How to Safely Treat an Ear Infection?

So, I have looked but I have not found too much information on this. I thought I should put it on here just in case. I read that getting an ear infection can be very detrimental to someone with tinnitus.

Have any safe medications or protocols been established for treating this? Are there any safe medications / medications one absolutely needs to stay away from.

I though it would be handy to open this up for discussion, so that anyone having to deal with this could find this and get the advice / guidance they need. We all know that doctors are pretty useless when it comes to dealing with patients with tinnitus.

 

Bacterial ear infections can be treated with antibiotics. I know antibiotics are a scary subject when one has tinnitus but not all of them are ototoxic. Amoxicillin is considered to be one of the safest ones and is often used to treat bacterial middle ear infections. Penecillins in general are a safer alternative for tinnitus. Other types of antibiotics such as aminoglycosides should be avoided if possible. These will normally have names that end with -mycin or -micin (e.g., gentamicin, neomycin). Aminoglycosides can be found in some antibiotic ear drops, as long as the ear drum is not perforated these should be safe to use but do so with caution.

Ear infections aren't always bacterial. Antibiotics will have no use in treating a viral ear infection. Steroidal anti inflamatory drugs can give some relief in viral infections. They can prevent and reduce damage caused by swelling in the ear. The downside to anti inflamatory drugs is that they can weaken the immune system and make it take longer time for the viral infection to pass.

Fungal ear infections are less common and I know nothing about antimycotics and ototoxicity. Maybe someone else has some input?

 

If you truly have an ear infection, possibly go seen a GP or an ENT.

 

I don't have an infection, but just in case. It is also good information for anyone out there who needs it because I could not find any information on this topic here on this board.