Earaches can be a painful experience ranging from the mild, moderate ear ache to extreme pain. Accumulation of fluids or pressure leads to an ear ache in the middle ear. Exposure to sounds, extreme change in pressure or climate, infections and wax deposits are the common causes associated with ear ache.


Certain conditions that could aggravate an ear ache are allergies, swimming or bathing. The Eustachian tube is a small tube that connects the ear to the nose. A blocked Eustachian tube triggers the accumulation of fluids followed by bacterial growth leading to earache.


Keeping the nasal passage clean and allergy free is the best way to avoid the possibility of an earache.

There are various earache cures available to relieve earache. These cures could be ranging from mild compresses to homemade remedies. Home remedies for ear aches are best suitable to relieve mild to moderate earaches. It is advisable to consult a medical practitioner incase pain persists for more than a day. Some popular home remedies include:

• Warm compress: Use a towel soaked and rung out in hot water. This can be pressed against the painful ear to relieve earache. This simple procedure can bring immediate relief. Warm bottled water could also provide heat relief for the ears.

• Garlic: Garlic oil is a very popular home remedy to treat ear aches. The anti-bacterial properties of garlic help fight the infection. Garlic oil is a recommended treatment known to be better than prescription antibiotics.

• Blow Dry: Blow drying the ears after a bath is a simple way to dry the ears and avoid a moist condition suitable to bacterial invasion. Choose a warm setting and gently dry the ears instead of rubbing them.

• Hydrogen Peroxide: a capful of hydrogen peroxide is an ideal solution to eliminate excessive wax build up. Gently pour the solution and allow it to drain after a minute.

• Chewing: chewing gum or sucking a candy is a good way to avoid earache caused by pressure changes while flying.

• Oils: Warm oils can soothe a painful ear. Some ideal oils that could soothe an earache are: mineral oils, olive oil and garlic oil. Mineral and olive oil for earache are ideal lubricants to eliminate itchy symptoms associated with earache. Use an ear dropper to apply the oil and use only a drop or two to coat the inner lining of the ear.

• Ear plugs: Damage to the inner ear can cause pain. It would therefore be helpful to wear ear plugs to avoid loud noise, extreme winds and water seepage.