May 8, 2017
PSA: Please don't stick things in your ear any larger than your elbow...and that includes your finger.
Outer ear = the part that you can touch
Middle ear = the area being the ear drum
Inner ear = the cochlea and area responsible for your balance
The area behind your ear drum has air in it and that pressure is equalized through the eustachian tube. If that area gets fluid in it, that fluid can grow bacteria and that leads to infection. The natural motion of opening and closing your jaw helps massage the eustachian tubes and moves air in and out (like when you fly or drive in the mountains and you chew gum or yawn).
Cold and allergies can be the source of the fluid build up that leads to ear infection. You may have decreased hearing, pain, decreased balance - infection can require antibiotics.
This is the sensation of spinning, dizziness, being off
balance
The semi-circular canals are responsible for your balance. If
it get sloshed too much, or doesn't level out exactly right, then
the signals sent to the brain may translate to being off balance
even though your body is upright. The signal confusion is
what can lead to nausea (it's not actually happening in your
stomach - at least not until you vomit!)
The fluid moving around in these canals are why kids can induce
dizziness when they spin around in circles (think about the clothes
in your washer during the spin cycle - they get pushed to the
outside).
Medications for vertigo are the same as some medications for
nausea - plus they have drowsy side effects, so maybe you just
sleep it off.
There are many suspected causes, but nothing definite or
proven.
Defined as ringing, buzzing, roaring, whooshing sound when
nothing is actually making that noise.
Causes: hearing loss (either due to aging or exposure to loud
noises); high blood pressure (pulsating); medications
One theory: the hairs in the cochlea are damaged so those
frequencies of sound (usually high pitched sounds) can't be picked
up anymore; the brain fills in the gaps with "made up sound".
This is NOT PROVEN!
High blood pressure can cause you to hear the blood pulsing through
the blood vessels in your ears.
Flavonoids are put in vitamins and advertised to help tinnitus. Flavonoids are phytonutrients (nutrients you get from plants). These nutrients can't grow the hairs back in the cochlea. Most of the vitamins and nutrients in the flavonoid vitamins have anti-oxidative properties, but I doubt that tinnitus is a major oxidation problem.
Prevent ear problems: be nice to your ears!
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Music Credits: “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/