Heres What To Do In The Meantime
While there is no quick fix to help get your voice back, Dr. Milstein offers these tips to soothe inflamed vocal cords:
If your hoarseness persists for longer than two weeks to a month, talk with your doctor. He or she may suggest a laryngoscopy, a procedure that will offer a better view of your larynx.
Our ability to better visualize your larynx can help us more quickly diagnose something that might need surgical management or medication, Dr. Milstein says.
Some experts recommend visualization of the vocal cords before beginning prescription medications, such as anti-reflux medications, steroids or antibiotics.
The bottom line? Most of the time your laryngitis will resolve itself in a week or two, with no lasting effects. But if the problem lingers on toward a month, its a good idea to get checked by a otolaryngologist doctor to make sure there isnt something serious at work.
Can Sinusitis Cause Ear Pain
Sinusitis and earache are closely related as a sinus congestion often develops into an ear congestion. Infected sinuses tend to swell and become congested with mucus, in turn exerting painful pressure on nearby body parts, such as the middle ear. This leads to experiencing severe discomfort in one or both ears.
Upper Respiratory Tract Infections
This type of sinus infection occurs when the upper part of your respiratory tract becomes infected. Usually, this happens when you come into contact with something like a virus or bacteria.
When you catch a cold, for example, your immune system responds by producing antibodies against the virus.
If you then breathe in air containing the virus, your body recognizes it and creates white blood cells called neutrophils. These neutrophils go after the virus and destroy it.
The problem is that these neutrophils also attack nearby tissue, including your nasal passages. Thats why you start feeling pain and pressure in your head. Its also why you feel stuffy and congested.
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Can Sinus Issues Cause Hearing Loss
When the sinuses become inflamed, either from infection or other nasal issues, they can affect your hearing too. Swollen sinuses cause the glands between your nose and eyes to create more mucus than usual, which can block nasal and sinus pathways from draining properly. Your sinuses and ear canal are very close together, so the blockage in your sinuses can cause the Eustachian tube to become inflamed and filled with fluid, leading to pressure on the eardrum. This inner ear pressure can lead to symptoms such as:
- Mild hearing loss or muffled hearing
- Vertigo or balance issues
If you are having difficulty hearing because of sinusitis, infection, or other sinus issues, sounds may sound muffled or distant, as if heard underwater or through a tunnel. Irregular pressure or inflammation can even affect your equilibrium causing issues with balance or walking.
If I Keep Getting Sinus Infections How Can I Protect My Ears
Good hygiene and self-care are always the first steps in protecting yourself. Make sure to say well hydrated to keep your mucous membranes in your sinuses healthy and resistant to irritation.
If you have significant allergies, try to avoid triggers such as dust, animal fur or trees that can cause hay fever or an allergic response. Avoiding other irritants such as cigarette smoke can help reduce the risk of sinusitis.
Finally, if you do suffer from chronic or recurrent sinusitis despite taking appropriate care, come and speak to one of our audiologists in store. They will be able to assess your hearing and recommend hearing aids if required or signpost you to further services.
To learn more about your hearing and hearing loss, visit our hearing loss hub.
References
1. Hung SH, Lin HC, Kao LT, Wu CS, Chung SD. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is associated with chronic rhinosinusitis: population-based study. J Laryngol Otol. 2016 130:521-525. doi:10.1017/S0022215116000906
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Various Sinus Infection That Can Cause Hearing Loss
Nasal congestion from a sinus infection or severe flu or cold is known to accelerate by causing unusual pressure in the disrupting normal hearing and causing .
It is also believed that hearing loss can also be caused by acute barotrauma which is brought about by extreme and swift changes in water and air pressure, which damages the inner and middle ear.
When the sinuses get inflamed, the glands in the sinus start secreting abnormally high levels of mucus, causing a blockage in the nasal passages thus stopping the mucus from flowing out of the sinus cavities as it should be.
Sinusitis may also be brought about by a bacterial infection, allergic reaction, viral infection or fungal infection. In other cases, some dental procedures such as tooth extraction may also cause sinusitis.
Since the sinuses are located near the ear canal, when sinuses become congested or clogged with mucus, it affects the ears. This obstruction in the sinuses leads to the Eustachian tube which is the channel that joins the middle ear to the throat and responsible for regulating the ear pressure to swell, become blocked, causing it to suck fluid inside the ear space.
This leads to increased pressure in the eardrum, resulting in pain and hearing loss or sounds appearing muffled.
In most cases, hearing loss is temporally, and once the sinus infection clears up and the discharges from both the nasal passage and the Eustachian tube drains up, hearing is restored.
