Aa
Endlessly itchy wet ears
Since I was a child I have had ear problems but over the past few years I have had increasingly maddening ear problems. I have used drops and anti biotics. I sense relief then the symptoms return. Most days I can hear but am constantly aware that my ears are itchy. The challenge is to not itch. If I itch, I usually get flaky stuff that I literally can lift off my inner ear.If I itch too much it becomes wet and begins draining a wet clear fluid. Then at night, whatever side I lay on clogs shut. In the morning there is thick crusty crud that again I try not to pick at. Im obviously in continual circle of symptoms here. Dr's seem to think I cause this problem by itching which causes infection which causes itchiness. HELP please? I am open to homeopathic suggestions as mainstream medicine just seems to temporarily relieve the symptoms and not cure the cause. Thanks in advance
I had suffered wet ear (left ear only) and chronic cough for approximately four years. Recently I discovered that I was suffering from low-grade infection in my left lower molar all this time and that was what was causing localized rise in temperature, thus wet ear. Within 12 hours of having the molar pulled and the infected tissue cleaned out, my chronic cough and itchy wet ear problem was gone.
I'm having this issue, too and I think it's food allergy related. Not sure which food for me - possibly sugar or gluten or both - as I usually avoid foods containing those but notice when I "cheat" my left ear gets wet overnight. this is often not on western doctors' radar as they would rather prescribe quick fix meds. My neighbor's one year old has eczema and they just discovered it's because he's allergic to a whole list of things. So I think there really is a connection to the itching...
Hi, I wrote on this site almost 2.5 years ago. I was the one with an unexplained cold head for 10 months, where I had to wear a hat every day (and eventually sleep in one too). I have the exact same problems with my ears as all of you, which started for me about 8 years ago when I was 41. I will give you a little background as that might help to see if there are any similarities in co-existing conditions among us. I have Graves disease, got it when I was 31, had radioactive iodine to destroy my thyroid, and take 1 synthroid pill every night to replace the thyroid hormone. I have uterine fibroids, so large it looks like I am 6-7 months pregnant. When I was younger, strangers would ask me when I was due. I had Grave's eye disease when I was 36, where your eyes pop out and get so dry you have to have surgery to put them back in--I had radiation therapy and steroids instead. I have been anemic for 13 years, so I need to take Iron on a regular basis (which I dont always do because it irritates my stomach) to make my iron levels better. I had an esophogeal ulcer after being on the Southbeach diet for a couple months, and had to take Zantac twice a day for almost a year. I never drank much in my youth but would binge drink a dozen times a year maybe, I started doing this a couple months before I turned 15. In college, I probably binge drank a couple times a month. I smoked pot 7 or 8 times when I was 12. When I turned 35, I learned how to "drink", and started drinking wine by myself frequently. I have been a moderate drinker ever since then, for the past 14 years, minus 2 years of abstinence (when my esophgus acted up). I drank about 10-20 drinks a week all those years. For the past 4 years, I started binge drinking when I started going to the casino I would get drunk every time (I lost 2 friends tragically which triggered this abuse). I would drink 8-10 drinks and have a horrible hangover the next day. (I work at home so the hangover didnt matter). In the past 4 years, I probably binged drank 3 times a month, up to 6 times a month. But I would usually have no or little alcohol in between. I exercise regularly, have been since I was 36 (probably the reason I am still kicking!). For years, I walked 4 hours a week. Now probably 1 to 2. My father had preleukemia at age 48 and died 10 years after. My mother had endometrial cancer at age 67 but am so happy to say is still doing well and turning 83 next month! My bother got bladder cancer at 51. He was a functioning alcoholic for 25 years and had been cold turkey the past 10 years and has also survived his cancer. He takes some pill that makes him violently ill if he drinks alcohol. It is the only reason he has stayed sober. Our heritage is Irish mainly with some Finnish/Swedish.
