Retracting An Ear Drum Like a Vandal

Well folks, I have come down with my annual holiday season cold/infection. Last year I tried to ignore it and I wound up with pneumonia. This year I have wound up with a retracted ear drum. What does that mean? Well, on my end, I feel like I have a plugged up ear with constant whooshing sounds plus occasional dizzy/vertigo spells. I also get random shooting pain down my jaw. Medically, my Eustachian tube is so plugged up, there is a vacuum in my middle ear sucking my ear drum in. My doctor prescribed 10 days of Sudafed and if that doesn't work, we'll try something else. Oh yeah, he isn't a big fan of holistic anything so I have to stop using a neti pot and the Valsalva maneuver. And he hates ear candling which I tried out this weekend. It wasn't too bad. Pretty relaxing and it totally cleared out my ear canal.



If it were up to me, I'd replace my Eustachian tubes with something that, oh, actually works. I've had ear problems all my life thank to those useless tubes. I wish stenting was an option but I've read that that is really dangerous. I also kinda wish there was a way to stick a needle into my tubes and suck out whatever is blocking them.