Using Air Pressure to Cure Ear Infections?

This is my wife's story.

She told me when she was a child she was forced to go to a university in Washington State, and what they did was put air hoses in her ears which were sealed, and they forced air into her ears to help her infections. This did absolutely nothing to help, and the doctor and her mother gaslit her, and said it didn't hurt.
She told them repeatedly that it hurt, and they told her, it doesn't and she must take the "treatment" for two straight minutes and they will just stay there until she takes the treatment. This happened over and over again.

Have you ever heard about this kind of treatment?

She feels like she was tortured. I don't know why anyone would do this to a child, and I don't know why anyone would think this even works.

An old Mexican remedy for curing ear aches is to place a rolled up piece of paper in their of the one suffering and lighting it on fire. My wife has had this done to her before and swears it works. Evidently the flame will create unequal air pressure that leads to fixing the ear problems. I don't know if it works. Never had it done to me before.

No, but I have heard of adults being BSed into believing something would not harm them or their kids. They listen to the doctor but not the child. I think it could have been a part of an experiment or it could have been something that the parents misinterpretted. That wouldn't work, all it would do is jeopardize the ear drum.

Equalizing pressure will do nothing to kill off the infection. Antibiotics will...

Science.

originally posted by: clay2 baraka
Equalizing pressure will do nothing to kill off the infection. Antibiotics will...

Science.

You are correct about the antibiotic curing the ear infection.
What is causing the pain is pressure from fluid build up in the middle ear that causes pressure behind the ear drum.
When we are very young our eustachian tubes (tubes that run directly to the back of the throat that drain fluid) are kind of crooked. This is usually the cause of chronic ear infections in infants because it impedes the drainage of fluid causing a fluid build up in the inner ear. As we grow older it straightens out and the chronic infections usually go away.

By the way they are quite painful.


Unequal pressure applied to the ear with puffs of air sometimes cause the ear drum to rupture this relieving both pressure and pain.

I'm not even going to talk about the ghastly practice of "gas lighting" to basically do the same thing. I can't believe people even do it anymore.

For some reason my left eustachian tube never straightened out and have had more ruptured ear drums than I care to say.

Tubes placed in the ear drum act as a drainage port for the fluid and greatly reduce chronic ear infections with almost no loss of hearing.
I am legally deaf in my left ear because of the many ruptures and probably paid for my ENT's Porche.

A couple of years ago I had an ear infection that was so unbearable that after repeatedly banging my head on the pillow trying to pop the ear drum I tap danced to the ER. I was inmtriage and the nurse asked me what was going on as I was sitting in the chair with my finger placed behind the ear lobe and just as I was about to reply the ear drum popped and after a few seconds I felt sooooo much better. It still hurt but I was happy.
What I wasn't counting on though was the amount of blood and puss leaking down my neck.

She thought I had just had an aneurism and I have never seen a doctor that fast in my life at a ER.
I have to correct myself, it was a tech, not a nurse. A nurse would have realized that if I had had an aneurism I would have been dead before I hit the floor.

APD, I would advise your wife to see an ENT. All they do all day is look in ears and noses.
They know what they're doing.
And for the love of God, don't allow any of that voodoo mumbo jumbo crap be done to your wife or anyone else in your family.

Sorry for the long post. I don't usually write this much but this is a topic I know well.

Have a great new year everyone!

originally posted by: toddgonzo
An old Mexican remedy for curing ear aches is to place a rolled up piece of paper in their of the one suffering and lighting it on fire. My wife has had this done to her before and swears it works. Evidently the flame will create unequal air pressure that leads to fixing the ear problems. I don't know if it works. Never had it done to me before.

We have used ear candles a lot, which is muslin coated in beeswax, and they work great. I am going to try this. Probably won't be as effective, but it will probably help some. Thanks for the idea.

a reply to: AzothPendragon

I am decades old and have clean, functioning ears due to candling in my ears. My Gran used to blow smoke from her cig into my ears to relieve aching. I was too young to recall if it worked.

Sometimes the sinuses do inflame and close shut (which causes problem draining), but pressure from the outside of the eardrum isn't the fix. Rather from everything I've read, you're supposed to do the popping from the nose side.

en.wikipedia.org...

Sometimes trained ENT doctors will actually perforate the eardrum on purpose to drain it, but all the noise is actually air being sucked into the tool which is vacuuming the fluids and earwax out. (Think of the "sucky thing" you've probably experienced at a dentist, but used right inside your ear. On the experiencing end, it's LOUD.) Hurts like hell at first, but the relief from all the pressure and irritation going away can be worth it at times.

I'm one of those people with chronic sinus infections and ear problems, so I'm a little familiar with that on a personal level.

Could it be that she had to have repeated tubes placed in her ears?

As a child, I went to a different island during the summer and my grandmother didn't clean my ears, I had a severe build up of wax in my ear. The Doctor had to flush it out with a machine, it was very loud and painful. Could that be it?

originally posted by: ckhk3
Could it be that she had to have repeated tubes placed in her ears?

As a child, I went to a different island during the summer and my grandmother didn't clean my ears, I had a severe build up of wax in my ear. The Doctor had to flush it out with a machine, it was very loud and painful. Could that be it?

Repeated tubes? What's that?

I think what you are talking about is what they call irrigation, and they use water, not forcing air into the ears.