If you are a parent, you most likely have
had that moment where your kid comes to you in the middle of the night crying that
their ear hurts. It's a hard and sometimes scary experience. Or maybe it's happened
to you. Should you run right away to the ER or not? Do you even need to be seen? and if
so where is the best place to go? We'll help you answer these questions and more,
coming up.
Welcome to Family Med, your medical home for practical and accurate information to help
your family make healthy decisions. I'm Doctor Erik Richardson, my passion is helping
you cut through all the health information clutter on the internet. If that sounds like
the kind of information you or family needs make sure you follow along with us, hit that
subscribe button and share it with your friends. So today we're going to talk a little about
ear infections. You may have seen my prior video on this but I thought that it was a
little long and a little boring so hopefully this attempt at it will be a little more engaging.
In this video we are going to focus most on, How do you recognize them? when do you need
to need to be seen? Where is it most appropriate to go if you have one. My next video, we'll
talk a little more about home treatment and prevention, so make sure you check that one
out as well. So when we talk about ear infections it's
important to know that there are several areas that can get infected: the outer ear canal,
the inner ear or the most common that we are going to talk about today the Middle Ear.
The official term for this is otitis media. In children, we tend to see symptoms such as
* Ear pain, especially when lying down * Tugging or pulling at an ear
* Difficulty sleeping * Crying more than usual
* Acting more irritable than usual * Difficulty hearing or responding to sounds
* Loss of balance * Fever
* Drainage of fluid from the ear * Headache
* Loss of appetite No in Adults
Common signs and symptoms in adults include: * Ear pain
* Drainage of fluid from the ear * Diminished hearing
Ear infections tend to happen more after recent viral illnesses due to the swelling that happens
in the middle ear creating fluid areas that are prime for infections to grow.
So when should you seek care? The answer to this is going to be fairly vague
but simple. It depends on the severity of symptoms as well as the age of who is suffering through it.
For Kids, If your child is less than 6 months and starts with fevers and pulling at their ears they
really should be seen. The risk of them getting sicker is higher, and is more likely to be
a condition that needs antibiotics to treat. Over the age of 6 months it's going to depend
a lot on the severity of symptoms. If they are having significant pain or fevers that
you can't control with normal doses of ibuprofen or Tylenol then they should probably be
seen. If their symptoms are lasting over 48 hours
without improvement then it's probably a good idea to go in.
If you are an adult, it's usually o.k. if you can control symptoms at home to give it
a few days before seeking care. But if symptoms persist or get worse over 2-3 days then it's
probably time to have somebody take a look at it. All of these symptoms are ones that
your typical doctor's office or quick care can usually handle. So save yourself time
and money and avoid the ER if at all possible. If you are unsure about where is appropriate
to go the call your doctor's office. They usually have somebody on call that can help
direct you to where is most appropriate. Hopefully this helps you feel a little more
comfortable about when you should go in to be seen. In the absence of severe symptoms,
you have time to work on some home treatments and see if it can get better on its own.
It's important to remember that most ear infections start out being viral and can be
cleared on their own. Most of the time your body is going do what it does best and fight
it off on its own. So that's it, if you missed anything go
back and watch or check out the notes section below for a review of what we talked about
today. I hope you found the information we presented today useful. If you did, don't
forget to like, subscribe and even hit that notification button as well as share it with
your friends. This is key for me to be able to continue this kind of content for you.
Remember my purpose in sharing this information for you is to educate you in things that you
can think about in trying to make decisions in your own health. In no way should be taken
as direct medical advice to you in your own situation. Please consult your own doctor
for concerns regarding your specific situation. So until next time this is FamilyMed with
Dr Richardson. And remember don't forget to take care of your body because it's the
only one you have.