Anybody have any experience with earaches? My ear hurts. My whole head and face on that side hurt. I've tried every drug I've got and nothing's helping. Never had this happen before. If this isn't better tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor. And you know I"m in pain if I'm going to a doctor.

Poor Liese's SO! Sinus infection.

Zen, a warm wet washcloth, or a hair dryer on LOW held far enough away not to burn your skin but transfer the heat.

The doctor is probably going to be necessary tomorrow. And if it gets too bad tonight, I'd go to urgent care.

Yes, go to the doctor. If you have an ear infection, they can give you steroid drops that will help.

Zen, sometimes only antibiotics will cure ear infections, and that does sound like one (though it could be jaw stuff. Any discharge/plugged up feeling? Then for sure ear infection.) Until you can get to a doctor, a heating pad or hot wet compress and lying on that side can sometimes help (I used to have chronic ones.) And decongestants. And painkillers. I'm sorry, btdt, no fun.

Liese, it's funnier because I've never thought of myself as competitive, but what it comes down to is I don't like losing. So often I pre-emptively remove myself from the race on the grounds that it isn't interesting. But swimming apparently short circuits that.

Sorry the event wasn't better.

I need an airlock. Screen door+ door aren't enough.

The speaker during our section was atrocious. On purity, in exactly the condemning way these kids don`t need. So our leader totes contradicted her in his closing. Rah!
 
But! In the evening, our buddy Darren Nez and his band Paradigm played and they rocked it. They really pulled it out. Not technically perfect, but passionate and right where the kids were. The speaker before them was fabulous. She really laid out for them that she recognized the abuse they`d taken, she recognized what was going on with the suicides and hopelessness. She essentially said, you been done wrong and it`s not your fault, but you can`t control it and it`s not coming back. And then she said what you can control is who you are in the face of things and you don`t have to be robbed of your culture and identity. It was a really radical assertion for this type of Christian event, and the kids really responded to it.
 
Anyway, it was very fatiguing but I was super glad to have been a part of it. Now we`re at home and I`m a bit anxious about the upcoming event next week as I remember how tiring it is to have volunteers out, but I still feel like I`ll be able to get through.

She essentially said, you been done wrong and it`s not your fault, but you can`t control it and it`s not coming back. And then she said what you can control is who you are in the face of things and you don`t have to be robbed of your culture and identity.

Man, that's got to be hard to hear and believe regardless of the setting, but it's just true.

Thanks, guys. It's probably an ear infection, then. *whine*

sarameg -- may I suggest the water bottle spray of evil

Zen, I get earaches once in a while, and my first goal is to keep the canal from swelling shut before I can get to medical care. Because if the canal swells till the walls touch? There's nothing you can do about that.

If you have hydrogen peroxide, dip a cotton swab in that and carefully clean the part of the ear you can reach. With a clean swab, apply ABX cream. Neosporin should work--we use Bacitracin because I'm allergic to the polymixin in Neosporin. Gently pack your ear with cotton--not firmly, but it should block your hearing a bit. Keeping cold air out will help it feel a little better, and if you can use the warm compress or hair dryer on low as well, it will help even more.

If you're not going to the ER tonight and if you're not taking meds that are contraindicated, take aspirin. It reduces inflammation and will help keep the ear from swelling, may even help reduce it a bit, as well as help with the pain.

And even if it's better in the morning, go to Urgent Care or your PCP. Earaches are nothing to ignore. Good luck with it.