So after that long background, here is something none of you have mentioned might be a possibility for the constant itchy wet ears that can last decades: how about Vitamin D deficiency? Have any of you been tested? The reason I ask is, I was recently tested and I came back with very low Vitamin D. My mother and brother were also tested and have Vitamin D deficiency--this after living their entire lives in California where there is an abundance of sun. So I think I may have a genetic problem with Vitamin D, which can explain why cancer runs in my family. The inability to process Vitamin D can also lead to Grave's disease. So, I just wonder if it may be related to our problem here with the ears, because since I started taking Vitamin D, my ears are not quite as bad.
I also have the horrible scalp sores some of you mentioned--scabs, acne, whatever they are. I got this just 8 months ago, and it is very hard to get rid of. I started being a "scalp picker" overnight, which is someone who picks their scalp relentlessly, almost every minute of every day. It started 2 months after my 13 year old step daughter moved in full time and 6 months after my drinking almost doubled. But I slowed way down on the drinking last February, but that had no effect on the scalp picking or ear itching. There are sores all over my head and when I pick them, they stuff that comes off looks exactly like the onion peel stuff that I picked off my ears for the past 5 years--the same as how many of you have described. It is almost as if whatever was in my outer ears all these years causing itching and scabs, moved to all over my head after 5 years. I dont know if it is exczema, psoriasis or what. If you look up scalp picking on the web, you will see it is an OCD disorder.
So, here is another possibility--how about celiac disease? I am very excited that I am getting tested for this in 3 weeks. I have eaten tons of bread over the past almost 3 months to prepare. As you may have noticed, I have had a host of ailments my whole life (also not mentioned: infertility, penicillin allergy, recurrent bladder infections, prolonged asthma, lyme disease, and recurrent bronchitus). Anyway, my dr decided to have me tested for celiac and I am eagerly await the result. Celiac is most common in Irish and Swedish, which I am most am. In fact, if you go to Finland, they serve gluten free hambugers in McDonalds.
I will respond back after I find out if I have celiac, and after I have been on Vitamin D for a longer period of time. I hope everyone here feels better soon!
So after that long background, here is something none of you have mentioned might be a possibility for the constant itchy wet ears that can last decades: how about Vitamin D deficiency? Have any of you been tested? The reason I ask is, I was recently tested and I came back with very low Vitamin D. My mother and brother were also tested and have Vitamin D deficiency--this after living their entire lives in California where there is an abundance of sun. So I think I may have a genetic problem with Vitamin D, which can explain why cancer runs in my family. The inability to process Vitamin D can also lead to Grave's disease. So, I just wonder if it may be related to our problem here with the ears, because since I started taking Vitamin D, my ears are not quite as bad.
I also have the horrible scalp sores some of you mentioned--scabs, acne, whatever they are. I got this just 8 months ago, and it is very hard to get rid of. I started being a "scalp picker" overnight, which is someone who picks their scalp relentlessly, almost every minute of every day. It started 2 months after my 13 year old step daughter moved in full time and 6 months after my drinking almost doubled. But I slowed way down on the drinking last February, but that had no effect on the scalp picking or ear itching. There are sores all over my head and when I pick them, they stuff that comes off looks exactly like the onion peel stuff that I picked off my ears for the past 5 years--the same as how many of you have described. It is almost as if whatever was in my outer ears all these years causing itching and scabs, moved to all over my head after 5 years. I dont know if it is exczema, psoriasis or what. If you look up scalp picking on the web, you will see it is an OCD disorder.
So, here is another possibility--how about celiac disease? I am very excited that I am getting tested for this in 3 weeks. I have eaten tons of bread over the past almost 3 months to prepare. As you may have noticed, I have had a host of ailments my whole life (also not mentioned: infertility, penicillin allergy, recurrent bladder infections, prolonged asthma, lyme disease, and recurrent bronchitus). Anyway, my dr decided to have me tested for celiac and I am eagerly await the result. Celiac is most common in Irish and Swedish, which I am most am. In fact, if you go to Finland, they serve gluten free hambugers in McDonalds.
I will respond back after I find out if I have celiac, and after I have been on Vitamin D for a longer period of time. I hope everyone here feels better soon!
Hi all, I'm glad to have just discovered this site. It's a relief to know so many share the same problem I've had for four months--not nearly as long or bad as many of you, but many of the same symtoms.
