Blocked Eustachian Tubes Information & Treatment (2024)

FAQs

Blocked Eustachian Tubes Information & Treatment? ›

If your ears are plugged, try swallowing, yawning or chewing sugar-free gum to open your eustachian tubes. If this doesn't work, take a deep breath and try to blow out of your nose gently while pinching your nostrils closed and keeping your mouth shut. If you hear a popping noise, you know you have succeeded.

If your ears are plugged, try swallowing, yawning or chewing sugar-free gum to open your eustachian tubes. If this doesn't work, take a deep breath and try to blow out of your nose gently while pinching your nostrils closed and keeping your mouth shut. If you hear a popping noise, you know you have succeeded.

A catheter is used to insert a small balloon through the nose to open a blocked Eustachian tube. Inserting a small, balloon-like device in a blocked eustachian tube can bring relief to children and adults who suffer from chronic eustachian tube dysfunction.

Blocked eustachian tubes often get better on their own. For adults, decongestants that you take by mouth or spray into your nose may be helpful. If you have allergies, the doctor may prescribe a steroid medicine that you spray into your nose.

Long-term ETD has been associated with damage to the middle ear and the eardrum. Complications include otitis media with effusion (glue ear), middle ear atelectasis (retraction of the eardrum), and chronic otitis media.

Try a simple exercise to help open blocked tubes. Close your mouth, hold your nose, and gently blow as if you are blowing your nose. Yawning and chewing gum also may help. You may hear or feel a "pop" when the tubes open.

Perform a eustachian tube massage by running your finger from the bony bump behind your ear down the groove between your earlobe and your jaw, all the way down to your collarbone. If your eustachian tubes are blocked, try the valsalva maneuver: hold your nose shut and close your mouth.

An 85% rate of success in opening the clogged tube with hydrogen peroxide is documented. The ototoxicity of the treatment is also examined.

In some cases, people need surgery for a blocked eustachian tube. The doctor makes a small cut in the eardrum to drain fluid and to make the pressure the same inside and outside the ear. Sometimes the doctor will put a small tube in the eardrum.

The treatment for ETD is aimed at opening up the eustachian tube in the back of the nose. The main treatment is using a steroid nasal spray to help shrink the tissue where the ear drains. Nasal steroid (Flonase, Nasonex, Nasacort) – 2 sprays into each nostril twice daily.

How I cured my Eustachian tube dysfunction at home? ›

Eustachi unblocks plugged ears by helping exercise the eustachian tubes; all you have to do is swallow! It's quick, safe, and easy to use.

Saline clears mucus out of the nose and has a mild decongestant action. Because saline contains salt, it works to shrink the swollen lining of the nose and eustachian tube. Using saline spray is a good idea any time you feel congested or your ears feel stopped up. Saline irrigation is virtually free from side effects.

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction - Patients can experience pain in the temporomandibular joint secondary to bruxism or clenching, resulting in otalgia (which can be mistaken for eustachian tube dysfunction)

The treatment for ETD is aimed at opening up the eustachian tube in the back of the nose. The main treatment is using a steroid nasal spray to help shrink the tissue where the ear drains. Nasal steroid (Flonase, Nasonex, Nasacort) – 2 sprays into each nostril twice daily.

Diagnosing Obstructive Eustachian Tube Dysfunction

When this occurs, sometimes your doctor can see the ear drum (tympanic membrane) change shape due to this pressure and become concave. Negative pressure and structural changes in the ear can also be signs of obstructive Eustachian type dysfunction.

The device is guided through the nasal passageway until it reaches the eustachian tube opening in the back of the nose. Under direct visualization, the balloon is then inserted into the Eustachian tube and inflated to dilate the blocked tube — similar to the way a stent is used to open up a clogged artery.