Woke up and Couldn't Hear Out of My Left Ear. . . .

I suspect you have a ball of wax stuck in there. I would get an ear syringe and use warm water over the sink and irrigate it over and over, you'll be amazed at what comes out of that little hole. This happens to my husband quite frequently.

Okay, I know this sounds ridiculous, but have you tried cleaning it out really well? Sometimes, there is a lot of wax built up in your ear, and I know you aren't supposed to use q tips, but... when I was in college, I actually thought I was going deaf for a couple of days because I began increasingly losing hearing in one of my ears. Someone suggested cleaning out the ear, which I did, and my hearing was immediately restored.

Have you done a lot of swimming and could it be "swimmer's ear" which is an infection outside of the eardrum? My mom gets huge build up of wax which makes her deaf in one ear until she squirts it out with one of those over the counter bulbs that come with wax softening drops. I get ringing in my ears that comes and goes, and makes sounds difficult to hear. Hard to know what it could be, but see a primary care first would be my advice.

Please go to an ENT, your primary care doctor or an urgent care clinic TODAY! Something very much like what you describe happened to a friend of mine. She waited a few days to see what would happen - busy mom with lots to do, it didn't seem that bad... Turned out it was a fast-moving infection that wiped out her hearing on the affected side. She is now completely and permanently deaf in her left ear. Her doctor scolded her for waiting - they would have at least had a chance of saving her hearing had she gone in when symptoms first presented themselves.

I get this occasionally - my Eustachian tubes swell from congestion in my head, then they push up on my eardrum, causing pain and sometimes muffled hearing.

Get thee to a doctor - if you don't have a regular one (which I don't right now) go to an Urgent Care or On Call clinic. Yup, I just had this last week, still taking prescription decongestants to clear it up.

Sounds like you had fluid. Notice any drainage?

i had this a couple years ago and they washed it out with peroxide and a turkey baster.....i guess it was like a wax buildup from being outside your ears produce more wax or something....i was pretty grossed out when they did it because i know i clean my ears regularly lol but yah it was an easy fix

Go to a regular doctor first. If it is fluid in your ear he/she can see it. If he feels you need a referral to a ENT he/she will suggest it.

I would go to the doctor, or you could just go to the Health clinic in Walgreens. They deal with problems like this, if it is something more they will tell you if you need to go to ENT doctor. As a child I use to have problems like this a lot. As I got older, it was wax build up, cause by using Qtips.. Yeah I know... This is what they told me to do and it works like a charm. equal parts of hot water and peroxide. a couple of table spoons each, it will not even get hot, because the peroxide is so cold. lay on you side with ear straight up, fill you ear with the mixture, if you have a dropper it works better, (make sure it's clean) it will feel funny and make popping noise, it actually tickles, do it for about 2 minutes, roll over on a towel and let it drain, repeat one more time. This will not only fight any infection you might have, it will also clean out your ear. But you could have a huge wax build up too. They can see and will be able to tell. Good luck and I would try walgreens first, faster, cheaper and they take insurance.

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I does indeed sound like wax since it gets better when you touch your ear a certain way. However, if it is neural in cause then it needs to be treated ASAP with steroids. BTW, it has nothing to do with being a woman.

Maybe your ear drum is enlarged. You can go to your regular doctor, they should be able to check your ears and such. When your ear drum is enlarged, fluid can't go past it and you can't hear anything. But with being able to rub the spot to make it go away, I'm not so sure that it could definitely be that.

My rule of thumb is to check with the regular doctor first. If my regular MD says seeing a specialist is worthwhile, then I'd proceed in that direction. But it might be something that is fixable on the first visit.

This sounds exactly like my cousin had. She went to an ENT and they told her some women get this virus that effects hearing. Some women regain their full hearing some don't. So please don't mess around get into the ENT.