My family doctor referred me to an ENT doctor and I'm working with him now. As I try to work through this here are a few things I've learned that I'm trying to keep in mind. I will number my thoughts for easier reference.
0. I wish we had some indexed system for this whole site because there is so much useful observation in these 300-plus contributions. Yikes--it is 2 am: I've spent two hours just reading them.
1. I'm thinking most of us have Otitus Externa, which is so-called "Swimmer's Ear, but that we need to keep in mind that it has a variety of forms, and can initially come from abrasion of the outer ear canal allowing some species of bacteria or of fungus to enter the skin, as well as from some initial water in the ear, which allows bacteria to multiply.
2, It can be very persistent in some cases, and antibiotics like Ciprodex (really expensive!), after knockin out the initial bad bacteriam, can also knock out all the good bacteria and upset the acid balance and ear wax (both God's gift to ears) in the canal, allowing a secondary infection of various types of fungus to set it, which then requires a totally different medicine. So I'm thinking this is very shifty. An antibiotic like ciprodex that works for one person (with a bacterial form) may not work for another person (with the fungal form)--or even for the same person at different times.
2.1 By the way (one of you asked) I had a friend who was a professor who *did* have a yeast infection thorugh his entire body. (Is yeast a type of fungus? I think it may be.) He had to go on a strict diet to keep it under control. If he ate a potato, the yeast would quickly turn it into alcohol, and his breath would smell like he'd drunk 10 martini's. People thought he was an alcoholic. (He died, but of other causes.)
2,2 When I wake up in the morning My itchiness is not as intense as some of you, (to the point of Nature's gift of ear wax I sympathize with the frustration with doctors but in our frustration have to be careful not to generalize about all doctors or neglect the scientific aspects.
3.. Vinegar can help reacidify, but can also add moisture, which allows bacteria to multiply. Figuring out when to use vinegar to re-acidify the ear may take patience. Perhaps not while doing antibiotic drops for a bacterial form.
4. The outer ear canal (from your ear to the eardrum), once you get in a ways, has paper-thin skin over sheer bone. No where else in the body is this the case! Even a Q-tip, if used to scratch that horrible itch, can abrade this skin right down to the bone. Keep this in mind, scratcher!
4.1 I'll take an aspirin or simple antihistamine to try to relieve the itch and that does seem to help. Maybe it';s just a placebo but I tell myself to just hold off for 30 minutes til it kicks in, and by then the itching does seem to subside.
5. For me, there seem to be different types of fluid at different times. Sometimes it is thin and clear, like sweat. Sometimes it is yellow and thicker. The fluid production seems to increase as a response to various foods. I want to start keeping a record book on this to see if there is a predicable pattern. . I really appreciate the thoughts about sugar and wheat having an pretty fast effect on candida (a yeast/fungal infection that is also a common "down there" women's problem.. I had felt this was the case but couldn't quite believe a response to sugar could be within an hour--til reading some of your comments. Now I want to test it out.
6. For me, in the middle of night or when waking up, my ear canal feels full of fluid, and if I press on my skull from various directions right around the outside of the ear (where you'd grab the ear if you wanted to rip it off), I can hear this squishy juicy noise. I can use a kleenex, twisted a bit, to get some of it out, but not much--it still squishes and sounds like a swamp in there. Yuck. As someone said, what IS that stuff? My doctor says that when infected, skin will "weep"--maybe kind of like poison ivy rash will ooze out a kind of serum or pus from the cells of the skin tissue.
7. I've tried to dry it with Q-tips but that doesn't work much. And the doctor told me too (as someone said) that Q-tip can easily just jam in in further along with a dead skin debris, even jamming it up against the ear drum. This debris then becomes is a great culture for bacterial growth. So I avoid this approach.
7.1 This is why an ENT doctor will try to keep that that debris clear while one is taking an antibiotic like Ciprodex (if you are rich or have insurance: that stuff costs 170 bucks for a tiny bottle) But the doctor has the ear drum in view at all times doing this.
7.2 Q-tips also, when I closely looked at them tonight, do not look all that absorbent. That cotton ball is packed pretty tight. It won't soak up much, it seems to me.
