I’ve been suffering with earaches for the last week and half. Prior to this bout of ear pain I’ve only had two other earaches in my lifetime. In other words I’ve been blessed.
The first earache I recall was when I was about seven years old. I don’t remember going to the doctor although I’m sure I was taken. I do remember rolling around on the couch and crying.
The next earache came when I was 18 years old. Pap and I had been sick with the flu for about two weeks but I was finally feeling better so I went out cruising town with my friends. Before the night was over my ear was killing me. By morning, I was pacing the hall holding my ear. After Pap got home from church him and Granny took me to the ER where I bawled like a baby, paced some more, and waited for someone to see me. When the doc said the infection was so bad my eardrum would likely burst I started a new round of crying. He quickly explained it would heal itself and I would still be able to hear. He also said my pain would stop immediately. My eardrum burst on the way to the drug store and the doc was right I had instant relief from my pain.
My recent earaches occurred after I had an allergic reaction to the dreaded mulberry weed that has invaded some of our beds. I spent a whole day removing the plants that I’d let get way to big and almost immediately felt like I had a cold.
I had the same reaction from mulberry weed last summer but just plain forgot about it. I’ll not forget it again.
After a few days of cold like symptoms I felt much better and thought the issue had passed. That’s when the earaches started with a vengeance. By the time I went to the doctor both were infected.
In one of my videos last week I talked about earaches and asked folks to share any home remedies they had. Some I’ve heard of many others I have not. You can peruse the comments below this video to see them.
Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia by Anthony Cavender has an entire entry about earaches and the remedies people used to cure them.
According to Cavender, most folks thought cold air going into the ear is what caused the ache. Makes sense since cold air does make your ear hurt for a little while if you’re out in it for any length of time without a toboggan or earmuffs.
Cavender said since folks believed cold, was the culprit, they tried to warm the ear up by blowing smoke in it or pouring warmed liquid in the ear. The following cures were listed in the earache entry of Cavender’s book.
- pouring warm urine into the ear
- dripping sap from a warmed sapling into the ear
- dripping warm sweet oil in the ear (I’ve seen and tried variations of this one and it does seem to help some)
- blowing smoke into the ear
- placing a warm compress on the ear (this one helps ease the pain—I’ve used a hot water bottle and even a heating pad)
Pap shared the following on the subject of earaches.
“They told me I liked to have died from an earache when I was about three years old. I don’t remember it. But they said they got a little bundle of sourwood limbs and set them in the fireplace. Not where they’d burn up, just where they’d get good and hot. Then they caught the sap that came out of the wood and poured it in my ear. I remember people blowing smoke in ears too and even cupping the ear with a glass to try and keep the smoke inside. Some people swore by putting warm buttermilk mixed with sodie in their ear when they had an earache. And of course I’ve used plain old peroxide to clean mine out good.”
I’m glad I documented what Pap said here on the Blind Pig, because I thought he said he remembered them getting the little pieces of wood and that he didn’t know what they were. Obviously I was wrong on both counts!
Last night’s video: The Family History & Stories of Opal Corn Myers 41.
Tipper
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Miss Tipper, Sure happy you’re finally getting to feel better. You should probably wear something over your ears when sitting or being outdoors, especially if it’s windy or really cold. I suffered from infancy to the age of twenty eight years with chronic, severe earaches. I had many tears, trips to the doctor and the terrible drainage issues, that goes with earaches. I even lost bone and tissue, during those years. Finally found a great Air Force surgeon who did a mastoidectomy, I believe that’s what they called it, on my right ear. After recovering from the surgery, and since, in the last 50 years, I have only had one or two, not severe, earaches in my other ear. Praise God for that procedure and the hands that fixed my ears. God bless everyone today, tomorrow and always. Take care and love to your momma.
I’m sure you know what mullein looks like. Harvesting flowers from the 2nd year plant, dry and infuse in olive oil for 3-5 wks shaking as often as you remember. Many add garlic cloves to it also. 3-4 drops in ear and massage gently.
