An ear infection is a painful and unpleasant condition that can not only hurt but also make it very difficult to hear what people are saying. That might sound like a minor annoyance, but just wait until you experience it for yourself. This is incredibly frustrating as you feel like you’re walking around in a bubble. You can’t hear anything anyone has to say to you, people have to keep repeating themselves and it can even feel dangerous when you’re crossing the road or doing other things where you need all of your awareness.
But an ear infection is more than just a painful blocked ear. The clue is in the name: this is also an infection and as such it means that you have some form of bacteria or virus causing the pain. This means you can also expect to feel all the unwanted symptoms of any infection which include temperature changes, sweating, tiredness, fever, nausea and more.
You need to be careful how you go about treating the problem too. Poking things into your ear risks compacting the trapped wax further, or potentially even damaging your ear drum. Fortunately, there are things you can do to treat your ear infection and to help it go away. Read on for a number of effective home remedies that are worth a try. Fourteen to be precise!
1. Olive Oil
The first place to start is with olive oil. This has some antibacterial properties, but the real aim of this is to help break up and disperse the wax that is collecting in your ear. Olive oil is effective at softening the wax which in turn means it will start to come out of its own accord.
Add a little to a pipette, drop into the ear and wait. You can actually buy products that do the same thing over the counter, but seeing as you already likely have this oil in your kitchen, why spend the money?