Muffled hearing, slight ear pain, and extreme pain when putting perscribed drops in ears

Two weeks ago, I went swimming and got water in my ears.  It didn't really feel any different than your normal swimmer's ear except that (now going on two weeks) it still hasn't gotten any better.  Symptoms are muffled hearing (kind of sounds like listening to a blown speaker), feels like my ear is full, sounds with lots of bass to them are unpleasant, and an intense pain whenever I put drops into the ears.  Thinking that it was just a case of swimmers ear I picked up some otc drops from my local drug store and the pain was so intense that it literally brought tears to my eyes.

I've only been to one GP and he's said my ears don't seem to be blocked but that the canals look inflamed.  I've had tubes put into my ears twice as a child so my ears have always been very scarred looking.  I was given some ear drops containing a steroid and antibiotics which were said "would be soothing in my ear".  However, just like the swimmer's ear drops, these drops are also causing a very intense pain, and are not helping the problem at all.  The pain is weird, since it feels more like pain caused from the pressure the fluid puts on my ears.

Any help would be appreciated.

PS. trying to get my gp to reffer me to a ent doctor.  Hopefully I'll have an appointment within the next couple of days.

[idesofmarch]

An ENT was my suggestion.  Sounds like a damage ear drum or maybe your tube moved. Good luck.

[Jeynein]

wow. I know it's been a month for you since you posted this, but I would love to know what happened since you've seen an ENT...

In reading your post I feel as if I wrote this- it's exactly what has happened to me a couple of times now!

I had chronic ear infections when I was little and had tubes put in both ears untill I was six when they were extracted. I never had an ear issue again...

untill 2 years ago when I went swimming at a friends house, dove in, came up and I could literally feel water seep into my head, past the point of shaking my head convoulsivly and jumping on one foot to drain it, it was immediate pain, but I thought Itd just drain out if I slept on that ear that night.
I was wrong. I woke up in agony, poked around inside with a qtip, laid back down and ended up with a wet, bloody pillow in the morning.
the pain was relentless and I went to a doctor who gave me prescription swimmers ear drops, (isoprophyl alcohol) I dropped to my knees in tears, worse pain ever felt! went to another doc who gave me antiseptic/ steroid drops telling me theyd be soothing, but they too causeed excrutiating pain. I quit those.
1 week later I was put on a z pack antibiotic, which did...NOTHING! the pain finally let up after 2 weeks but my ear didnt return to normal untill months later.

the whole scenario has happened two more times, onset by swimming, and no medications have worked for me.

Ive done lots of resaerch that tells me my symptoms are a middle ear infection, with canal irritation and inflamation (inflammation) like that of swimmers ear, but touching the outside,(tag) of my ear doesnt hurt one bit,which does not fit the symptoms of swimmers ear, and I never have had allergies, or cold/ virus symptoms any time before the onset of the ear pain, so that doesnt fit the description of a middle ear infection.

My discomfort is only caused by water entering my ear and going too deep inside of it. It almost immediatley turns into an infection, and no medicine helps.
what the hell is that?!

Hope your ears feel better now and I hope you or someone can give me some feedback from your similar situation

[gmadrone]

My situation is similar but slightly different from what MattCnc and Jeynein describe. I have never had ear infections or any problems with my ears. However, I have always had water get into my ears when I would swim, so I started using ear plugs over the last several years to keep the water out. I've tried several different kinds of ear plugs trying to find the most comfortable ones that also did not completely block out sounds while I was swimming. For the most part, that worked fine until about a week ago when I went swimming for several hours (usually I'm only in the water for less than an hour) and used silicon ear plugs. I kept the ear plugs in for several hours and when I removed them, both ears seemed clogged and I could not hear well; one ear was particularly feeling blocked. I thought perhaps I had gotten water in despite the plugs and tried to get it to drain by jumping on one foot and then lying on my side; nothing cleared it. Later, I used some ear drops and applied a hot water bottle to the most clogged ear, but that didn't make a difference either. I have since tried heat and ear drops several more times without any success. It almost seems that somehow I impacted ear wax far down in my ear with the earplugs and now it is blocking the ear tube and I cannot get it to drain. I have no pain when I press on the outside of my ear so I don't think I have swimmer's ear. It sounds like the ear drops prescribed for Jeynein and MattCnc did not help, so I don't think I want to try that. I would appreciate any other suggestions. For now, I am going to continue to apply heat and see whether I can resolve it that way.

[Ericdizol]

A week ago i went swimming at the local pool. It has a diving board and i did a flip and somewhat flipped too fast and landed on the side of my head. Horrible pain. ever since this incident i have been swimming three times and every time i go under the water, no matter how deep, water seems to seep in that ear i landed on and results in immediate excruciating pain. I dont have outside ear pain, like when i touch or pull my ear. but it feels as if its full of wax and kind of sounds like listening to a blown speaker, feels like my ear is full, sounds with lots of bass to them are unpleasant.  I feel sorry for all the people who have to put up with this bullshit.  I guess ill just wait it out since i know that putting ear drops in my ear will feel as if someone stabbed scissors four inches in my ear, opened them up, and the twisted them for 1 to 1 and 1/2 minutes when the pain finally subsides.  This **** sucks.

[lurker135]

i have a problem with my ear... it seems like theres water in it but the doctor said that my ear was clean, an just gave me anti imflamatory and tablets for cold...

but now it feels like there's alot of water in my ear, and i can feel some pain..
is there any way to cure this?.. or some way to relive this pain?...

[audjb25]

I have the same exact thing going on right now!! Ive had water stuck in my ear for a week. Its the worse pain ive ever felt in my life! & ive had a child!!! I dont know what to do bc i can feel it & hear it move around when i use a qtip or my finger. The ear drops feel like the water entering my ear all over again but then nothing happens! Ive had tubes whichfelt out over the years. I dont know what is wrong with my ear but i know its not swimmers ear or an ear infection! Let me know what happens please b/c ive got to get it out!!! Good luck!