Garlic oil for ear infections is soothing and antibacterial. Can be purchased on Amazon. Hope you feel better soon.
Peroxide dropped into the ear is still the go to for our earaches today. I’ve also backed it up with gargling peroxide because the eustachian tube comes into the throat. If the pain is really bad I’ll add ibuprofen. Inflamed sinuses from my allergies cause most of my earaches but I don’t get the earaches that often. I’d heard from a cousin that kerosene was used before they could get peroxide. I wouldn’t want to light a match around that.
Tipper my husband had a bad ear infection. After he was cured the specialist gave him an ointment called “Clotrimazole and Betamethasone Dipropionate Cream USP, 1% / 0.05% (base)” that’s the generic brand. We take a qtip, put on a small amount and put it in the ear.
It works great! We both use it if we feel the slightest ear problem.
I use that stuff for itchy flakey ears. It works!
My Daddy would warm some sweet oil and put a couple drops in my ears. I was prone to earaches. But the sweet oil worked some.
I’m afraid I don’t have much more to offer in ways of a cure I too suffered from earaches as a child. There was no money for doctor appointments, so my mother tried lots of the before mentioned treatments. When my granny came to check on me, I had dried blood in my hair, on my pillow. The story continues that my granny scooped me up and took me to the doctor, penicillin saved the day. I do have some permanent ear loss in that ear. I pray you are feeling better and getting some rest.
As always praying for Granny.
I’m glad you made it to the doctor, better safe than sorry. I’ve had earache often as I have gotten older (over 50) and I went to the doctor every time. I have to wear earmuffs outside and they help prevent the earache (mine is mostly Otitis Eterna, the outer ear and canal on the visible side of the eardrum). I dip a q-tip into my olive oil (Sweet Oil = olive oil) an make sure it drips, then I let it drop into the canal and then swab olive oil (no need to heat it) with the q-tip on the outer ear canal and then push a cotton ball into the outer ear and leave it there. I do this twice a day till the pain stops. I also have a Lidocaine Gel prescription from my dentist and I gently brush it on my gums on the affected side twice a day. It can bring relief instantly but sometimes it takes several days. A heating pad (along with the other treatments) really helps too if it is very painful. I try to never go out without cotton in my ears or my earmuffs even in warm weather. I enjoyed yesterdays reading post. I’m going to binge watch the posts again after the book is finished. You are all in my prayers. I love y’all.
torch those things so you won’t have to go through this misery again—even torching them though you might want to wear a respirator and stuff cotton in your ears just to be on the safe side……I enjoyed reading all the different ‘cures’ and know people who use them (even me) but there are some I had never heard of and I have one that I did not see listed that I use not so much for ear ache but for loss of hearing due to possible infection—I started using vicks for this but I got tired of the greasy face and tried bio freeze roll on and it provides same results as vicks so now it is what I use—I rub it under ear lobe behind ear lobe and all over in front of ear and up on the cheek bone basically following all the sinus canals, then I cover the area (usually I am in bed so just pull covers up around my face) so the warmth from the menthol is held in as long as possible–sometimes I put vicks inside my ear but not always. It seems to loosen up everything in sinus cavities and my next morning hearing has improved and after few days of this treatment I can hear perfectly again. Conceivably it should work for pain also because the goal is to lessen the fluid build up so it can move around and get out of ear area…..oh also moving neck side to side as if stretching neck muscles is helpful too (this is done mainly for vertigo to manipulated any bones that might be causing problems but it also helps shake up the fluid and get it moving out of where it does not belong)
I’ve never had bad ears…I remember having one ear infection when I was around 6 or 7 years old but since then I’ve been blessed to not have issues in that area. My husband however, and also my best friend both have terrible ear aches from time to time. They usually end up at the Dr’s office getting prescription ear drops. I’ve noticed with both of them they have very waxy ears so I’m thinking that has something to do with their ear ailments. You know how some folks like to watch those pimple popping videos on YouTube? Well, I think those are gross but I do like to watch the videos of people having wax dug out of their ears! Haha…just as gross I suppose but you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff folks have had removed from the ear canal. I’m glad I haven’t had that type of problem because there ain’t no way I’d let them shove those tools nearly plum to my eardrum digging around in there!
