My friend tells me today that on Friday he lost the hearing in his left ear then during the night he was woken up with severe pain and the next morning there was loads of blood on his pillow. A real lot of blood! It's been bleeding since and his hearing has not returned. He thought it was a spot initially but the amount of blood and hearing loss points to something else.
Anyone any ideas what it could be - 3 days later and his hearing still hasn't returned and still bleeding Monday. It must have been bad for the pain to wake him up!
I thought burst blood vessel but then it wouldn't make him deaf. I'm really quite worried to be honest. He's diabetic but that wouldn't have anything to do with it - would it?
He should really see a doctor, these type of symptoms are severe. You put what happened into the NHS Direct Sympton checker, it says he should go to A&E.
Myarka.
Get him to the Dr asap. He will probably need antibiotics and special care for his ear.
He did go and he has a perforated eardrum - I never even thought of that and he has an infection - Dr asked if he had had a cold and he has and he said it would have all come from his sinuses.
Heard of a PE before but never actually knew how it affected you - just goes to show what a common cold can do!
I have seen this before, sometimes when the body is eliminating waste it can take some bizarre exit points.
In this case, there must have been a lot of production of mucus etc into the middle ear. Normally this would drain through the auditory tube (Eustachian tube). However, if the auditory tube is not patent and functioning (eg during a cold), then the eardrum can rupture and relieve the pressure that way instead. In time, the tympanic membrane can repair again.
So although dramatic, this can be seen as a bit of a safety valve effect - better than retaining all that muck inside the head, you never know, it might even have prevented something really nasty.
That was my thought to be honest - at least it wasn't something "really" bad - that's what I told him - bad enough but I know what you mean.
My daughter suffered this when she was only 4. Fortunately, my cousin, who was at the end of her studies to be a doctor, was there when it happened. She immediately told me to phone the emergency doctor.
Yes he's now on antibiotics and still deaf it's really quite a bad thing to have.
He will remain deaf to a degre until the eardrum is healed. But with diabetes that may be slow or may not even happen, sadly.
Wow - that's bad - he's having a tough time of it one way or another at the moment.
You should wash your ear and some eat fresh fruit and do exercise.He should really see a doctor, these type of symptoms are severe. You put what happened into the NHS Direct Sympton checker, it says he should go to A&E.