TimC
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 06:27 PM |
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Pain and self pity.
Jeez folks, I am in total agony. I've picked up an ear infection swimming on hols and my right ear is excrutiating. I've been to see the
Quack who gave me some antibiotics and ibuprofen. The bl@@dy pain killers hardly touched it so spoke to pharmasist mate who told me what was safe to
take inbetween the other doses. I now have mild relief for about an hour after I take the pills. The wait to take the next dose is then horrendous.
Managed an hour''s sleep last night and an hour today. I'm screwed and the right side of my head is totally u/s. No chewing,
minimal talking etc. What's more, I booked the week off work to work on the car and do a bit of DIY. The car is virtually out-of-bounds as I
can't concentrate.
My reason for the post is to ask if anyone has any tips i.e. keep the ear cool/hot/sleep on the bad ear/good ear etc.
The only time I can ever remember pain this bad is when I dislocated my shoulder.
I think I should cut my head off to stop the pain.
Cheers for any advice.
Pained of Penarth
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nitram38
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 06:33 PM |
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I had it on Holiday in Orlando a few years ago. It's called swimmer's ear and is as bad as you describe. It took 4 days for the pain to go
(sorry not good news).
I now take ear plugs on holiday.
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liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 06:36 PM |
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until i came to to the states i never realised how difficult it was to get good painkillers from the doctors in the uk,
have you got codeine oxycodone or hydrocodone? Sounds like you need these mate!!
They gave me hydrocodone and paracetamol when I cut my finger BUT they also gave it to me post operatively for my partial intestine removal and liver
resection(15" inch scare up the front) it work and it works well!
[Edited on 1/7/08 by liam.mccaffrey]
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pbura
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 06:41 PM |
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If a heating pad feels good, go ahead and use it; your own body uses heat to fight infection, so no harm.
Geez, sounds like a bad case, and I wish you well with it. If you are prone to it, there are drops (mostly alcohol) you can buy to dry your ears
after swimming/showering. Just don't do what I did and mistake the little bottle for eye drops. 
Pete
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TimC
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 06:41 PM |
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Ah - ha. Thanks for the perspective Liam!
I'm on the Codeine.
I hope you're doing okay.
BTW, did you sell the wheels and tyres? I'd still happily take the tyres but I have no use for the wheels.
Cheers.
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liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 06:53 PM |
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didn't mean to try and imply you weren't suffering mate the strangest things can hurt like crazy.
After all I fainted from the pain after cutting my finger not from the surgery
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Mark G
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 06:58 PM |
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I think Van Gough once had a bad ear infection, Can't remember what he did to get rid of it though.
Good luck.
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BenB
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 07:23 PM |
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External ear infections aren't normally that painful. It's the middle ear infections that hurt due to pressure inside the middle ear.
Steam INH can help open up the eustachian tube between the nose and the middle ear and help equalise the pressure and releave the pain. IE get ye to a
turkish bath (or just do some steam INH over a pan on the hob). Persist at it for at least 5 minutes.
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Rob Palin
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 07:28 PM |
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I have to wear earplugs a lot and have had infections several times. The drops the doctors usually prescribe are utterly useless. The best treatment
i've had was a little spray - it worked within hours!
Unfortunately i didn't get the name of it and when i've challenged the prescription of drops since then they always say "no, these
are the best there is". Bet they've never needed to try them.
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BenB
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 07:33 PM |
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Otomize?
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Jon Ison
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 07:37 PM |
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mmmmmmmmm this may take the pain away for a few seconds........
Codine, beware of the side effect, blocked-up-anusakus.
Well now onto the embarrassing story,
Many moons ago I to had an ear infection and was taking codeine phosphate, doctor warned me about blocked-up-anuskus, anyway during that time mrs was
just diagnosed with the big "C" and I completely forgot until around 6-7 days later I remembered, I ain't had a number 2 in
days............
Anyhow bought me some senokot, took one nothing after a few hours so took another, then read box, will start to work after 12 hours............
Believe me 12 hours on the dot it worked, I was on throne for hours, the whole house was in uproar, my rear end was well raw, it was like parting with
a pallet of breeze blocks.
So, when you have stopped laughing at my misfortune and the pain comes back remember the side effect of codeine/phosphate based pain killers and go
push one whether you want to or not, trust me, funny now but at the time.........
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carpmart
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 07:54 PM |
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I'm sorry but I was nearly physically sick from laughing at your.....er......misfortune!
Ear ache from swimming infections really is excruciating!
quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
mmmmmmmmm this may take the pain away for a few seconds........
Codine, beware of the side effect, blocked-up-anusakus.