Hope you feel better soon! Earaches are no fun and after a while when the home remedies don’t work, you get to a point you are ready to see a doctor. I’m glad you got some help for it.
Continued prayers for Granny and all of you.
Tipper, pardon me for being in and out here on your wonderful blog, so to speak, but if you saw my house (or diamond in the rough,) you’d totally understand my situation. It will be a half million dollar show place when I get done and then out to Quartszite and Lava Hot Springs with a small mobile home here only when I come back east. It’s the plan anyway. Earaches is something I can relate to unfortunately. I’ve been plagued by bad ears since I was a baby and I remember rolling and crying for many days and nights on end. I’ve had sweet oil warmed and peroxide and you name it (except urine) I’ve been the guinea pig to no avail. It is important to know URINE IS STERILE until it exits the body and that’s where germs occur. Now I know when fall comes and the cold air starts creeping in my teeth through an open mouth and nose I know it’s time to stick cottonballs in my ear to keep all the air out. I hate you’ve had such bad reaction to mulberry weed and the best thing is just don’t mess around that evil stuff period. If someone else could take care of it without getting allergic, that would be very nice. I’d plan to burn it, kill it, and try to get rid of it if at all possible, but then I’m a BIG TALKER about stuff I don’t know about. God bless you and heal you FAST, lady friend! Speedy prayers and fine wishes are sent with a FOND FARE YOU WELL!!!
I had earaches as a child, usually spring or fall I think, when air was cool and we had windy weather. My parents had some type of oil from the pharmacy I suspect but I don’t know what type. Mom would warm it somehow then put a few drops in my ear and I remember it felt so soothing. We also used a warm heating pad which helped also. I don’t recall being told my ear/ears were infected but I guess they were. And I also had to use cotton in my ears on cool windy days! Hope you are doing much better now. BTW, we traveled to Memphis several weeks ago. While going through northern Mississippi, we passed through a county named Tippah!! Reminded me of your name 🙂
What began as an ear infection in May of 1934, when I was six months old, almost killed me. My folks said my scalp and face swelled as the infection spread. Our Walhalla doctor, John Davis, who had tended my home birth, sent me to Anderson County Hospital. At some point my head was packed in ice. The doctors said my condition was grave and there was nothing more they could do. For whatever reason(s), I survived. I have to believe it was because of intercessory prayers, because my parents said my fever broke in the wee hours of the morning following a prayer meeting held in Walhalla the night before. In later life Mom shared with me that she had known in her heart what my burial clothes would be. I’ve had a number of close calls in life. I once made a list of them. They involved firearms, vehicles, lightning, coincidences, and some bad decisions, but that infected ear in ’34 brought me nearer to premature death than I’ve ever been.
Before we had blow dryers to style our hair with, there were portable ones that involved putting a flexible bonnet over your hair. A hose was attached that blew warm air into the bonnet. People often used these ( making sure the bonnet covered their ears) to help cure an earache .
They say an earache is the worst pain, and I believe that. I am so sorry you are suffering. When I was about five or six years old, my oldest sister and I got an earache so bad that our parents took us to the hospital. We must have been screaming in pain as we were admitted for a few days. It was probably allergies, an unheard-of ailment back in the day. My family didn’t have health insurance, and usually treated the kids’ earaches with groundhog grease. A hot compress works best for me.
I’ve had very good luck with a few drops of garlic oil a few times a day and it clears earaches up pretty soon, I hope this helps you as I know earaches are very troublesome. I will keep you in my prayers .
I’m not a big fan of folklore treatments for earaches but don’t question people that do. I’m glad you’re feeling much better after going to the doctor.
Continued prayers for strength to face each day with your mama.
