Today a visitor is looking for help to relieve ear pressure.
Do you have any suggestions on chronic ear conditions. No doctor has helped me. This occurs different times of the year. My ears sometimes feel like they want to explode. I feel a lot of pressure. The only direction I get is to take allergy medicine and sometimes an antibiotic. It usually takes a week to get over. But it always comes back the same. I appreciate any help. Thank You.
Hi Sheryl,
Ears are not my area of expertise, however, here’s a few things I do know.
Pressure in the ears could be a variety of things like a problem in the Eustachian tube or ear drum, sinus infection, injury, high blood pressure, etc. So it’s first important to rule out other possibilities.
First, I’m assuming the doctor has run tests and looked at your ears to rule out any serious injury or disease. If not, then first I would suggest finding a different doctor. Second, if you’re just seeing your regular general practitioner, then I would suggest finding an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) doctor just to make sure there isn’t something serious going on in there. If you can find a doctor of environmental medicine or holistic medical doctor, that would be best. You can find them at the Academy of Environmental Medicine or American Holistic Medical Association.
Second, there are two other factors that you don’t hear about too often that could lead to pressure in the ears. They are undiagnosed food allergies and Candida overgrowth.
Ear infections, pain in the ear, ear pressure, ringing in the ears, itching ears etc. are common symptoms of Candida and food allergies or food sensitivities
With food allergies, the tissues inside the ear can swell in response to the allergen and this causes the Eustachian tube to swell which then doesn’t allow fluid to drain and pressure can build.
The most common food to cause this problem is dairy. Other common allergenic foods are wheat, sugar, corn, eggs, citrus, soy and chocolate, although it could be any food at all.
Sometimes people can have food sensitivities, but not true food allergies. So if you’ve already ruled out food allergies, that doesn’t mean food sensitivities are not causing a problem. I’m now offering a new service, called ALCAT testing, where you can be tested for food, chemical and mold sensitivities. Click here to learn more about ALCAT.
Candida overgrowth emits toxins and these toxins can trigger symptoms that are in exhibited in the ear, or it can travel out of the digestive tract and take up residence in the ear. Either way it causes inflammation and swelling which may result in pressure, ear infections etc.
Since, you say it happens at certain times of the year this could be a clue as well. Perhaps it happens when there is more mold and humidity in the air, which may mean there is a mold allergy or this is also an indication of Candida. When mold and humidity levels are high, it increases the level of Candida in the body. Either of these could cause ear pressure.
It could also be something else present in the air at the time of the flare up, such as ragweed, terpines from the trees or other possible allergens. If that’s the case, high doses of vitamin C and some natural anit-inflammatory substances like Quercetin are usually helpful.
Taking antibiotics repeatedly is probably not the answer as that will only contribute to more Candida overgrowth.
Many people have undiagnosed food allergies, food sensitivities and Candida overgrowth, so I would read up on those topics by following the links I provided above and see if you have other symptoms that fall under those categories as well.
Best
Cynthia Perkins, M.Ed.
