I just wanted to share my story, as I am finally starting to feel better and I can tell both ears are only 1-2 days off from being completely better. My ears were very, very swollen but not completely shut. The doctor at the ER said I was lucky because when they’re completely shut I would need to get a wick. I had already been to the walk-in clinic two days before and had gotten anti-biotic drops.

When my second ear became infected, I went back to the walk-in clinic and the doctor said to keep using the drops and also gave me some oral anti-biotics (KEFLEX 500mg) “because of the severity”. These anti-biotics have done far more than the drops, especially seeing as how I suspect the drops were barely or not going into my ears due to swelling.

Long story short: oral anti-biotics have worked far better for me. Maybe it could be an option for the rest of you as well. I’ll admit from your stories it seems like ear wicks are effective, yet sound pretty painful!

I had never heard of them until I had to get one the other day for a really bad bout of swimmer’s ear. I guess I’m one of the few that was fortunate enough for it not to hurt. There was some mild discomfort is he slipped it in my ear, but now I barely notice it… With a combination of ear drops, amoxicillin, and tramadol for pain, I can actually sleep!

I wanted to share my experience: I was woken up two mornings ago from the pain of a moderate ear ache. I had not had ear pain since I was a toddler when I needed tubes put in my ears, so this felt very unnatural and I knew there was a problem (I am 31 now). I did a little research and self diagnosed myself with swimmer’s ear.

I went to the doctor first thing on the morning I experienced pain and he looked in my ear and confirmed an infection. He then proceeded to try and “scrape” out some of the blockage in my ear and prescribed ear drops. This was very painful, but bearable and I made it through the remainder of the day using the ear drops as prescribed, with moderate pain, but feeling relativley okay.

I struggled to fall asleep that night and took an Ambien. Two hours later I awoke in absolute agony. The pain in my ear was far more intense and had spread to now include pain in my jaw. I had moderate relief from advil, but had to go to work as I had to give two presentations that day . By noon I had completed my presentations, but I was in severe pain and so I called the doctor to explain that things seem to be getting worse.

The doctor agreed to see me again and attempted to ‘irragate” my ear using warm water and a syringe ( I should also note that I witnessed him test the temparature of the water using his bare hand dripping over the same tub he was using to draw water to the syringe). This process was failry painful, and now he prescribed vicodin and a new ear drop to try. I left the office in tremendous pain that was getting progressively worse by the minute to the point that my eyes were watering until I had the prescription filled and took a pain killer.

The pain killer provided some moderate relief, but quickly wore off and a subsequent pill proved ineffective. The entire left side of my head/face from the ear down felt like it was going to expode, I lost all hearing in the ear. At this point I went to the ER, and little did I know that the pain I had experienced prior to this was nothing compared to what was to come.

The ER gave me an oral antibiotic and inserted the dreaded/blessed wick. The insertion of the wick itself was very painful, but paled in comparison to the pain I experienced for the next five hours aftter. It felt like someone was stabbing my ear with a nail and twisting it. Ultimately, at 5:00 in the morning I took three advil/ibuprofen and this finally reduced the swelling, provided overwhelming relief, and allowed me to fall asleep.

I only slept for about two hours, but I awoke relatively pain free. I still had discomfort and could not hear from the ear, but at least the pain had subsided. I continued to be pain free until about noon today. When some pressure/pain started creeping back I took a pain killer and two more advil. This is where I stand now and the pain is under control.

Sorry for being so long-winded, but I appreciate the opportunity to share my experience. My take-away is that if you have a wick put in, advil or some kind of anti-inflammatory should be your best friend. Advil seems to help far more than the pain killer, and makes the wick tolerable, while allowing the ear drops to reach the infection.. Also, I wonder if those that had a relativaly pain free wick experience had a middle ear infection as opposed to swimmer’s ear. Intense sensitvity and pain in the outer ear is associated with swimmer’s ear and not middle ear infections.

Thanks for reading, and may you have a pain-free ear recovery!!