Middle ear infection and antibiotics

[Helliborous]

Hi everyone, I have recently taken a short flight and experienced pain in my ears which is not unusual as the discomfort is usually a problem if I fly. Just as an aside my ears are always very sensitive in the winter months and cause earache. I have had them checked with GP and there is a middle ear infection , he has prescribed penicillin. I asked for antibiotic drops but he said they wouldn't help with middle ear problems. I'm feeling apprehensive taking penicillin as I have Intestinal Metaplasia. Any advice please would be welcome. Thanks

[Nackapan]

Hi pylori is one cause of intestinal metaplasia I think.Hi pylori is treated with several antibiotics .

Your doctor knows your medical status.

Infections have to be treated and hopefully the right sort for your ear infection.

They seem yo have more side effects with me now but were needed

[Helliborous in reply to Nackapan]

Thanks Nackapan for the good advice. On one hand I feel I should take them but I've been working on my microbiome for 6 months and just have visions of all those good little bugs being wiped out 😩

[Hockey_player]

Chewing gum on a plane helps to keep your ears from hurting by alleviating pressure build up. Or swallow. Benadryl might help to decrease mucous and result in less clogging. I greatly prefer drops when I have an ear infection. Pills mess too much with my microbiome. Try keeping your ears covered when you are outside and it is cold or windy. If it is not really cold, I use a cotton neck gaiter and put it over my ears. It is awesome when biking. It keeps the wind from making my ears hurt.

[Helliborous in reply to Hockey_player]

Thanks Hockey_player, I use 'air planes' ear plugs and eat boiled sweets which help a little, I'll be trying the Benadryl next time. I haven't flown for several years and it's the microbiome that I'm concerned about

[Hockey_player in reply to Helliborous]

I have really bad ears. I find that ear plugs on the plane make things worse and not better. Often the problem is a pressure difference that needs to be relieved. The gum/swallowing open thing up. Boiled sweets would work too, but with the amount of swallowing I need, they would be a lot of sugar.

[Helliborous in reply to Hockey_player]

Hi Hockey_player, good point I was certainly knocking back the Werthers sweets and I normally restrict sugar

[Rexz]

Hi Helliborous

OK here's maybe a unique odd shot. I had problems with the very thing you're talking about for about a year. First my right ear felt very stuffy like it was full of earwax. I had it checked and it was clear. So nothing. Then after a few months I started experiencing a little pain especially when was flying. My ears would not adjust/clear. So finally, after almost a year of this I saw an ENT, Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. I presume they have these in UK? Funny thing, I complained about my ear pain, he spent one second looking in my ear then went directly up my nose with a scope. As I was watching on this TV what we found was my sinuses were completely impacted by polyps/growths. We further did a CT scan which confirmed this deep sinus impact. So my eustachian tubes that drain the middle ear were blocked from the inside and not from an infection. I've since had surgery to clear all this out. So why do I offer this as a long shot? Well turns out these polyps are not that uncommon and are mostly caused by asthma, or some allergy that irritates/INFLAMES the sinuses. Well I've no asthma and was sent to an allergist and tested for most every allergy and NO allergy. Docs don't know what caused this but now suspect it may, I stress the suspect and may, be caused by the chronic inflammation of Autoimmune Gastritis/PA. But they really don't know. Btw another name for Autoimmune Gastritis is Autoimmune Metaplastic Atrophic Gastritis (AMAG). Your bio says PA so I presume you've been diagnosed with this. With AMAG as your immune system destroys your Parietal Cells your body in trying to repair that damage, replaces those cells with Metaplastic cells. In our case these cells look like they belong in either the small or large intestine hence the name Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia (GIM). These GIMs are considered pre-cancerous lesions (small probability) are also found with H-Pylori. You should have had an endoscopy or gastroscopy performed to first screen for cancer, but also biopsy the Antrum (lower) part of stomach, these biopsy would confirm or discount H-Pylori. Like myself, with PA your GIM and gastritis will be in your fundus (very top of stomach) and upper gastric body and sparing the antrum.

Well that's a lot of words to answer a simple ear question! 😊. I apologize for the TMI. But maybe have your sinuses checked for polyps?

Oh geez here we go, some more words! Regarding antibiotics.... I have zero oxyntic mucosa left, no partial cells, stomach is fully involved with GIM, and have achlorhydria. I may be an extreme case but PA is progressive so just be sensitive to taking antibiotics, since with low or no stomach acid your intestinal microbiome is very fragile already.

OK, enough already, I'll shut up now! 🤪

Best wishes, Rexz

[Helliborous in reply to Rexz]

Thanks Rexz, yes I also have AMAG due to damage to Parietal Cells but no H-pylori. The GP prescribed antibiotics as he said both ear drums are very red so diagnosed infection which I am concerned taking because of delicate microbiome. I have been taking Symprove for several months now and I don't want to destroy all the good little bugs in there. During the winter months or windy weather I have always had to cover them otherwise earache and slight vertigo is a problem so maybe I should check things with ENT. 🤔