Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Ears & Oops

I went to my doctor yesterday.  She currently has a med student following her.  The doctor put the little ear scope thingy in my ear, looked at it, and immediately said to the student, "Ooh.  Come here.  I want to make sure you see this."  I may not always understand "doctor-speak," but I'm pretty sure that when the doctor considers your condition to be a great learning experience for a med student, that's not a good thing.

So I got an antibiotic for a very impressive-looking ear infection.  And I also found out through some Googling that some of the ear infection may have been my fault.

Now, my ears have been stopped up on and off for weeks due to allergies.  Then I got that cold last week, with all the sinus congestion.  So I may have just been fated to get my first ear infection in decades.  But I also may not have helped matters by using my Neti Pot wrong.  That's what I get for not carefully following directions.

Oops.

If you decide to use the awesome Neti Pot, do as I say, not as I do, okay?  Here's the thing.  After using the pot, you have to blow your nose.  And you should blow out of both nostrils at once.  Holding one nostril (like I regularly do) can force the salt water and mucus into an ear tube.  And there's a chance that contributed to my ear infection.

Please don't let this scare you from using the Neti Pot.  I'm going to keep using it, just making sure I do so correctly.  Here is a great link:
Instructions & a video from the Himalayan Institute (who made my pot)

Now that Chickie and I are both on meds, hopefully our family will be totally healthy soon.

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In case you missed it, check out my thread from yesterday about a really awesome jewelry giveaway right here on C. Beth Blog!  Click on the birdie:



By the way, the winner must have a mailing address in the US or Canada.

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Freecycle Resolution Update:
24. Tons of clothes from my closet
25. Post-partum jeans that are now too big (yay!)
26. A suit I was given from a Freecycler that was too small for me (not claimed, will take to Goodwill.)
27. Hangers (will take to Goodwill)
28. Coupons from Sunday papers

Only 2 more until I make my goal of 30! I'm behind on my 6 week goal, but if I don't count my vacation time I think I'm pretty much on track.

12 comments:

Heather said...

*oops
*ouch
and
*okay

Sorry to hear that you have an ear infection :(

Glad you shared this though.

I love how we're able to learn from each other in this world...

Tia said...

Feel better soon!

Call Me Cate said...

I'm happy to hear you should both be on the mend now. And hearing from the doctor "Oh, man, you gotta come look at this!" is never reassuring. I always feel so judged.

Anonymous said...

save me your coupons! I will pay the postage!!!! please!

Dan & Hillary said...

Sorry about the ear infection:-( Your poor head must hurt all over. I didn't realize that the 'directions' actually were meant to be read;-)

Annelie said...

So sorry about the ear infection! I just had one myself. An evil one that laughed in the face of antibiotics, which was bad, but I hope you got one the dies when it should. Hope you feel better soon!

Shannon said...

I hope you both are feeling tip-top soon!

Lyndsay said...

This gets me in trouble every time I think I am too smart to fully read the directions.

Sandra said...

Hope you and Chickie both get well soon!

Anonymous said...

hope you would feel good soon:)
next time instead of using antibiotics use the eardoc; it is not invasive it treats the problem and not the symptom and it helps 94% of its users.
www.eardoc.info

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's nasty!
I use the neti pot all the time when I have a cold, and I didn't realize I was risking ear infection with the way I blow my nose afterward.

My husband thinks the neti pot is the sickest thing ever, but I laugh because my colds last four days, and his last three weeks.

Becky said...

I've been intending to buy a neti pot, and I'm so glad you posted your experience first. I wouldn't have read the directions, because I thought it was self-explanatory. I would have done the same thing and probably ended up with an ear infection as well.