking to see if people had anything similar and found this. How would you know if it was related to surfing though (unless it happens every time you go)? Do you think I should just leave it and hope it gets better or maybe take a trip to the dr? It's really painful.

I look like such a sight! I'm sat in bed with a bag of frozen peas on one side of my face trying to reduce the swelling after a bad blow to the head and then a warm hot water bottle on the other side trying to reduce the pain in my ear!!!!

Maybe I should forget thaya and bubbles and change my name to walkingdisasterzone...

[SDCali]

get something like a bulb syringe to try to flush out your ears after using some drops to loosen the wax. It could just be wax and it can be very painful, I ended up in the emergency room once, and once they flushed out my ear I felt much better.

[Jimi]

sorry to be the voice of reason, but get to a doctor quick if you have continued pain in your ears!!!! It could be any number of nasty infections, and could lead to permanent hearing loss!

If your ears are sore the day after a session, get it checked out.