Lets First Look At Conductive Hearing Loss
It involves the outer and middle ear. This occurs when sound has a hard time getting through the outer and middle parts of the ear. Soft sounds are harder to hear and the louder sounds may sound more muffled. Sometimes this can be cured by medicine or surgery.
Most of the time when sound passes in the ear canal to the eardrum where it is transmitted across the middle ear to the inner ear by three small bones called the ossicles. Conductive hearing loss results if there is a mechanical problem in transmitting the sound from the outer and middle ear to the inner ear.
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What Are The Main Symptoms Of A Sinus Infection
When you think of a sinus infection, what comes to mind? Most people picture a red, itchy, painful head with swollen cheeks and eyes.
But theres more to a sinus infection than just those obvious symptoms. There are actually several types of sinus infections.
And theyre not always easy to distinguish from each other. So heres a quick breakdown of some of the most common ones.
- Pain in the face
Seek Help For Clogged Ears
Although weve covered four of the most common reasons you ears may feel clogged, its always wise to seek the advice of a hearing healthcare professional whenever you are having trouble hearing. Unclogging your ears at home using home remedies such as ear candling or a cotton swab is never a good idea.
Heres a tip: Find a doctor, hearing specialist or audiologist near you and have your hearing evaluated before trouble starts. The baseline information the initial test provides will be a good benchmark for your medical team to use in an emergency situation and to monitor your hearing health.
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Treatment Of Ear Congestion
Treatment of ear congestion is dependent upon the cause. Usually, ear congestion will require no special medications and it generally resolves spontaneously within few days.
- Ear congestion due to temporary dysfunction of Eustachian tube is often relieved by yawning, chewing, swallowing or swallowing with the nose closed by pinching.
- Frequent ear congestion due to allergies requires anit-histamine medications and other anti-allergic measures .
- Treatment of special cases of ear congestion due to other rare causes will be focused on the treatment of the primary condition.
Or you can try one of the following remedies to help:
1. Use Valsalva Maneuver
Inhale deeply and pinch your nose with your thumb and index finger. Exhale through your nose while pinching it. Be sure to do it gently to avoid damaging the eardrum.
2. Combine Alcohol and Vinegar
Mix one part each of vinegar and alcohol and put a few drops in your affected ear. Using a dropper will make it easier. Do not raise your head for a few minutes.
3. Make Use of Olive Oil
Take lukewarm olive oil and put a few drops of it in your affected ear. After 5 minutes, use some cotton to help remove the oil and earwax that may be clogging your ears.
4. Try Warm Water Flush
5. Warm Cloth
Allergies The Common Cold And Sinus Infections
When we breathe in, contaminants and allergens from the environment travel down into our lungs, but can also affect the tube connecting the throat to the ear and cause feelings of a clogged ear and muffled hearing. Medication to alleviate the symptoms of colds, allergies, and sinus infections will improve the feeling of a clogged ear over time.
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Sinus Infections: Your Top 5 Questions Answered
Cold and flu season isnt quite over yet. If you have congestion that includes sinus pressure, you may have a coldor it could be a sinus infection. How can you be sure that its one or the other, and when is it time to make an appointment with your doctor?
Eric L. Winarsky, M.D., an otolaryngologist and surgeon with Hackensack Meridian Health Medical Group, helps answer the 5 most Googled questions about nasal inflammation and sinus infections.
How To Avoid Toothache
Follow these tips to avoid toothache:
- Dont brush overzealously
All of us are aware that excess of everything is bad. Yet, we forget this universal truth when were brushing our teeth in the hope of getting that eye-catching smile.
While it may give us sparkling teeth, overzealous brushing may also wear down tooth enamel and cause tooth sensitivity. Thats why we suggest our readers use an electric toothbrush with a pressure sensor.
- Give up the habit of tooth grinding
Do you ever wake up with a headache for no reason? Find yourself clicking in your jay every time you open your mouth? Both of these are signs that you grind your teeth. Heres why you shouldnt.
Aside from causing misalignment of teeth, teeth grinding can also result in the deterioration of enamel thereby exposing you to toothache when hearing high-frequency sounds.
- Use an alcohol-based mouthwash
The build-up of plaque and gingivitis in your mouth can also cause toothache in the long run. Both these substances grow in silence until the damage theyve done results in extreme pain.
Thats why we recommend that you use an alcohol-based mouthwash on a daily basis. Not only will it keep both these substances at bay. But it will also give you a fresh breath.
- Visit a dentist
If you continue to experience toothache even after acting on the abovementioned tips, your problem may be more severe and might require a trip to the dentist.
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How Long Does It Take For Laryngitis Symptoms To Clear Up
Laryngitis mostly manifests quickly and its symptoms last for no more than two weeks for most people who are affected by it. If you have chronic laryngitis, where your symptoms last for longer than three weeks, then you should immediately consult with your doctor. Your doctor will be able to identify other causes underlying these symptoms and provide the correct treatment.
