[donmoore]

Naiada,
Thanks for the response. I guess the thread is not that popular. I think you were right about either stretching the drums or a small amount of bacteria from the sinuses. The pain persisted through a few more days until last night I did the old divers treatment of putting a 1/3rd each of rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and vinegar in each outer ear. I can’t remember all the reasons why this formula is suppose to work, but I know it's suppose to dry the outer ear and its been proven to help draw infection from the middle ear through the ear drum as well as help heal the ear drum itself if needed. Each drum immediately felt better like it had been pushed out and when the fluid of the formula reached it from the outside, it helped to push it back to a neutral position.

The funny thing about the hearing was that I experienced no hearing loss, just a small pain and load noises really hurt. Soft noises were no problem to hear. There are two muscles that are suppose to contract and help the ear absorb less volume in load noise situations. Don’t know if and how they would be affected.

I did some more studying and found that the saline solution for contacts I used is sterile, but to make it sterile that have to add preservatives, which could effect the delicate mucus membrane of the inter ear and eustachian tubes. The next experiment I do I believe will be with Broncho Sterile Saline solution. The reason is apparently it is the only sterile saline solution with no preservatives available without a prescription. Their method (Blairex the major manufacturer) is to keep it sterile by containing it in an aerosol bottle. Not as cost effective as the contact solution, but maybe it will work with less irritation.

The possibility of the solution picking up germs from the sinuses on its way to middle ears is a real concern. I imagine the saline would help some, but antibiotics might be more effect, but I hate to take any antibiotics if it is not absolutely needed.

Another thing I learn, if I understand it correctly, is salt water, unlike some wet equalizers have suggested, is not similar in saline % as the body. Salt water saline percent is about 3.5% where the body is about 0.9%. That is 3.89 times higher! A solution higher than 0.9 is called hypertonic and a solution at 0.9 is called isotonic. Apparently a hypertonic solution (higher than 0.9%) can be used to reduce swelling in mucus membrane (lining of almost all air cavities in the body), because fluid tends to travel through the membrane to the higher salinity side to try and equal the salinity on both sides. An isotonic solution has very little fluid cross between membranes.

So what this leads me to believe is a hypertonic solution maybe useful in reducing swelling which the estuachian tubes are know to do, but plain old distilled or sterile water, as some have suggested, maybe just what you don’t want to use because it could cause swelling right where you don’t want it. For me I’m going to stick with isotonic (0.9%) for now which is what most broncho sterile saline solution is. From what I have read a high hypertonic solution can have unexpected results when used in air cavities of the body.
don

PS I hope someone finds this interesting.