Health
Ear discharge : When should you visit the ER
Ear discharge is often a private problem. Few want to discuss it. It’s also easy to ignore since you don’t see the condition inside your ear. It’s an easily treatable and preventable condition.
In this post, I will tell you
- All your options with ear discharge.
- When you should definitely visit the ER.
- What are your options to get treated
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Table of contents
What are the causes of ear discharge?
Ear discharge occurs when secretions occur due to infections in various parts of the ear.
*Otitis externa : Infection involving external ear.
Furuncle/boil
Otomycosis:fungal infection
Acute otitis media
Pus gets trapped behind the eardrum and the pressure may cause the drum to rupture and pus mixed with blood gets released. This generally occurs after an untreated cold for a period of 5 to 7 days. Accompanied by fever and earache. Rupture of the eardrum occurs with a decrease in pain and pus with bloody discharge.
Chronic otitis media
When ear infection causes persistent discharge for more than 12 weeks. This often presents with ear drum perforation, ear discharge, and reduced hearing.
*Otitis media with effusion
Generally allergic rhinitis, adenoid tissues, and Tonsillitis may cause this. In this case, a sticky discharge occurs.
*CSF Otorrhea
Following head injury, if the junction between your ear and brain is breached the brain fluid may leak.
Potentially serious condition with a risk of meningitis.
Types of ear discharge:
Watery: CSF Fluid covering the brain. You may think water is coming out of your ear.
*Mucoid: Middle ear goblet cells are the source . Indicates ear drum perforation. This is sticky like the goo which comes out of your nose when you have a cold. It’s a white discharge from the ear.
*Pus: Otitis externa/furuncle/infected fungal infection, squamous type of Chronic otitis media.
Pus+mucus: Infected mucus, indicates ear drum perforation.Chronic otitis media mucosal type when there occurs ear drum perforation.
Blood coming out of the ear has to be managed by an ear doctor.
*Pus+blood: squamous type of Chronic otitis media potentially serious and needs urgent management.
*Pus+mucus+blood.:Chronic otitis media mucosal type with granulation
potentially serious and needs urgent management.
What are the important investigations you should do?
*Otoendoscopy: A chance for you to Visualize the inside of your own ear and see the problem.
*Pure tone audiometry: PTA. Helps to assess diminished hearing which can occur due to ear discharge.
*Tympanometry: Eardrum problems like a thinned drum, and the perforated drum is diagnosed You can also detect fluid behind an intact drum.
*HRCT temporal bone: This is computed tomography of your ear bone and helps detect, how far the disease has progressed.
What are the options for treatment for discharging the ear?
Treatment may be:
*Surgical:Chronic Otitis media squamous type( having cholesteatoma and granulations)
*Medical: Acute otitis media, Otomycosis, furuncle of the ear.
*Surgical+Medical: Chronic otitis media
What are the other complaints associated with ear discharge?
*Swelling behind the ear: post-aural abscess
*Partial or complete loss of hearing
Ear ache: more common in acute otitis media, ear furuncle, and fungal ear infection.Less common in chronic otitis media. If earache occurs in Chronic otitis media it’s considered a dangerous sign.
READ more about Earache
*Ringing sound in the ear: Tinnitus
*Acute and chronic mastoiditis Infection and inflammation of the Mastoid bone.
*Post aural fistula: Opening in the skin behind the ear connecting with the Mastoid bone.(This occurs in Chronic otitis media eroding the bone .)
*Accompanying signs such as fever and headache often indicate the potential involvement of the brain.
Meningitis, Brain abscess, and other intracranial complications.
*Facial palsy: Disease can cause involvement of the facial nerve.Deviation of mouth, difficulty closing eye, the problem with chewing, eating, blowing, and puffing.
Treatment depends on the exact cause
Often ear discharge is a symptom ignored for a long. Avoidance of the problem will put you at risk of serious complications including, permanent hearing loss. Like a friend of mine, who after ignoring repeated bouts of airplane ear developed chronic otitis media and persistent ear discharge.
When should you visit the ER, with ear discharge?
- Ear pain not decreasing
- Profuse bleeding from the ear
- Slap injury /sharp injury to the ear
- High-grade fever with ear discharge and headache
- Ear discharge with dizziness nausea and vomiting
- Sudden hearing loss with ear discharge
- Facial deviation with ear discharge
- Swelling behind the ear with ear discharge
These are all danger signs and need immediate intervention.
Is ear discharge not stopping?This is what you must know.
Where can you get help?
In India, all Government Medical colleges have a good ENT setup.Plus it’s free
In Delhi:
AIIMS
Safdarjung Hospital
Maulana Azad Medical College
GTB Hospital and Medical College
Kolkata
Calcutta Medical College
NRS Medical College
SSKM Medical College
CNMC
R.G.Kar Medical college
Ear discharge in children needs early treatment to prevent long-term sequelae and irreversible damage.
Private medical colleges with excellent Ear surgery in Kolkata
What other queries do you have about ear discharge? Let me know in the comments below.
Shishumangal Hospital and Vivekananda Medical college
Disclaimer: This health info is meant for educational purposes only and should not be confused as professional medical advice.
