Toothpaste free

And talking of teeth, my original posting on giving up toothpaste back in October 2006 is one of the most visited pages on this blog. People seem to find it on search engines and add their comments, keeping it up to date. Fresh comments added only today!

False alarm

Well I made an appointment with the dentist and cancelled it. The pain in my upper jaw went as fast as it came - and the ear infection has gone equally fast. Who knows what was going on...

In need of wisdom

I am now wondering whether there's a problem with a wisdom tooth in my right jaw. Having cleared the wax from my ear, the hearing is fine - although there's a slight buzz. But there is still sharp pain in the ear and it is worst when I'm tired and trying to go to sleep.

There's also a dull pain at the top of the left jaw. I know my dentist told me I might need wisdom tooth removals at some point. I'm wondering whether that's now.

What could have happened is something like this: mild infection in wisdom tooth causes mild inflammation in ear; trapped wax builds up blocking ear; ear cleared but suffers some superficial damage during process; inflammation from tooth increases.

I've been rinsing the mouth with salted water and that seems to help. These things always happen when you are on holiday - but at least yesterday I gave my whole face a lengthy bath in cold salt water. That seemed to help.

So is it nothing to do with sinusitis? Not necessarily. That could have triggered and aggravated problems as there has also been discomfort in the left ear.

Ear popping

Went out for a meal with friends last night and totally forgot to warn them I had some dietary problems. I thought they knew and it was only when another guest was being assured he would get chops and not casserole I realised I'd been forgotten. A quick trip to the kitchen and an apologetic word with the host and some fish was hastily grilled instead. Bet I don't get many more dinner invitations..

There were some doughballs with garlic. This morning when I got up it felt like I was getting a cold and my right ear was almost glued to the pillow with wax. Thankfully it cleared quickly enough.

Then today I popped into a local fete and, feeling hungry, bought a beefburger. It was nice and meaty and felt free of the additives you get in a take-away. However a little peppery.

By the time I left my ears were popping. It took several days to shake off the deafness in my right ear last week. We discovered we had some ear cleaner, made from purified salt water, in stock and that certainly helped as a syringe. The wax that came out stank horribly.

By Thursday I had my hearing back and thought the problem was pretty well gone. Tonight the ear is really sore although, thankfully, the hearing's still okay.

Hay fever in the ear

Woke up with quite a painful ear-ache today and the loss of most of the hearing in one ear.

It's probably the result of mowing the lawn yesterday. I've done a quick check on "sinusitis" and "ear-ache" just to confirm my hunch. Yes, indeed, it seems allergic reactions are a common cause of ear-ache. Unfortunately swimming may also aggravate it as can wearing mp3 player headphones (while mowing the lawn). So that could spoil my coming summer holidays.

As I explained to someone I was talking to, I've got hay fever in my ear.

Some of my common sense responses seem to be supported - warm water to wash the ear, preferably salted so as to be antiseptic. I've found that doing a kind of deep swallowing also seems to help.

I'm still not sure about taking montelukast daily. After about three days it seems to destabilise me.

So today I'm trying a double dose of anti-histamines, remembering that the specialist told me originally I could take up to three one-a-days at a time. So far the relief is limited.