VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Zach Meissner]

For the first time probably 20 years, I've developed an ear infection. I travelled for my day job recently, 4 flights over a couple of days, and by the end of trip i thought my ear drums had burst. Which of course changes how you hear and speak the inflection of copy.

Went on the standard regiment of antibiotics from the doc, but it got me thinking about where this could have came from. I understand there is no definitive way to know, but it did raise a question after reading a few things online.

I know many of us here use neti pots, a day prior to flying I used mine, and I happened upon a few articles that hypothesized that it was possible that bacteria from the nasal cavity could get into the eustachian tube and cause an ear infection. I just discovered the neti pot this year, and have flown fine every time prior to using this, so I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this as a possible cause of an ear infection?

I'm sure the flights exacerbated the condition, but the neti pot possibly causing it intrigues me.
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ZachMeissner.com

[vkuehn]

I don't fly much any more so I don't have a current attitude about what flying does to my health or my ears.

When I started flying, there were still smoking sections in the airplane. I love to look out the widow while flying. Back in that day, the best seats for window access where in the smoking section. The non-smoking were over the wings. My wife and I began to notice that I came home from every trip... sick! Sometimes involving ear problems and pains.

A lot of those flights were to attend seminars. And at multi-day seminars many of us would find a person or two we enjoyed sitting next to and exchanging ideas during break time. Back then seminars had smoking and non smoking sections. I ended up sitting among the smokers to have a "buddy" to share the studies.

From those trips I really came home sick.

Smoking sections went away.... both at seminars and on the airplane. But travel still brought me home on the edge of being sick. They tell us it is the dry air of flying in some cases. They tell us it is the same air being recirculated over and over and over again that does us in some cases.

In my younger years I found heavy doses of Vitamin C were helpful. In my older, dried up years... not so much.

After talking to a LOT of people for LOTS of years about ear pains and sore growling throats, I conclude there is NO single cause, and no single solution. Just keep trying all the "old wive's tales" about folk cures til you find one that works for you.

[Lee Gordon]

The condition of your ears affects how you hear what you're doing only if you're listening "from the outside in." You will be better served if you train yourself to hear "from the inside out." Rather than listening to what goes into your ears and back to your brain, you need to listen to the voice inside your head so you're getting it as it happens.
Easy for me to say; I've been doing this for more than 40 years, but I'd venture a guess that most of us "no headphones" people do it this way and it's a skill worth developing.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Zach Meissner]

I'm curious if anyone else who uses neti pots, has 'just so happened' to also get an ear ache at some point in close relation to using one, at one time or another. Anyone else experienced this?
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Pax vobiscum

ZachMeissner.com

[Bruce]

I don't use them enough to experience your problem, however, I have read many times that it's important to use very clean (bottled) water, not tap water you're not sure of in case of stray bugs, and to clean your neti on a regular basis.

Oh, and never use the same Q-Tip tip on both ears. You might spread an infection that way.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Mike Harrison]

I use a Neti pot usually three times a day. And, for health-related information, I generally trust only the websites of the National Institutes of Health (nih.gov), the Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.com), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (aafp.org). Why? Because anyone can buy an impressive-sounding website domain name and be considered by some to be expert with little or nothing to confirm their experience.

But, for your question, I just found two articles that make a lot of sense and may be helpful:

http://www.neti-netti-pot.com/neti-pot-dangers.html, and

http://www.neti-netti-pot.com/blowing-nose.html

And, as Bruce said, *NEVER* use tap water in a Neti pot unless it's first brought to a full, rolling boil and allowed to cool. Only the full, rolling boil will kill the nasties that can (and have) proven fatal.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Zach Meissner]

Thanks for those links Mike, I think that might just hit the nail on the head. It could be the blowing of the nose... While I've never done it very hard, I do remember pinching each side off to blow my nose. Perhaps that was just enough to send it into the ears - of which if I hadn't flown, might not have have even been an issue.

On the water front, correct, never use tap water. I use only distilled water in my neti pot. I wash it after every use with soap, and about once a week will put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes to zap anything left - I have the plastic blue version.

Mike, do you wash yours with tap water? Or do you boil and cool water to wash it with as well?
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Pax vobiscum

ZachMeissner.com

[Mike Harrison]

I've been just using hot tap water and soap. The microwave is an interesting idea but, thank goodness I kept the package it came in; I just checked and found it is not microwave-safe. Glad I checked!
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Zach Meissner]