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Earaches are almost a way of life in cold climates, but there’s an easy way to get rid of them in a minute or two, without any drugs.  How to do it?

Use a hair blow-dryer.  That’s it.  If you’re away from home or don’t have one, SOME hot air hand dryers in public restrooms let you swivel the nozzle so you can dry your face, but many don’t swivel.

Blowing warm air in your ear kills the bad bacteria living in the tissues nearby.  Any germs that feast on you prefer the same temperature as your body, just below 100 degrees F.  When you get sick and develop a fever, the purpose is to kill germs that can’t thrive at higher temperatures.  (If your temperature gets too high, above 105 degrees, brain damage sets in.  That’s why hot tubs are regulated, usually by law, to never get above 104 degrees.)  So, a good fever is between 100 and 104 degrees.

Next time you have an earache, or even if it’s just getting started, blow some warm air on it.  Hair dryers also have a ‘cool’ button that blows air without heating it.  Switch the cool in and out to keep your skin from getting too hot.  Try different speed settings, too.  You want to gently dry your ear canal, not abuse it.

Don’t overdo it.  Burning yourself will just weaken your tissue and make it even easier for germs to eat you (face it, that’s what they do).

Outdoors, a hat, earmuffs, a ski band, balaclava, or a raised collar can help.  Simply stuffing a little piece of soft paper tissue in your ears will help by blocking cold air and sealing in warmth.  Or, hold your hands over your ears.  They can all look a little silly.  Which do you prefer, looking silly, or pain that could lead to hearing loss?

Drying or warming your ears works great any time you finish bathing or swimming, especially if you’ll go outside on a cold or windy day.  The moisture inside your ear canals is slow to evaporate, and as it evaporates, it drains heat away.  The cold slows down blood circulation in there, making it harder for your body to bring nutrients and blood to the area to fight germs.

If your earache persists or gets worse, obviously see a doctor.  Even a lowbrow walk-in clinic may be a better choice than doing nothing or waiting.  An infection can spread quickly and destroy your hearing.  Permanently.  There are other things that can cause an earache besides what’s covered here.

If you have too much earwax, you can get a kit at any drugstore (under $5) that has a peroxide-type chemical (do NOT use hydrogen peroxide — it’s too strong) and a water bulb to soften wax and dirt and flush it out.  Use the bulb very gently or you can irritate the sensitive lining in your ear canal.  Do not stick Q-Tips into your ear canal to remove wax.  A friend or ours did that, then heard a loud rushing sound (and pain) as she accidentally punctured her eardrum (in order to vibrate 15,000 times a second it must be very thin and soft).  Obviously, even after healing, her ear will never hear as well as it used to.

Ditto for loud noises, too.  Protect your ears from loud sounds, especially if they continue over time.  Hearing loss from loud noise is all cumulative.  It’s so gradual, you’ll never notice while it’s leaving you.  And you can never go back.  (Contrary to popular belief, hearing aids and asking everyone to repeat themselves are not sexy.)  Kitchen blender kind of noisy?  Cover your ears.  Running a leaf blower or lawn mower?  Obtain some cheap ear plugs, or plug your ears with bits of paper tissue if you have nothing else.

That loud music at the party last night still has your ears ringing?  That’s the final cry of dying nerve endings that used to hear things; they’ll never hear anything again.  Alcohol makes it much worse by weakening the muscles that try to clamp your eardrum when you hear loud noises, so drinking around loud noises makes you lose your hearing even faster.

Good luck,

Charlie Gosh

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