Earwax, or cerumen, is usually amber orange to light brown, but it can vary between individuals and may give clues about a person's health. Red-tinged wax may be a sign of an injury, while greenish wax may indicate an infection, for instance. Earwax plays essential roles in ear health.
When this happens bacteria and viruses can grow causing fullness or pressure in one ear or both. Pressure can lead to pain or headaches because unfortunately, your body responds by making more ear wax during this time (it's the body's way of protecting the ear drum from the pressure).
Green earwax or earwax with a foul smell is also an indication of an infection. If there is blood in your earwax, this could be a sign of an injury to the ear or a ruptured eardrum. Gray or black earwax usually means there is a buildup of dust in the ear or impacted earwax.
Earwax buildup happens when your ear makes earwax faster than your body can remove it. This can happen with many health conditions, such as: Bony blockage (osteoma or exostoses) Infectious disease, such as swimmer's ear (external otitis)
Ear drainage can be due to a ruptured eardrum from trauma, foreign objects, or middle ear infection. In this case, you will see a white, slightly bloody, or yellow discharge from the ear. Another common cause is infection or irritation of the external ear canal.
A healthy eardrum looks pinkish-gray. An infection of the middle ear, or an ear with otitis media, looks red, bulging, and there may be clear, yellow, or even greenish hued drainage.
It is possible, but unlikely, to develop an ear infection after coronavirus, as ear infections are not a common symptom related to COVID-19.
Ear congestion – You may notice clicking in your ear when you have a cold. Sometimes conversations and noises sound muffled. These are symptoms of congestion caused by fluid buildup in the middle ear. Congestion can lead to an ear infection from bacteria or a virus and cause temporary hearing loss.
When you have a cold or the flu, congestion builds up in the middle ear. This makes it difficult for the sound waves to travel through the ear. The Eustachian tubes can also become blocked. The Eustachian tube is a narrow tube connecting the back of the nose and the middle ear.
Allergies, viruses and hearing
After a few days of a stuffy or runny nose, the lining of your middle ear is irritated. This can block the Eustachian tube, which can feel like popping in the ears, fullness or congestion. Sometimes this blockage results in a temporary hearing loss, called conductive hearing loss.
Earwax Colors (and What to Look for)
The longer wax remains in the ear, the darker its color becomes. Off-white to yellow - normal, fresh wax. Orange - older wax with some debris (e.g. dead skin or similar). Brown - old wax that has started to oxidate.
Dry earwax is not as effective as wet earwax in trapping foreign particles and is more likely to cause blockages in the ear canal.
Colds, allergies and upper respiratory infections can all cause a plugged-up sensation in the ears, leading to pain and pressure. This is due to anatomy; the ears, nose and throat are all closely connected—literally. The Eustachian tube is an organ that connects the middle ears, nasal passages and upper throat.
The Eustachian tube won't function properly when you're dealing with a cold, flu, allergies or upper respiratory infection. These conditions cause swelling and mucus secretions, both of which create blockages that prevent the Eustachian tube from working correctly.
Blocked and plugged ears due to a cold
Colds are an inflammatory condition that stimulates mucus production in the nasal cavities. This condition causes an increase in pressure in the Eustachian tube, the canal that connects the middle ear to the nasopharynx, and triggers the sensation of gradual ear congestion.
An ear infection is caused by a bacterium or virus in the middle ear. This infection often results from another illness — cold, flu or allergy — that causes congestion and swelling of the nasal passages, throat and eustachian tubes.
If your ears are plugged, try swallowing, yawning or chewing sugar-free gum to open your eustachian tubes. If this doesn't work, take a deep breath and try to blow out of your nose gently while pinching your nostrils closed and keeping your mouth shut. If you hear a popping noise, you know you have succeeded.
Most ear infections clear up within three to five days and don't need any specific treatment. If necessary, paracetamol or ibuprofen should be used to relieve pain and a high temperature.
And that may take as much as a week or two. You might have to wait even longer than that if you have a sinus infection. A bit of patience will be needed before your ears get back to normal (counterintuitive though it might be), and your expectations should be, well, variable.
Sinus or ear infections, allergies and other respiratory viruses — all of which can cause swelling and fluid in the ear — are common causes of Eustachian tube dysfunction.
Most colds go away on their own within seven to 10 days and don't turn into anything more serious. Common cold treatment includes over-the-counter (OTC) medications to help reduce your symptoms and keep you comfortable until you recover.
If you find it painful to swallow and you have a sore throat, your earache could be a symptom of a throat infection, such as tonsillitis or quinsy (an abscess on one side of the back of your throat, which can sometimes make it very difficult to swallow even fluids).
This can happen for brief periods during air travel, but also due to allergies, sinus or ear infections, or other respiratory viruses (including COVID-19). Sudden onset of muffled hearing in one ear may signal an urgent problem requiring prompt treatment to prevent or reduce possible hearing loss.
Most inner ear infections are due to a virus, such as influenza, herpes zoster oticus or Epstein-Barr. Less commonly, inner ear infections are the result of bacteria.