Why am I getting ear infections?

Triathlon Forum
1

OK…this may not be entirely tri related, but here it is, a gorgeous afternoon in the mid 70’s, wish I was on my bike… and I’m nursing yet another ear infection. I’m an adult, I thought I was done with these. I started feeling icky after my last tri almost two weeks ago. Pretty sure I do not have water trapped in there, I’ve gotten pretty good at noticing the difference, plus both ears are nasty and the other symptoms are there…

Does anyone else come down with childhood stuff after years of thinking you’d be over it?

2

Are you doing any swimming? If so, that is probably the culprit. I still get ear infections on occassion as well.

Probably worth making an appt with your doctor to see if you need antibiotics to clear it up (you can still swim, just put pieces of a cotton ball in your ears under your swim cap).

Prevention: 50/50 mix of rubbing alcohol and water as drops after you swim will dry your ears up nicely and kill little bacteria!

3

I always use a mixture of rubbing alcohol and vinegar (6:1) for ear drops after swimming. Works like a charm.

4

Do you still get the classic “sick” symptoms with swimmer’s ear, like the cough, headaches, body aches, fatigue, etc?

5

You can go a long way just by making sure your ear canals are dry after swimming. The alcohol/whatever mix drops can help with that, as well as just running a hair dryer on low toward your ear (and hold your ear open so it gets in there). I used to get them a lot, but since I do the hair dryer thing (and cotton swabs), I’ve never had one.

6

No, my ear infections just tend to be achiness in the ear, sometimes a little icky goopy stuff in them, and temporary deafness in the affected ear.

If you’ve got a cough/headache/body/ache/fatigue maybe it is something else? doesn’t sound like you should be training with all of that!