10 Truths about weight lifting for women
I used to lift weights 10 years back.Then in the mad rush of studies, work , marriage and then baby I had forgotten how much fun it was.
How great I felt.
I started lifting again only 1 year back.
But it’s like finding your best buddy again.
You remember all the fun you had.
It’s like no time had passed.
I had first weight trained when I started my MBBS studies.Didn’t know much about pros and cons of strength training .
But I fell in love with barbells, dumbbells, deadlifts overhead presses, pull ups, squats!Everything.
Will you lose weight?
This will largely depend upon your diet and your genes.
Will you become stronger?
Yes definitely.
Will you look great and feel awesome?
Absolutely .
The Myths about strength training
- Lifting heavy weights will make you bulky.
- It’s bad for your joints
- When you have muscle if you stop lifting it will become fat.
- You will lose your femininity.
10 Truths about strength training for women:
- Make you stronger
- Make you healthier.
- Make you toned.
- Helps you lose weight even when you are not exercising.
- Boosts your BMR
- A quick way to get rid of your blues and increase endorphins.
- Helps control attacks of anxiety depression and mood swings
- Decreases stress
- Sleep quality improved
- Stronger heart
Yoga for increasing flexibility and finding your core.
The treadmill for improving cardiorespiratory health.
But are they enough?
Can you do targeted weight loss?
No.
For weight loss, you must do compound movements.Big movements.
Movements that need a lot of different muscle groups to complete.
These are the exercises which help you become stronger and leaner.
Should men and women lift different weights?
Men have testosterone as their major sex hormone, which helps them bulk up.
While women have estrogen which doesn’t bulk you up.But helps make lean muscle.It helps improve bone density and make you stronger.
So why do women heavy lifters look so big?
3 Things.
They maybe taking special protein supplements.
Specifically, want that look and have trained for years .
May also be under hormonal therapy.
The truth is for you to find out.
Treadmill or weight lifting ?
Which burns more?
Hands down weights do.
Cardio you burn calories while doing it.
Strength training helps you burn during and after the exercise.
You lift weights
Your muscle continues to need more oxygen after you stop.
This is EPOC or excess post exercise energy consumption.This makes you lose more calorie and increase BMR.
Standing burns calories, more than sitting.
Walking is better than standing and strength training is better than walking!
Start lifting heavy weights .Lift everything. The stronger you are the better you will feel.The more confident you will be.
But it’s important to talk to your brain.Because exercise has a lot to do with your mind. What makes you happy?
Are you ready to make a change be stronger?
Tell me , do you do like strength training .Comment below and let me know.
Disclaimer: This is meant to promote awareness about healthy lifestyle and necessity for exercise.This is not a blanket recommendation for all.It is advisable to consult your own doctor before starting any new exercise program.
Fitness challenge to make you stronger
My daughter is 4 and half years old .For the last 4 years I’ve told my hubby that I am getting fitter ,mentally !
The amount of exercise I do in my brain could have made me a bikini super model by now.
This year finally I found an answer to my fitness woes.
I had more fun getting fitter ,than ever before.
The lessons I learned :
#1 Talk to your brain.It’s the boss!
“I am happy with my body” ,line would have worked ,if that was true.Not lying to myself is my first rule.
I have a treadmill which I use everyday to walk or run or stroll whatever as long as I get on it.It makes me happy.
That shot of adrenaline helped me explore how I can make the treadmill trips less boring.I have a few hacks which I will be sharing.
#Lesson 2
Dumbbells are my favourite .
Lifting weights are a lot of fun.
They give me a feeling of accomplishment .
I started my weight training journey , apprehensively not sure I could continue it.
But continue I did.
While doing the Blogchatter challenge # My Friend Alexa, I realized most people work best in a community. After reading this this Blogchatter challenge it became obvious to me that, when you’re having fun, with friends its easier to get difficult work done.
What’s more difficult than getting fitter?
Weight loss is not just about self image for me.It’s about finding my strongest self.I want my daughter to grow up strong.Strong mothers can help their children grow up stronger.
Not afraid of the world and its lurking dangers.
As protests for the wrongs suffered continues ,women need to grow stronger.
The stronger you become it will be more difficult to suppress your voice.
#Lesson 3
When you are the ideal weight ,your heart and your joints having less work to do .
There’s a reason weight and height charts are matched .
Life is about a healthy living and the best life possible.
I started lifting weight 6 months back with one set of dumbbells.
Now I have a few. Living in a little town in West Bengal and with my crazy schedule, going to the gym is not convenient .
So whatever I do have to be done at home.
When I started my fitness journey I had a few nagging pains ,left over from my post pregnancy days.
The stronger I became , the better I felt about myself.
The less pains and aches I had .
Body weight and mental health ,have a deep relationship .Mind and body ,live together in your consciousness.
When your mind decides it wants to get stronger you will get stronger.
With 71 days left before 2017 are you as strong as you would like to be?
Are you upto,taking part in a fitness challenge to become the strongest you?
If yes ,you need to do two little things.
Subscribe to my list by entering your email in the form below.