Oh Tipper, I am so sorry you are feeling under the weather. Fall is my favorite season, but it is also a time for allergies; and I fear this is what is going on with us. Hubby started having cold symptoms Thursday, and then I felt it coming on yesterday when I woke up. I don’t feel horrible, but like I am getting a cold. And unfortunately, this morning, my right ear hurts. I had lots of earaches growing up and never went to the doctor for it. I hope it goes away on its own. I am just trying to eat healthy and drink lots of water and hot tea and rest. I hope your ear feels better soon. Take care. ❤️
Yes, I also remember my mother blowing cigarette smoke in my aching ear and quickly stopping it up with cotton. And I’m sure the cotton came from the top of a pill bottle! I’m sure the baby aspirin in the bottle the cotton came out of most likely would have been more useful to ease the pain!
Can I tell you something that an old Naive American used on my middle daughter, many years ago. You take a sock, preferably a mans sock. Fill it about half way with salt…table salt is what I used. Put it in the microwave and heat it. I don’t know how long it will take you to get the salt warm…just don’t overdue it as the cotton will catch fire. Also, don’t make it so hot it will be uncomfortable when you place it against your ear. I usually lie down on the sofa or you can lay in bed and put the warm sock against the ear that is causing the problems. After telling my Doc what I had done, he said the salt was probably pulling the moisture from the ear canal that was causing the pain….rots of ruk…Love and Prayers for Granny
I wouldn’t recommend trying to heat salt in a microwave oven. Pure salt is not excited by microwaves. Only minute particles of water inside the crystals of salt might be heated by microwave energy. That could lead to steam explosions at the worst and damage to the microwave oven at the least. Running a microwave without something containing a good amount of water in it can ruin it.
I have heard of warming salt and also rice in a sock but those would be done in a standard oven at the lowest heat. A woman at work one year made “rice in a sock” Christmas gifts. I made apple butter.
That’s good to know, Cousin Ed.
We bought a rice-in-a-sock device that we heat in the microwave and use for treating the aches and pains of old age. On one occasion, I overdid it and burned a hole in the ‘sock’. We replaced it with another one like it. About a minute on high with our microwave (don’t know its power rating), seems to get it about the right temperature. I’ve also been known to soak a hand towel, wring it out then fold and place it in the microwave for about a minute. This produces a great warm-heat treatment for bursitis and arthritis. In use, I usually cover it with another folded hand towel to keep the heated one from cooling too quickly.
Oh I hope you get to feeling better soon! Earaches hurt so!
I worked with people from Central America and Mexico for several years, and they always dripped warm oil into their ears and then stopped them with cotton to keep the wind out. I never tried it but they said it worked wonderfully.
Sending get well wishes and thanks for the remedies. I will keep them in mind. My children haven’t had ear aches, but that doesn’t mean they won’t someday. ❤️
My mother used to pour whiskey in a teaspoon and set it on fire! She then blew out the flame and let it cool a bit then pour it in the affected ear. Then you had to pay down, sore ear on the pillow. Stuff usually ran out and all was well.
I also remember neighborhood kids running around with cotton-stuffed ears in the winter.
I’ll have the flambéd ear please!
I keep odorless garlic capsules on hand and I pierce them and squirt it in my ear. I’ve done this for years now.
Gee, sorry for your misery, Tipper. You have so much going on all the time I know you don’t want to get slowed down. I did not know that about the eardrums healing themselves. That must have been a tremendous relief to hear. I do not know what Mulberry weed is, but if it is a pest I probably have it. Asking for your relief, as I’m sure numerous others will to.
I remember having an earache when I was very young and Daddy blowing cigarette smoke in my ear. I think I remember it more not because of the pain but because of Daddy who did not smoke getting a few cigarettes from our neighbor and smoking them. Did it help, I don’t know, I must have got over it pretty quick without going to a doctor. Back when I was a child because of my parents and many neighbors that were in the same boat and not any of us having money for doctors, you did not go to to a doctor unless you were at the point of death. I do remember asking Daddy to take me one time to the doctor because of having a sore throat. He said he knew I was “bad off” because of begging him to take me to the doctor, he did take me and the doctor giving me a shot that cured my sore throat. It was not pencilled, I am allergic to it.