7.3 It (a Q-tip) is a way of "scratching that damn itch" if you rotate it against that delicate skin--but you can cause an abrasion of the skin (like skinning you knee) doing this without even realizing it, and then the bacteria gets into the tissue even more. So I'm thinking this is just not a good idea at all.
7.4 I used to love just turning a Q-tip around in my ear (or a bobby pin) going deeper and deeper (but trying not to touch the ear drum) to scratch, But now, at most, I will just take the Q tip and press it against the sides of the ear canal to blot up what I can--no twisting to scratch, lest I abrade the skin there.
7.4 Early on, without telling my ENT doctor, I got a ear-bulb washer thing at Walgreens and some distilled white vinegar, made a 50/50 vinegar-water solution, and squirted in hard in my ear to try to clear debris. *My family doctor did this, using a syringe twice, squirting hard so it actually hit my ear drum, , and showed me the debris that came out. So I did it a few weeks later cuz the ear was so damn itchy. I could stop--must've done at least 12 hard squirts, filling that bulb up again and again. It felt good but the next day the ear canal was *completely* swollen closed. I admitted to the ENT doctor what I'd done (asking him not to hit me!) He carefully inserted a "wick" so we could keep applying the Ciprodex.
Okay, it's nearly 3 am now, this is enough for now. Hang in there everyone. I hope this "Post a Comment" thing will work--I've spent an hour writing this. .
My family doctor referred me to an ENT doctor and I'm working with him now. As I try to work through this here are a few things I've learned that I'm trying to keep in mind. I will number my thoughts for easier reference.
0. I wish we had some indexed system for this whole site because there is so much useful observation in these 300-plus contributions. Yikes--it is 2 am: I've spent two hours just reading them.
1. I'm thinking most of us have Otitus Externa, which is so-called "Swimmer's Ear, but that we need to keep in mind that it has a variety of forms, and can initially come from abrasion of the outer ear canal allowing some species of bacteria or of fungus to enter the skin, as well as from some initial water in the ear, which allows bacteria to multiply.
2, It can be very persistent in some cases, and antibiotics like Ciprodex (really expensive!), after knockin out the initial bad bacteriam, can also knock out all the good bacteria and upset the acid balance and ear wax (both God's gift to ears) in the canal, allowing a secondary infection of various types of fungus to set it, which then requires a totally different medicine. So I'm thinking this is very shifty. An antibiotic like ciprodex that works for one person (with a bacterial form) may not work for another person (with the fungal form)--or even for the same person at different times.
2.1 By the way (one of you asked) I had a friend who was a professor who *did* have a yeast infection thorugh his entire body. (Is yeast a type of fungus? I think it may be.) He had to go on a strict diet to keep it under control. If he ate a potato, the yeast would quickly turn it into alcohol, and his breath would smell like he'd drunk 10 martini's. People thought he was an alcoholic. (He died, but of other causes.)
2,2 When I wake up in the morning My itchiness is not as intense as some of you, (to the point of Nature's gift of ear wax I sympathize with the frustration with doctors but in our frustration have to be careful not to generalize about all doctors or neglect the scientific aspects.
3.. Vinegar can help reacidify, but can also add moisture, which allows bacteria to multiply. Figuring out when to use vinegar to re-acidify the ear may take patience. Perhaps not while doing antibiotic drops for a bacterial form.
4. The outer ear canal (from your ear to the eardrum), once you get in a ways, has paper-thin skin over sheer bone. No where else in the body is this the case! Even a Q-tip, if used to scratch that horrible itch, can abrade this skin right down to the bone. Keep this in mind, scratcher!
4.1 I'll take an aspirin or simple antihistamine to try to relieve the itch and that does seem to help. Maybe it';s just a placebo but I tell myself to just hold off for 30 minutes til it kicks in, and by then the itching does seem to subside.
5. For me, there seem to be different types of fluid at different times. Sometimes it is thin and clear, like sweat. Sometimes it is yellow and thicker. The fluid production seems to increase as a response to various foods. I want to start keeping a record book on this to see if there is a predicable pattern. . I really appreciate the thoughts about sugar and wheat having an pretty fast effect on candida (a yeast/fungal infection that is also a common "down there" women's problem.. I had felt this was the case but couldn't quite believe a response to sugar could be within an hour--til reading some of your comments. Now I want to test it out.
