Eustachian Tube Dysfunction

[Mumirene]

I have been suffering with this for years and the doctors say it should get better but it has not. I have tried numerous remedies but none seem to work, has anyone else got this disorder and got any tips for easing it.

[Hidden]

Hold your nose and blow gently through it. You should hear a slight 'tearing/ripping' noise as if peeling apart Velcro - this is the Eustachian tube clearing. See here:

uofmhealth.org/health-libra...

Now it also says yawning or chewing gum helps but I have found if you haven't popped your ears via the blowing method the other two do no good in my experience.

If you do it too hard it can be quite painful, especially if your ears have been blocked for some time. If they aren't clearing with that then I would take Galseud 60mg 3 times a day for 4 - 5 days and that normally helps ease things enough for the blowing method to work.

Add in a hot cloth (obviously don't dip in boiling water and then slap it on the skin - well unless you want a lot of pain) and hold it under the eat covering the side of the jaw and neck. I find that this can ease the pain and in my mind I think it helps reduce the inflammation in the ear, (I have no idea if this is true or not but I think that and that placebo effect could be helping).

Essential oils like Eucalyptus and Peppermint and the like of olbas oil might also help.

Smoking exacerbates things so if you smoke quit; if you don't smoke maybe start and then stop to see if it helps Also you could try anti-inflammatory drugs and diet as I think there is an inflammatory thing going on with that too.

Hope it helps although I am not so sure what they have to do with RLS but that's my solution.

[Mumirene in reply to Hidden]

Thanks raffs for your advice. I have bern doing the holding my.nose and blowing technique but it just relieves it temporarily. I will try to.get hold of the medicine you mentioned and see if that helps. I know this has nothing to do with RLS but i wanted to talk about this issue and ask for any tips.

[Hidden in reply to Mumirene]

Hi Mumirene. Sorry to hear about your difficulty. I imagine it must be really uncomfortable, I hate it when I have problems with my eustachian tubes.

I can't offer any advice I'm afraid. This site is for people to share their experiences of dealing with RLS so I can't imagine you'll get many replies.

It might be useful to see a doctor, there might be something going on with your middle ear.

[CORFUORBUST]

I get this a lot, I bought a device that squirts up your nose and clears it up. When it gets bad just use the device for a day or two, then it clears up.

This is what I use, it is brilliant.

amazon.co.uk/NeilMed-Sinus-...

[Jelbea]

I really sympathise with your trouble with blocked Eustachian tubes. I have suffered from this for very many years with no help from medics. When I get very bad with it I would use Neilmed nasal saline washes (can be obtained from Amazon). This helps quite a bit but never clears it up. I think mine is due to perennial rhinitis from allergies. Other than this I am afraid I go down the track of using a decongestant spray bottle (Otrivine or Sinex). I know these are frowned upon by doctors and should not be used more than five days at a time, but these same doctors cannot tell me how to sleep with a blocked nose and ears. This complaint together with severe RLS makes sleeping difficult and sometimes impossible.

Just a thought - I have often wondered if this blockage to easy breathing sometimes makes the RLS worse as obviously not so much oxygen is present in one's system which in turn makes the blood less oxygen rich and therefore circulation under pressure. As I say - just a thought from my night-time ramblings!!! By the way pseudoephedrine medicines can cause marked RLS.

Hope you can get an answer. If so I would love to share.

Take care