Home Remedies that Saved Me from An Ear Infection in 24 Hours
I had my first ear infection since I started freediving!
I guess it’s bound to happen at some point given that I am spending a lot of time in the water nowadays. I was lucky not to have been troubled by ear problems the last decade or so, and thankfully this infection had a very short life span - the pain lasted less than 24 hours!
I could not be sure what helped in the speedy recovery, but I am convinced that the 3 home remedies helped: Onion, Turmeric, Sleep. I am sharing these home remedies with the freediver / water-lover community who may need a little emergency help on ear infection.
Based on my personal anecdote only rather than scientific experiments as it was not a randomised controlled trial!
This is what happened:
If we mark the day when the pain started as Day 1, here is a brief chronology of events:
Day -10 to Day -5: dived after heavy rain in dirty sea with runoffs from the village.
Day -4 to Day 0: sea was clean but I could start to feel there is something funny going on with my ears, no pain or significant symptoms though. Just the occasional sensation of something in the ear, some weird sound or slight itch.
Day 1: pain started very gradually during a dive session without any ear barotrauma. I felt a VERY slight headache and pain in the left ear in the water, and as time goes by it started to get worse by the hour. By 2 o’clock in the afternoon I had shooting pain in the ear, outside the ear, in the head/scalp, in the neck near the left ear, and even inside of the mouth near the left ear... and it was getting worse by the minute. This was when I started the home remedies. I went to sleep in pain and even woke up a few times at night in pain.
Day 2: I was so happy to find that the pain was almost gone when I woke up! It continued to improve throughout the day. By noon the pain was completely gone. The left ear still felt a little bit off inside (no significant symptoms anymore but only the occasional irregular sensation or slight itch.) Just to be sure I repeated the home remedies in the afternoon.
Day 3: all symptoms were gone. Left ear felt completely normal. I continued to stay dry but no more symptoms.
I’m a scientific person in most of cases but when it comes to take medication especially antibiotics, I try to avoid it unless it’s necessary. So in this case I didn’t take any medication (antibiotics or painkillers) (also because I didn’t have any at hand and being in a remote village on a remote island, it would take quite some time and trouble to get some from the doctors/pharmacy). The home remedies documented in this article were the only remedies I managed to take.
By the way, I also didn’t have any vinegar at home - otherwise I would have made an ear drop with 1:1 of vinegar: rubbing alcohol which many freedivers claim helps clean the ear. I was in too much pain and too tired to get out and go to the shop for the vinegar so I tried to do something with what I had at home.
The home remedies:
1. Onion compress
Onions contain a flavonoid called quercetin that has been shown to have natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that can provide relief from earache. It’s a method that supposedly dates back to the 1800s but it also seems like a pretty controversial method based on various anecdotes and internet sources. I tried it anyway as I thought there’s probably no harm other than that my nose would suffer a little from the smell.
Cut an onion in half
Heat up the onion by steaming it for a few minutes
Wrap the warm onion in a clean thin cloth, something like a cheese cloth, and hold it against the ear. Secure it in place with a head band or by tying the cloth around the head.
Leave for about 20 minutes. Enjoy the rest. (The warmth of the onion is like a heat pad and actually feels quite nice despite the smell)
I also squeezed out some onion juice into the ear, as some instructions seem to recommend juice in the ear directly.
I dried the ear afterwards (with cotton buds in a specific way which I don’t want to recommend to others as it’s very controversial but it’s always worked well for me - in fact I got this infection after I stopped drying them with cotton buds for a couple of weeks cuz I got lazy). You can also dry it with a few drops of rubbing alcohol.
Because of the warm compress felt so nice, I also made a warm water bottle and held it over the infected ear afterwards. Not sure if it actually did anything to help heal the ear but it felt nice for sure.
Lying on the side to let the onion juice drip into my left ear
Hot water bottle warm compress
2. Turmeric ginger tea
Turmeric contains a natural anti-inflammatory compound called curcumin. I made some tea with fresh turmeric and ginger, hoping that it does its anti-inflammatory magic. Besides, drinking lots of warm fluids is always good to help the body keep hydrated, flush out toxins and fight infection.
Slice lots of turmeric and ginger
Boil in a pot for 10 minutes
Serve with honey
Turmeric and ginger
Turmeric ginger honey tea
3. Sleep
I always struggle to get enough sleep, and when I felt that the infection was coming on my first thought was that my body really needed to rest. So I took a nap in the afternoon after the onion therapy, and also tried my best to go to bed early (which is SOOOO HARD for me cuz there are always a million things to do). But this is crucial to the immune system and I am sure it helped the speedy recovery. So prioritise sleep!!!
All in all, I was glad that this infection was short lived! I will stay dry for a few more days just to be sure as I don’t want it to turn into a recurring event. I could not be sure what had worked its magic (as there is no way to know for sure in most of cases in life). I have reasons to believe this was not simply my immune system doing the work (because how the symptoms had evolved, and knowing my body and having observed the progression over Day 1 I am pretty sure if I hadn’t done anything it would have gotten worse the next day), but I am just glad what worked had worked! Especially that these remedies had very low cost and risk and was so easy to try at home.
I hope this is helpful. If you’re reading this, I’m sorry that you might need remedies for ear infection, but hopefully it goes away quickly! Wish you happy ears and happy diving!
