EAR CONDITIONS
Symptoms, causes and treatments of common ear illnesses, conditions and procedures
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Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV causes sensation of spinning which lasts for seconds to a couple of minutes.
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BPPV is caused by trapped calcium crystals in the balance organs of the inner ears.
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The home Epley manoeuvre is a safe treatment for symptoms of BPPV.
What is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo?
In Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or BPPV, calcium crystals can be dislodged from elsewhere and enter the balance organs.
There are a multitude of causes of dizziness which may have nothing to do with the balance organ in the inner ear. Fainting attacks, heart problems, thyroid problems and brain problems can all give rise to feelings of light-headedness, giddiness and general imbalance.
One form of dizziness is vertigo which is the specific complaint of either the environment moving in relation to the patient or the patient moving in relation to the environment.
The ear makes wax to keep the ear canal healthy and protect it from germs and dirt. Usually, the wax comes out of the ear on its own. You don't need to use cotton buds or clean your ears.
Sometimes, olive oil drops or sodium bicarbonate drops don’t help. Your ears sometimes need to be cleaned. If you are visiting a doctor for ear, nose, and throat issues and your ears have some wax blocking them, the doctor might need to clean your ears to see them better.
Glue ear is a build-up of fluid inside the middle ear. The medical term for glue ear is otitis media with effusion (OME). It is a common condition. Up to 8 in every 10 children will have a short episode of glue ear before they start primary school.
Glue ear can develop for a number of reasons. It can come after an ear infection. When bacteria travel up the Eustachian tubes they can cause painful swelling behind the eardrum and fluid build up. Glue ear can develop when there is not enough air getting to the middle ear.
Middle ear infections that keep coming back (also known as recurrent acute otitis media) may make your child ill with earache and a fever. In rare cases, severe middle ear infections can lead to mastoiditis or a mastoid abscess.
Surgery involves having an operation to put tiny plastic tubes called grommets into the eardrums. These let air get in and out of your child’s middle ear.
This may be an option if your child has had a lot of ear infections or hearing problems that affect their speech or schoolwork.
A hearing aid is a device that is used to increase the loudness of the sound reaching the ear of a person with a hearing difficulty. The most common types of hearing aids are those that are worn in or behind the ear.
The most commonly used type of aid is the behind-the-ear hearing aid, where all the electronic components are contained in a skin-coloured plastic case that sits behind the ear, but there are others, such as implantable hearing aids, which can be used in certain situations
Hearing loss is common and can affect people of any age. About 16% of adults in the UK have some degree of hearing loss. It is thought that half the general population above the age of 75 have some hearing loss. Children are the next most common group to be affected, usually due to fluid or infection in the middle ear but also due to congenital problems or viral illness during early childhood.
The causes of deafness can be broadly grouped according to where in the ear they occur. A problem of transmission of sound waves through the ear canal and middle ear is referred to as a conductive hearing loss. A problem with the translation of the sound waves into an electrical signal by the inner ear is referred to as a sensorineural hearing loss.
Holes in the eardrum are known as perforations. They can be caused by an infection or injury to the eardrum, and can be small, medium-sized or large enough to affect the entire eardrum. The operation to close a hole in the eardrum is called a myringoplasty.
Often, small holes do not cause any problems. But you can develop infections that keep coming back, discharge from the ear, especially if you get water in your ear, and hearing loss.