When you've had a cold and your ear is all blocked, what can you do?

[PrincessRagnhild]

I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, and my right ear is still all blocked up and quite deaf. Is there something I should do about it - something I can take, or should I go to the doctor, or will it just go away on its own?

You could try taking a turmeric supplement it worked wonders at clearing my sinuses after flu recently.

Also for longer term look at your dairy or corn intake.

Hmm, I do eat TONS of cheese. Good suggestion :) Will give turmeric a try!

Go to your GP asap and get antibiotics, you obviously have an ear infection, and are at risk of going permanently deaf.

fresh pineapple. eat it, don't insert it! it has enzymes in it that are good for ear infections. has to be fresh, not tinned.

Quite normal after colds and flu to have blocked ears. They do tend to clear on their own eventually. You only need antibiotics if it developes into an ear infection which it usually doesnt.

Going a bit deaf after a cold is not always an ear infection, sometimes it is just snotty stuff in the ear tube ( I get this every time I have a cold) I find the purple sudafed to be the best thing I have had to clear it.

I had this & went to docs expecting a blocked eustation tube. Doc looked in ear & it was full of wax!
I had blocked ears due to the cold, but kept sticking my finger in my ear as it was so irritating & this compacted the wax resulting In an even more blocked ear that didn't disappear with the cold.
Put drops in the ear & after a week a MASSIVE lump of wax came out. Problem solved. So you need the doc to look in your ear to check.

hold your nose and blow hard!

I also recommend Sudafed.

PrincessRagnhild

As long as there is no risk of a eardrum having ruptured I usually find a couple of drops of warm olive oil in DD's ears before bed really helps.

Holding a warm flannel over it often helps with any mild pain but if it doesn't clear up soon I'd go to the docs - you may need antibiotics, or to have it syringed. The warm olive oil things can sometimes be effective too - use a few drops in the ear before bed, then lie with that ear uppermost for as long as you can, then loosely put some cotton wool in the ear to soak up the olive oil.

Thanks for all the suggestions! It's not really painful, just a very slight ache, so I don't think it's an infection. Will try out some of these ideas and go to doc next week if it's not better. It's weird, have never had it before, but it started with an odd cold that began in my chest rather than my head. When I was doing the Shred last night I could hear the liquid sloshing around in my ear!