Maremy's Blog

I was incredibly happy (and surprised) that I had managed to make it a year without getting a head-cold or a sinus infection. Normally, I get one in the fall and in the winter. I was really sick January 2007. Anyway, I made it past the one year mark...

HOWEVER...

I woke Thursday morning with a slightly sore throat and just the feeling I was coming down with something. I felt even worse on Friday and I noticed my ears were hurting a little more than they usually do with a head-cold (I have problems with my ears, mainly my eustation tubes not draining fluid. And I had a lot of ear infections as a kid. I haven't had an ear infection since I was about 6 though. I took some Tylenol Cold & Sinus and just took it easy.

To make a long story short, I woke up around 6 am Saturday morning with horrendous pain in my left ear. I took Tylenol and managed to get back to sleep. When I woke up later, I took Sinutab to relieve the sinus pain I had. There wasn't really any pain in my left ear by this time; just a lot of pressure and it felt like there was a lot fluid. About an hour after I woke up, my ear drum ruptured! Gross, I know! And did it hurt? Nope. I heard and felt a weird pop, rush of liquid following by RELIEF of all the pressure in my ear. In short, it made me feel A LOT better! However, I couldn't really hear out of my left ear.

I went up to the E.R. and found out I most definitely ruptured my ear drum and that (surprise, surprise), I have an ear infection (my first one in nearly 20 years!). I'm on antibiotics now for it. Both the nurse and the doctor told me feeling better after rupturing an ear drum is very common. It makes sense, because all that pressure has been relieved. Except there's a tear in your ear drum. My ear feels incredibly weird now. It stills feels like there is some pressure and I can't hear too good. My balance is also slightly off. The doctor said my hearing won't be right for awhile (maybe a month).

Here's something scary. The doctor tells me to come back in a month if I don't think it's healed. The pharmacist told me to go back in a week if I don't think it's starting to heal or if I still have pain. I think I'll be listening to the pharmacist! Oh, and the doctor also said "it should heal on its own". Should? Should?! So, there's a chance it might not? I think I would rather hear "it will heal on it's own".

I also did some research on-line about ruptured eardrums. It will probably take two months for it to heal and until it heals, I won't know how much my hearing will be affected. Odds are my hearing won't be affected too much in my left ear and I probably won't even notice it. I'm considering going to get a second opinion though because I don't really want to play around with my hearing, especially since a ruptured ear drum is something that can cause a lot of damage to hearing if it doesn't hear properly. In some cases, surgery is required but I don't think I tore it that badly.

I just have to be careful over the next little while: ear plugs when I shower, ear plugs at the Def Leppard concert, no cotton swabs in my ear, etc. Fun stuff!

Anyway, I'm feeling better than I was and I think the head-cold is finally going away. YAY!