Comment below to let me know.
Looking forward to making friends with strong women.
Because health is about strength and fitness!
I am taking part in the ultimate blogging challenge with Blogchatter #DailyChatter.
This is #UBC Day 18
Protected: Childhood obesity assessment :What you must know
COCHLEAR IMPLANT: Who needs it? How does it help (part 2)
COCHLEAR IMPLANT: Who needs it? How does it help? This is part 2 in the Cochlear implant series and you can read the first part here.
Cochlear implants appeared rather gimmicky when they first arrived. With misconceptions around its use, most people were apprehensive. Even doctors were doubtful. It promised everything, would it deliver?
What were the fears with a cochlear implant?
*It can’t help, if you are born hearing challenged.
*It doesn’t help in speech development.
*It will make the child alienated.
*It’s no good for old people with hearing problems.
So what are the answers? Read on.
The Story from deaf to hearing, is it magic?
Cochlear implants started in the second half of the 1980s.
Riddled by misconceptions and hype it was handicapped by the need for really motivated children and parents.
But like all life-changing things, the cochlear implant stood the test of time with flying colors.
Children who were helped by a cochlear implant make us smile.
They tell us how they hear. How do they understand speech? It’s through their words that we learned about life, from no sound to a noisy world.
Who does it help?
- Children
- Post-lingual deafness in all age groups
- Old people with profound age-related hearing loss.
- In Auditory Dys-synchrony
Cochlear Implant in Children
Postlingually deaf children.Children who have already developed speech and have lost hearing due to some disease like meningitis.
Best Age of cochlear implantation: before two and a half years. But it has been done as early as one year of age.
7 years is a watershed zone, after which Prelingual deafness has variable results.
The longer the child has an implant, the better is the speech recognition scores. When the duration of use of the implant is the same, results are better with a lower age of implantation. The rate of expressive and receptive language learning is similar to that of hearing children.
Role of cochlear implant in presbycusis
Presbycusis or age-related hearing loss is also helped with cochlear implantation. It’s useful for the elderly with profound hearing loss, which cannot be helped with a hearing aid.
A world without sound can be lonely. More so in the aged population.
10% of normal ganglion cells ( approx.3500 cells ) are needed to recognize and understand speech.
The successful hearing outcome is seen with useful hearing. This helps in the hearing rehabilitation of the aged.
Depression, anxiety, and social isolation in both elderly and people with decreased hearing make life more difficult.
Some criteria:
Pure tone audiometry(hearing test) of 70 decibels or more for those planning for implantation in children and adults.
Cochlear implant in Auditory Dys-synchrony
You must be wondering”Auditory what”?
Auditory neuropathy or auditory dys-synchrony is complex. Children have variable hearing abilities.
What do Tests show in Auditory Dys-synchrony?
Normal middle ear functions, otoacoustic emissions present. But Brainstem evoked response Audiometry is unresponsive. This means sounds pass from outside to the ear up to the nerve of hearing, like a hearing person. But the communication between this nerve and the brain is distorted. The sound reaches the brain scrambled and makes no sense.
Why does this happen?
The sensory cochlear hair cells responsible for firing electrical signals in response to sound, do so dys-synchronously. That’s random without the syncing needed for understanding the generated sound.
Plain English: the rhythm of the electrical firing, is not right for your brain to pick up as words.
The action potential doesn’t develop properly in the cochlear nerve. This causes hearing loss. This is variable depending on. the degree of dys-synchrony.
Initially believed that hearing aids and auditory amplification would be useless. But some children benefit from hearing aids too.
Cochlear implantation can restore synchrony by, by-passing cochlear hair cells and stimulating the auditory nerve directly and synchronously.
The theory is good. But research continues for strategizing treatment, in Auditory Dys-synchrony. Whether a cochlear implant will help in auditory dys-synchrony is decided case to case.
The next burning question:
1 implant or 2 implants: One ear or both ears?
With 2 implants pros:
Better speech understanding.
This is more obvious in a noisy environment. Better sound localization, the direction of sound detection possible only with hearing in both ears.
Cons of 2 bilateral implants:
Most importantly the cost.
The dedication required for several years of necessary post-implant speech training and follow-up. It’s definitely not easy.
Where do we stand now?
Some governments cover the cost.
Few individuals can afford the cost of the best grade of the implant for both ears.
The government is realizing the cost of the implant is value for money. It is less than the years of disability support a person will need.
In children should you use up both ears?
Over the years as technology improves, maybe they’ll be better options?
Should you give up the present for the future many questions still need answers
Can there be a significant bilateral vestibular injury?
With excellent imaging, experienced surgeon, and God’s blessing this is rare.
Is it cost-effective?
The benefits outweigh the potential harm for many cochlear implant candidates. Like with all new medical innovations, it’s a long journey to perfection. We are still far from perfect in this cochlear implant journey. But we are far ahead than 10 years back. Light years away from 50 years back.Where there was no hope…There smiles a child with a cochlear implant who is hearing.
Updated May 2022
Cochlear Implant: What you need to know(Part 1)
Cochlear Implant: Who needs it? ( Part2)