It’s been a couple of days. Your right ear is still completely blocked. You haven’t been able to hear a thing in that direction since yesterday morning. You’re left feeling off balance as your left ear works overtime to pick up the slack. It didn’t improve after a night’s sleep as you hoped it would. So will your clogged ear clear up soon?
Precisely how long your blockage will persist depends, not unexpectedly, on what the cause of the blockage is. Some blockages go away on their own and somewhat quickly at that; others might linger and call for medical treatment.
As a rule of thumb, though, if your blockage persists much longer than one week, you might want to get some help.
When Should I Be Concerned About a Clogged Ear?
If you’re on the second day of a blocked ear, you might start thinking about possible causes. Maybe you’ll examine your behavior from the previous couple of days: were you doing anything that might have resulted in water getting stuck in your ear, for instance?
You might also examine your health. Are you experiencing the kind of discomfort and pain (or fever) that might be related to an ear infection? If that’s the case, you might want to schedule an appointment.
This line of questioning is merely a beginning. There are plenty of possible reasons for a clogged ear:
- Irreversible hearing impairment: Some types of hearing loss feel a lot like a blocked ear. You should schedule an appointment if your “clogged ear” persists longer than it should.
- Sinus infection: Sinus infections can produce fluid buildup in your ears because your ears, nose and throat are all connected (causing a clog).
- Allergies: Swelling and fluid production can develop when the body’s immune system kicks in – in response to an allergic reaction.
- Build-up of earwax: If earwax gets compacted or is not properly draining it can cause blockages..
- Ear Infection: Your ear can ultimately become clogged by fluid buildup or inflammation due to an ear infection.
- The eustachian tube or ear canal gets water trapped in it: Water and sweat can get trapped in the tiny places inside your ear with alarming ease. (Short-term blockage can definitely occur if you sweat heavily).
- Growths: Certain types of growths, lumps, and bulges can result in a blocked feeling in your ears (and even interfere with your hearing).
- Changes in air pressure: On occasion, your Eustachian tube can fail to adjust properly to variations in air pressure, causing the feeling of a temporary blockage in one or both ears.
How to Get Your Ears Back to Normal as Quickly as Possible
Your ears will most likely go back to normal after a couple of days if air pressure is causing your blockage. If an ear infection is to blame for your blocked ears, you may have to wait until your body gets rid of the virus or bacteria at work (and, if it’s the latter, antibiotics can be very helpful). And that could take as much as a week or two. You might have to wait even longer than that if you have a sinus infection.
Some patience will be needed before your ears return to normal (though that might feel counterintuitive), and your expectations need to be, well, adjustable.
Your first and most important task is to not make the situation worse. When your ears begin feeling clogged, you might be inclined to pull out the old cotton swab and start trying to manually clear your ears out. This can be an especially dangerous strategy (cotton swabs have been known to cause all kinds of problems and complications, from infection to hearing loss). If you use a cotton swab, you’re more likely to make things worse.
If Your Ear is Still Clogged After a Week…it May be Hearing Loss
So you could be getting a bit antsy if a couple of days pass and you still have no clue what could be the cause of your blockage. In almost all instances, your blockage will take care of itself after a few days. But the general rule of thumb is that if things persist for more than a week or so, it might be a wise choice to come in for a consultation.
That feeling of clogged ears can also be a sign of hearing loss. And you shouldn’t neglect hearing loss because, as you’ve probably read in our other posts, it can cause a whole host of other health problems.
Being cautious not to worsen the issue will usually permit the body to take care of the matter on its own. But when that fails, intervention could be required. How long that takes will vary depending on the root cause of your blocked ears.