h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My ear hurts.

And this is going to be a whinging journal entry complaining about it. So bail now if you'd rather not read.

I went to the doctors on Tuesday morning, with very painful ear ache. She peered down my ear (having first had to get the end bit on the otoscope that she uses for kids, because I have very tiny ear canals) and diagnosed OME - Otitis Media with Effusion, aka middle ear infection, aka glue ear. And she gave me a 5 day course of antibiotics, told me to keep taking the co-codamol I'd been prescribed for period pain for my earache, and sent me on my way.

Tuesday night I'm lying in bed when I hear a gentle 'pop', and feel fluid trickling into my outer ear canal. Oh great. Ruptured ear drum I think. Ring the surgery the next morning and over the phone, they confirm this. The doctor (a different one) I speak to tells me to keep taking the antibiotics and to come back in a week so that they can check how the drum is healing.

Fair enough.

But since then, I have been in absolute agony; my ear has been completely blocked and won't clear; I'm getting pus draining onto my earlobe and nothing seems to be getting any better.

The antibiotics should have kicked in by now, surely? The course is due to end tomorrow (Saturday) but I'm probably going to go back to my GP this morning, coz I really don't want to wait the weekend. The pain is so bad that it wakes me from sleep each morning at an ungodly hour (6.30am today) and I'm now waiting for the painkillers to kick in so I can get a couple of hours rest before calling the surgery.

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

And the irony of it all is that my PhD is dealing with children who have a unilateral hearing loss (gee, I sure can empathise now!) and the place where I'm studying has just finished a huge major study into children with glue ear.

Are you any better now?

Getting slightly better. The doctor changed my antibiotics on Friday. And Saturday was the first morning all week that I hadn't been woken up in pain at 6:30am. It's left me even more tired than usual, so I've just been sleeping.

But the pain is subsiding, and the pressure-build up seems to be lessening too. Now if only my ear would unblock...

Thanks for the . back to you.

Hey Inanna, I hope it's all OK now! Take good care of yourself! I'm sending lots of prayers and good vibes your way!