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olive oil for earache

A reader has written to say that using olive oil for earache as a holiday emergency measure worked a treat.

Earache has a number of causes and olive oil could work for two of the commonest. Top of the list is ear wax. This is usually painless, though it can affect your hearing. Attempts to dig it out using cotton buds only impact the wax against the ear drum. Olive oil softens it, easing the pressure on the drum and relieving the agony.

In children, the No 1 cause of ear misery is otitis media, an infection of the “middle ear�? There’s some evidence that, so long as there’s no discharge present, a few drops of olive oil can ease the pain. How? Possibly through an anti-inflammatory effect, if research on mice with swollen ears can be extrapolated to fractious toddlers.

Olive oil can cure buzzing in the ears, too �?if that buzzing is caused by an insect trapped in the ear canal. This isn’t, strictly, speaking, painful, though it is a pain and sufferers should realise that the nearest bottle of extra-virgin promises relief. Instilling a few drops in the ear will drown the offending beast, which can be syringed out at leisure by the practice nurse.

KEITH HOPCROFT, GP
 
 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8125-1982391,00.html