Well now onto the embarrassing story,
Many moons ago I to had an ear infection and was taking codeine phosphate, doctor warned me about blocked-up-anuskus, anyway during that time mrs was
just diagnosed with the big "C" and I completely forgot until around 6-7 days later I remembered, I ain't had a number 2 in
days............
Anyhow bought me some senokot, took one nothing after a few hours so took another, then read box, will start to work after 12 hours............
Believe me 12 hours on the dot it worked, I was on throne for hours, the whole house was in uproar, my rear end was well raw, it was like parting with
a pallet of breeze blocks.
So, when you have stopped laughing at my misfortune and the pain comes back remember the side effect of codeine/phosphate based pain killers and go
push one whether you want to or not, trust me, funny now but at the time.........
You only live once - make the most of it!
Radical Clubsport, Kwaker motor
'94 MX5 MK1, 1.8
F10 M5 - 600bhp Daily Hack 
Range Rover Sport - Wife's Car
Mercedes A class - Son's Car
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Alan B
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 08:27 PM |
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I had no idea there were so many soft bastards on this forum.....
Seriously though I hope everyone is feeling better soon...
ROFL at Jon's breeze blocks...
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 08:34 PM |
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I sometimes wonder why we build these cars, when you read of all the misfortunes that happen to people on this site (and I've had my
share...)
BTW: I've found that Cocodamol (sp?) gives useful pain relief (it's a mixture of codeine and paracetamol). You do have to pay attention
to dosage and the interval between taking the pills though.
You should find that life becomes far more pleasant once the antibiotics start to kick in - took a little over 1 day in my case.
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macspeedy
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 09:04 PM |
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Sorry to hear about your predicament, no pun intended.
As for you time off you can claim it back.
get better soon !!!!
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smart51
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 09:23 PM |
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When I had my wisdom teeth out, I found that paracetemol and codene tablets worked well, with ibuprofen taken at half way intervals.
You can't take many ibuprofen tables per day. I found that 2 tables first thing, then the other 4 taken singly throughout the day kept me
"topped up".
After 24 to 48 hours, the antibiotics should have started on the infection and that will reduce the pain.
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BenB
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 09:48 PM |
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Within reason you can take shed loads of brufen in a day. Normal dose is up to 400mg three to four times a day. In rheumatoid arthritis and problems
like that people day it up to 6 times a day @ 400mg a pop (though you might need to be careful if your kidneys are a bit shagged or you have stomach
problems). But anyway, three times or four times daily is fine for most people.
Paracetamol on it's own doesn't do much (but in the words of Tesco....). If you're adding in codeine (such a co-codamol) be careful
with the bowels (or start taking something like syrup of figs or lactulose now) otherwise even if you take laxatives it'll just put more
pressure behind the breeze-block crapping....
If all else fails drop a brick on your toe. You'll be that busy thinking about how much your toe hurts you'll forget your ear. Unless your
ear is really painful in which case you've now got a really painful ear AND a broken toe And in which case I never said nuffin guvnor
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liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 10:27 PM |
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codeine and paracetamol is a useful pain reliever and you can take ibuprofen with it
When I was having my big C diag I had 2 barium meal on consecutive days, well anyone who has had one knows that they can set up inside you like
concrete!! I needed to ahem.. empty for a PET scan I was having the next day so the nice lady advised i took a dose of some medicine like Jon had also
she said I should eat some dried prunes for good measure.
Well not being an educated fruit lover I ate a whole half pound
I suffered stomach cramps for 10 hours before.. well from here its pretty much as Jon descibed. Ouch!
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MikeR
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| posted on 1/7/08 at 11:14 PM |
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if your taking brufen - make sure you have some food inside you. It promotes stomach acid and if there is no food ..... well the acid has to dissolve
something.
Don't mix Aspirin and Brufen. Aspirin burns the stomach lining ...... so the two are not happy bed fellows.
Not sure about Codine based drugs, but if i remember tomorrow i'll look through our software / find a friendly pharmacist to ask.
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TimC
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| posted on 2/7/08 at 05:11 AM |
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Cheers for all the responses. I managed to grab 4.5 hours sleep last night in three 1.5 hour bursts. That's about as much respite as the drugs
give. I'm off to the GP again today as I can't go on for too much longer like this.
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 2/7/08 at 07:38 AM |
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oh that’s nasty, I had similar problems with tooth ache, only Ibuprofen worked, very well as it happens, the red gel ones are the fastest working.
I haven't been swimming in over 22 years!
now I've been told I have to do my offshore survival...oh oh
Fame is when your old car is plastered all over the internet
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TimC
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| posted on 2/7/08 at 09:45 AM |
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Hi Ho Hi Ho - it's off to hospital I go.
Have an appointment to see the ear, nose and throat specialist at 13:00.
Joy.
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