Ear pain causes : There can be a lot of causes of ear pain. It is serious matter. If the cause of pain is not treated, one may even suffer from hearing loss.
- Ear infection : The major cause of ear pain is ear infection. This is caused by infectious organisms like bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. They can cause deep pain in ear and reduced hearing ability for some time.
- Referred pain : Ear pain may also be pain that comes from jaw joint, teeth or neck.
- Nerves : There are many nerves which lie close to the ear, like the Trigeminal nerve. Damage to nervous system causes pain in the ear, tinnitus ( ringing sound in ears) and discomfort.
- Inflammation of the ear due to various reasons leads to narrowing of passage. Excessive build up of ear wax can cause inflammation.
- Temporal arteritis is an inflammation of the artery near the temple. This artery may be affected by disease and cause pain in the ear. It is known to cause blurred vision and put the patient at risk of complete blindness if it is not treated.
- Cold, cough, flu or sinus infection can refer pain to ears.
- Placing a warm cloth over the ear really helps many people. In some places, what people do is that they heat salt and place it in a cloth and use that cloth to rub over the ear. Application of mild heat seems to relieve ear pain to some extent.
- Garlic oil has been used as a herbal remedy to counter ear infection and pain due to it. Garlic oil should however be mixed in olive oil and then put into the ear. Garlic has strong anti-microbial properties and it fights off the infection.
- Mullein oil is also a well known remedy for ear pain.
- Eating food rich in Vitamin C, mainly fruits like mango, lemon, oranges,pineapple and guava can relieve ear pain to some extent. A diet rich in sour fruits would have a positive effect in reducing ear inflammation and pain.