Home Remedy for Ear Infection, Earache & Swimmer's Ear

It is very important to pay attention to ear infection in early stage. You can have inner ear infection or middle ear infection or outer ear infection with different symptoms.

Home Remedy Topics, Tinnitus, Ear Ringing, Ear Infection

1. Earache/Ear Pain
   
   • Apply heat into the ear to ease the pain. Use a warm cloth or a heating pad set on low.
   • Rest, let your energy to fight the infection. This should give relief after some time.
   • Heat 2 garlic cloves (skin removed) in two spoons of mustard oil till the garlic starts turning black. Sieve and put 2-3 drops of this oil in the ear, and plug with a cotton ball.
   • Put a few drops of warm olive oil into the aching or itching ear, and plug with a cotton ball.
   • Make a paste of onion powder and apply to the outside of the ear.
   • Acetaminophen, aspirin or ibuprofen may help relieve earache.
   • Oral nasal decongestants may help.
   • Take Vitamin C to help boost the immune system and fight infection. Zinc reduces ear infection.
   • Press a piece of garlic and pour the juice in the ear. It will help to reduce the pain.
   • Chew gum or yawn to relieve the pain, if the earache is due to altitude change (in aero plane).
   • Yawning may open your Eustachian tubes by contracting the muscles.
   • Hold your both nostrils closed and blow through your nose until you hear a pop. This will relieve you from the fullness of the ear.
2. Swimmer's Ear
   
   • Rinse the ear using a bulb syringe and saline solution or a 50-50 solution of white vinegar and warm water. Vinegar contains acetic acid, the ingredient used in some over-the-counter eardrops. Boric or acetic acid are effective for mild infections.
   • Put a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in the ear.
   • Apply heat to the outer ear with a warm towel or heating pad set on low.
     
   • Take a sock, fill it with salt, microwave it until it is warm and tolerable to body. Lay your head on it. This may drain the fluid out.

   Note: Try to find the cause of clogging. Make sure that it is due to some perforation in the ear or some other cause in the outer ear. Sometimes, you feel the fullness of the ear due to pressure buildup in the inner ear. If this continues for a long time, then you may develop tinnitus (ringing of the ear). In that case, you have to reduce the intake of the salt (sodium) in your diet to reduce the pressure buildup.

3. Earwax
   
   • Use drops of warm mineral oil to help loosen wax. Wash the wax out with an ear syringe and warm water. You can use garlic oil also. (Do not do this if you have you suspect a rupture eardrum or ear infection or there is a discharge from the ear.)

1. Ear Infection
   
   • Anytime an ear infection is suspected.
   • If a severe earache lasts longer than 1 hour or any earache lasts longer than 12-24 hours.
   • If a headache, fever and stiffness are also present. These are signs of meningitis.
   • Infant ear infection: If the child has earache and fever.
2. Swimmer's Ear
   
   • If the problem is not solved in 5 days of home treatment.
   • If the ear canal is swollen, red and very painful.
   • If there is a discharge from the ear.
   • If the earache follows a cold.