Ear plugs

Hey last Summer just around the time the season was finishing i got this really bad ear infection, and the doctor said it was from the constant falling in the water and not drying my ear out. This year I want to prevent that from happening so i was wondering if there is like a helmet with ear protection, or should i use ear plugs or what? Thank you

Yes you can use earplugs, but you can also use some "swimmers' ear" to dryout the ear after riding. I think swimmers ear, is just rubbing alchol, in a fancy bottle.

Doc's Pro Plugs are great. Get the vented ones. They're like $10.

Common for people in the water a lot is to use 50% white vinegar/50% Isopropyl Alcohol. Lay on your side and let it sit in there for a few minutes per side. That concoction comes from a Navy doctor many years ago. It is still a valid remedy. The alcohol dries your ear, and the vinegar kills the bacteria.

Some people just get ear infections easier than others.

Has anyone had water get in past the inner ear? This just happened to me and it really jacked up my neck. It felt like an ear infection and gave me one hell of a sore throat. Apparently when it gets there it gets trapped in the inner ear and cant escape either way and this swells up the sinuses an traps it worse. I had to take a nasal spray to open the sinuses and then a decongestant to help dry up the trapped fluid. Anyway a long story short it really sucked and I want to prevent this from ever happening again. This was a first so I wonder if it was common or not cause I don't want to go down that road again. The Dr. said that the alcohol in the ear trick wont work cause it only helps fluid in the outer ear escape. Any thoughts?

I second the vinegar/alcohol. I used to get swimmers ear all the time as a kid, and this is what I used to prevent it.

I had to use the moldable wax type ear plugs due to an ear infection a couple years ago as well.

Your local drug store should have a selection marked specifically for "swimming"

Something like these:
http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/swimandwatpr.html

i had something wrong w/ my inner ear once. idk what happened but i couldn't even sit up. Felt really woosey and like i was going to faint...not fun.

i took a lot of sinus meds to open up my head. felt better in no time

Check out http://www.proplugs.com I have a pair and they work really good. If you get the vented ones, you can still hear clearly with them in. They are only $8.00.

I really like the "Swimmers Ear" product it work really well.

Ear plugs....keeps the water out in the first place so you don't have to put something in your ear (swimmers ear) to dry it out. The cheap white wax ones at Wal Mart work great. I had 3 sets of tubes over 2 years because of the water and they work great.

In addition to keeping the water out, will ear plugs also prevent a blown ear drum?

just when you finish riding, if you put like vinegar with something else, i dunno baking soda, forgot what it was

but you put the 2 together, you put them in your ear and lean over leaving it for like 30 seconds
tip back over and all the water comes out, every time!!! thats what we do when we stay at the lake, or go swimming a Lot, just bring some and do it once you get to the car, lakehouse, or home

proplugs work great!

Jeff...it is the ONLY thing that will prevent blown eardrums. People think the helmet flaps do...they don't.

Brett, Baking soda and vinegar are the ingredients for a gradeschool volcano! Don't put those two in your ears. Like mentioned above, white vinegar and alcohol 50/50 is pretty much the same as the swimmers ear solution you buy in stores. Works well.

depoint50ae, the only way to get lake water in your middle ear (space behind the ear drum) is through a ruptured TM. Perhaps you could get a miniscule amount in there if you crashed with your mouth open and a little water got forced up your eustachian tube into the middle ear? Sooo, ear plugs and crashing with your mouth shut will prevent it. You may have had water in your other sinus cavities that could make your ears feel full, blocked, or even some referred pain? You didn't have water in your inner ear. It can't get in there, only middle ear. Any traumatic disturbance of the inner ear would cause vertigo,nausea,tinnitus, and hearing loss. See ear diagram: http://www.echalk.co.uk/Science/Biology/InteractiveDiagrams/ear_web.swf

Be careful with those wax earplugs. When my cousin was like 10 years old he had one of those types of earplugs actually melt from the heat of the sun and it got lodged down in his ear. His mom tried pulling it out with tweezers but he would scream like crazy when she touched it. I think he finally had to go to the doctor to get it removed.

removed a wax ear plug in the emergency room in a kid with the same problem
just took a hair dryer and heated it till it was real soft and pulled it out

no ear troubles but i love using goggles and a swimmers nose clip...the pollen on the water kills me, washing in and out of my eyes and nose really made allergies flair...plus since you hang out with sunglasses on when its your turn the goggles are tinted so you don't get the superbright effect and keeps spray from jetting you in the eyes, you can keep your eyes open all the time...but i look like a dorki just don't care anymore id rather be comfortable