Throat Symptoms: Whats Causing Your Hoarseness
When you speak, air moving through your vocal cords causes vibrations and results in sound. When all the working parts dont come together properly, your voice can sound strained, raspy, or hoarse. Hoarseness happens for a number of reasons your vocal cords can be swollen from a cold virus or laryngitis . However, prolonged hoarseness can also indicate a serious problem, such as cancer, so see an ENT specialist if your symptoms donât go away.
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Tips To Prevent Sinus Infections
In order to avoid ear pain and temporary hearing loss due to clogged ears as a result of sinus infections one must prevent sinus infections. Here are some tips to help you prevent sinus infections and avoid the complications associated with it.
- Control your allergies.
- Keep hydrated, which keeps mucus thin.
- Reduce alcohol consumption, which can worsen mucus.
- Minimize exposure to people with cold or flu.
- Always wash your hands and avoid germs.
- Avoid chlorinated swimming pools.
What Are Some Of The Causes Of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is caused by a bunch of different reasons, some of which can be successfully treated with, and there are three types:
Conductive when hearing loss is due to problems with the structure of the ear
Sensorineural when hearing loss is due to problems of the inner ear, or nerve-related and,
Mixed hearing loss which means that there may be both issues going on at the same time.
Some of the causes of conductive hearing loss include fluid in the ear that is left over from an illness or an infection, allergies, poor tube function, damage to the eardrum, infection or an object in the ear. Another type of conductive hearing loss carries a different kind of treatment if the loss is congenital, which means there was a failure of the ear canal to form at birth and it can usually be corrected with surgery. Conductive hearing loss caused by head trauma is another cause that can be treated surgically.
There are two types of infections that can also cause conductive hearing loss. Acute infections are often treated with antibiotic medications, while chronic ear infections, chronic fluid, or tumors usually need a permanent solution like surgery. Chronic middle ear fluid is typically treated with medications whereas treating non-infectious middle ear fluid is a lot more invasive. Otosclerosis, in which the bone in your ear makes it hard for sound to get to the middle ear and is also usually treated with surgery or hearing aid.
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Measurement Of Crs Severity And Course
CRS severity was assessed by the Lund-Mackay score , which was based on coronal CT scanning of patients in the bilateral maxillary sinus, anterior ethmoid sinus, posterior ethmoid sinus, frontal sinus and sphenoid sinus. The complete lucency, partial opacity and complete opacity of fluid accumulated from the sinus was scored as 0, 1, and 2 respectively. Remarkably, the ostiomeatal complex was scored as either 0 or 2 for not being obstructed or obstructed. Therefore, LMS for the right or left sinus ranged from 0~12 with a total score 0~24 for both sides. The CRS course was counted during the collecting history as the number of months from the complaint of onset until visiting the hospital.
Top Tips To Protect Your Child From Sinus Infection Hearing Loss
Treat sinusitis early to prevent hearing lossReturn for check up to ensure treatment workedConsider ear tubes if situation is chronicGet tested and treated for allergies to head off sinus infectionsEliminate known allergens from your childs home environmentCall Pediatric ENT for more information
Pediatric ENT can assess your child and help ensure that hearing loss isnt permanent. Give us a call today.
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Ear Infection Or Sinus Infection Treating Your Symptoms Quickly
By raphael, April 20, 2022
Sometimes its hard to know whether you are experiencing an ear infection or a sinus infection because of the similarities in symptoms. Both diagnoses involve significant pressure or pain in the head/neck area and both infections may trigger a fever response in your body.
So, why is it important to know whether youre suffering from a sinus infection or an ear infection? Because the treatment option selected will only be effective if you have the right diagnosis.
Heres how to decide whether youre experiencing a sinus infection or an ear infection and how your ear, nose, and throat doctor can help along the way.
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Can A Blocked Nose Cause Hearing Loss
A blocked nose can make life miserable. Added to a plugged nose, hearing loss can make the problem worse. But why does it happen that whenever there is an episode of a stuffy nose, your hearing also gets affected? Have you given thought about that? Read this blog to know the relation between the blocked nose and hearing loss.
Nasal congestion can result from various reasons, including the following:
- Allergies such as hay fever
- Tumors in the nasal cavity
- Enlargement of adenoid tissue
- Congenital nasal narrowing in newborns
- Otitis media and asthma also cause nasal congestion, which can cause sleep disturbances, sleep apnea, pressure in the ear, and/or temporary hearing loss
While these are the common reasons behind a stuffy nose, it is recommended to visit your doctor for the correct diagnosis.
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