Image: flickr, andythoms

Earaches are a part of life and most of us will have at least one this year.  Fall is coming soon and that's earache season, especially as kids go back to school and start interacting with one another.  The sudden changes fall weather can bring and the increased amount of time we spend indoors mean more colds, sickness, stuffiness and the earaches that can result.

The first step is prevention, of course.  Most earaches are in the “outer ear.”  This means they're in the canal between your eardrum and the outside world.  Infections of the middle or inner ear should be treated by a medical professional and can be extremely serious.  Middle ear infections are extremely painful while inner ear infections can cause loss of balance, equilibrium, and worse.

The first step in preventing earaches is to keep your ear canals clean.  Regular rinsing with clean warm water, rubbing alcohol, or hydrogen peroxide can do this easily.  Distilled water is preferred, being clean and bacteria-free.

If you're an avid swimmer or get caught in the weather and have water in your ear, make sure to clean it out quickly.  Use peroxide (below) or rubbing alcohol to dry the water from your ear canal.  This prevents microbes in the water from beginning an infection.  Regular swimmers should use swimmer's muffs (rubber earmuffs that block water), silicon or wax plugs, or other preventive measures to keep water out of your ears.

When an earache starts, using the above methods (especially the alcohol or peroxide rinse) will likely stave off a worse infection.  Hydrogen peroxide has a lot of great home remedy uses.  In this case, tilt your head to the side and fill the ear canal with it.  Let it fizz for a moment or two and then turn to let it run out.  The same procedure is used for alcohol as well.

Natural oils like olive oil are also very good for earaches.  When the ache gets to the throbbing point, warm olive oil soothes and helps treat inflamed skin inside the canal.  Using a teaspoon or dropper, carefully put some into your ear and then use a cotton ball or toilet paper to hold it in.  The warm oil will bring down the inflammation of the skin (which is most of the pain).  Repeat as often as necessary.  Excess oil can be washed from your ear with distilled water or alcohol if needed.

Eucalyptus and menthol extracts (oil) also work very well.  Use the above recipe for application.  Eucalyptus is actually common for ear cleansers for use even with healthy, happy ears.  It naturally breaks up ear wax so it can be rinsed out to clean the ear.

Garlic oil can be used on its own or mixed with olive oil to cleanse the ear.  Garlic is a natural disinfectant and can help kill nasty little microbes.  Onion oil is nearly as effective, especially that from red onions.

Hot water bottles, heating pads, and other safe sources of warmth are great soothers for the earache.  Apply as directly as possible to the area just under the earlobe for best results.  Be careful not to burn yourself.  The warmth increases blood flow, which reduces inflammation and cuts down on the throbbing.

There are a lot of ways to remedy earaches that don't require goofy chemicals from the pharmacist.  Most earaches only last a day or so and are often easily curable.

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