6. For me, in the middle of night or when waking up, my ear canal feels full of fluid, and if I press on my skull from various directions right around the outside of the ear (where you'd grab the ear if you wanted to rip it off), I can hear this squishy juicy noise. I can use a kleenex, twisted a bit, to get some of it out, but not much--it still squishes and sounds like a swamp in there. Yuck. As someone said, what IS that stuff? My doctor says that when infected, skin will "weep"--maybe kind of like poison ivy rash will ooze out a kind of serum or pus from the cells of the skin tissue.
7. I've tried to dry it with Q-tips but that doesn't work much. And the doctor told me too (as someone said) that Q-tip can easily just jam in in further along with a dead skin debris, even jamming it up against the ear drum. This debris then becomes is a great culture for bacterial growth. So I avoid this approach.
7.1 This is why an ENT doctor will try to keep that that debris clear while one is taking an antibiotic like Ciprodex (if you are rich or have insurance: that stuff costs 170 bucks for a tiny bottle) But the doctor has the ear drum in view at all times doing this.
7.2 Q-tips also, when I closely looked at them tonight, do not look all that absorbent. That cotton ball is packed pretty tight. It won't soak up much, it seems to me.
7.3 It (a Q-tip) is a way of "scratching that damn itch" if you rotate it against that delicate skin--but you can cause an abrasion of the skin (like skinning you knee) doing this without even realizing it, and then the bacteria gets into the tissue even more. So I'm thinking this is just not a good idea at all.
7.4 I used to love just turning a Q-tip around in my ear (or a bobby pin) going deeper and deeper (but trying not to touch the ear drum) to scratch, But now, at most, I will just take the Q tip and press it against the sides of the ear canal to blot up what I can--no twisting to scratch, lest I abrade the skin there.
7.4 Early on, without telling my ENT doctor, I got a ear-bulb washer thing at Walgreens and some distilled white vinegar, made a 50/50 vinegar-water solution, and squirted in hard in my ear to try to clear debris. *My family doctor did this, using a syringe twice, squirting hard so it actually hit my ear drum, , and showed me the debris that came out. So I did it a few weeks later cuz the ear was so damn itchy. I could stop--must've done at least 12 hard squirts, filling that bulb up again and again. It felt good but the next day the ear canal was *completely* swollen closed. I admitted to the ENT doctor what I'd done (asking him not to hit me!) He carefully inserted a "wick" so we could keep applying the Ciprodex.
Okay, it's nearly 3 am now, this is enough for now. Hang in there everyone. I hope this "Post a Comment" thing will work--I've spent an hour writing this. .
"its like pulling teeth to get help" Don't I know it!! I have tried demanding and my doctor brought me her med book and said "look my book doesn't even list this medicine. It must be very old. I can't write a script for that. but don't worry I know a medicine that works almost every time" and proceded to write the med she intially wanted to write before I asked for a specific. Of course btw, it did not work. When I went back she did a blood test and everything came up normal and then dismissed the problem - even though the problem was still there and the "foolproof" medicine she prescribed did not work!!! Well, everything was "solved" in her mind. How is that possible??? Just because she refused to admit there was a prob??? What the hell is wrong with today's doctors??? Why are we even going to them and paying them so much???? I feel like every doctor is programed like this. What happen to the many good doctors?? Use to be you had good docs with a smattering of a few bad ones - now they all seem the same!!!
Itchnomore, I'm sorry - I guess I'm just so frustrated I had to vent.
Itchnomore, I'm sorry - I guess I'm just so frustrated I had to vent.
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Ear, Nose & Throat Community
Think a loved one may be experiencing hearing loss? Here are five warning signs to watch for.
Discover the common causes of and treatments for a sore throat.
Learn about what actually causes your temperature to spike.
Find out which foods you should watch out for.
Family medicine doctor Enoch Choi, MD helps differentiate between the common cold and more threatening (bacterial) infections
Dr. Steven Park reveals 5 reasons why breathing through your nose could change your life
