I think i have glue ear

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It's been atleast 3 months or more since my left ear has been blocked, i can't hear well and i hear a popping noise when i swallow. Well it's in both my ears but its worse on my left, the popping noise is louder. I have gone to the doctor, but he sucks, i've gone at least 3 times in these past months. The first time he gave me drops that didn't work. And the second time thats when he told me that the problem is not in the outer ear but behind the ear drum. He then said it might be allergies and so he prescribed me pills and nasal spray. After it still hasn't gone away, i went back and he said just to wait it out and see. Well im not going back because he obviously doesn't know shit. So i was thinking maybe i have glue ear, what can i do for that?

Originally Posted By: albeitmyselfYou should probably ask for a referral to an ear, nose, and throat doctor or maybe an audiologist. Your doctor probably doesn't see these kind of things very often. I second that suggestion. An ear... doctor would probably know very quickly what's wrong.

I knew that but really didn't want to type it. lol

That's most definitely an ear infection. You're gonna need antibiotics such as Amoxicillin. It starts out harmless and then you'll wake up in the middle of the night with a really sharp pain or ache in your ear. It will usually come on after a cold or if you get a lot of water in your ear. Just go see a better doctor and he should prescribe you antibiotics.

wouldn't a viral infection be taken care of by the body?

There are 2 types of Immune Responses : Cell mediated and Humoral1. Humoral: Here we have plasma cells secreting Anti-bodies specific to the pathogen. These antibodies complex with their specific antigens present on the pathogen and precipitate it out of the circulation. Such immune-complexes will then be cleared out completely with the help of 'complement' and phagocytic macrophages.2. Cell-mediated: Here cytotoxic T lymphocytes are involved. These cells prevent the intracellular replication of viruses by releasing special chemicals called Interferons.In general:Viral infection, fungal infection => T cellsBacterial infection => Plasma cells Thank Honors Biology for that one.

But if you do not fully kill the bacteria with the antibiotics you are prescribed (which is why the doctor says to finish out your doses) the bacteria become resistant and then reoccur later on and you need a stronger antibiotic.

I figured you were asking how bodies fight off bacterial vs. viral infections. So I gave you an explanation. It probably seems like gibberish because you don't know the terms I used. Go look them up if you would like to know.
I'm not figuring out what this kid's infection is. He can go see a better doctor that will diagnose it. If he can't find one he should go on Web MD. I don't understand why it would be asked of this website, seeing as it's called Afraid to Ask. I don't know anyone afraid to ask why their ear is clogged. I'm frustrated with you Rad because I put a lot into explaining it and you shut me down by saying I failed biology. Clearly I took something away from that class or I wouldn't have been able to explain it.
End of discussion for me. If you have further problems msg me.

I'm pretty sure the antibiotics are more or less shortcuts that go in and kill the bacteria causing the problem so the victim doesn't need to suffer for a long time while their body fights it off.

Essentially, the reason we have antibiotics for bacterial infections but for viral infections we usually wait for the body to deal with it is because we can't yet do any better. A hundred years ago we just had to wait for the body to deal with either type of infection, or die trying.Killing bacteria with drugs is a lot easier than killing viruses, because bacterial cells are different in many ways from human cells, so finding drugs that can kill bacterial cells but not human cells isn't so difficult. Viruses, on the other hand, don't do much until they are inside the body's cells, and then they mainly use ordinary cell machinery, so finding specific places to attack is much harder. We are just beginning to make effective antiviral drugs, but they are still selective for pretty specific viruses, and of course so far research has concentrated on the worst viral diseases, like AIDS.