Earache, Impaired Hearing and Antibiotic Misuse

A 47 year old lady came in last week complaining of her  left ear's worsening hearing problem. She said it started about five weeks before she came to see me and four weeks before that a doctor had prescribed some medications for her left earache.

Her problem has not settled instead it is getting worse. After asking some questions as per history, I proceeded to examine both her ears starting from the right which is supposed to be problem-free. I noticed that ear was very clean and the ear drum visibly normal.

On examination of the left ear I noted yellowish white fluid filling up the ear canal. At first I thought it was pus but the smell was not odorous. The ear drum was not visible of course. I made a comment about this to the patient and then she admitted that she had been using the antibiotic chloramphenicol ear drops prescribed a month ago on and off whenever she felt there was a watery discharge in the ear. No wonder she has problem with her hearing!

I was taken aback by her admission. Obviously this patient is ignorant on the use of antibiotic of this nature.And being English-illiterate she is not able to read the label which says "discard the bottle one week after opening".

One of the possible complications  is overgrowth of bacteria and maybe even fungus due to the prolonged use of the antibiotic in such a closed space.

I also note that people who have ear problem like pain and discharge tend to over clean their ears using cotton buds and when they feel itchy most likely due to dryness of the ear canal, they would poke the ear with all sorts of items. One man admitted he used his car key to scratch his itchy ear and of course ended up with ear pain  due to infection of the ear canal!

The need to educate patients on medication use cannot be overemphasised.

Happy New Year 2013- Another Year, Another Chance

Farewell 2012 and a Warm Welcome to 2013

Wishing all my blog readers a Happy New Year 2013 and may you all be blessed with good health,happiness and prosperity.

2013 New Year Celebration  on the River Thames London with Big Ben

The last word is manna to most people. Who wouldn't want money or more money for that matter? I am not referring to greed okay, because greed is one of the 10 great sins (for the religious).

2013 New Year Celebration at Putrajaya

We mark the end of 2012 with the beginning of a new hope and a new opportunity to do things right and these are represented by the new year 2013.

People around the world celebrate the new year with fireworks and lighting displays. It is a much anticipated event everywhere around the Globe.

When a new City Mayor failed to plan for an annual fireworks event to celebrate the new year, the people of the city  really cursed him silly. They felt betrayed, they felt let down. How could he, the old Scrooge!

City folks pay taxes and assessment rates not only to be provided with services like garbage collection and sewerage maintenance but for some form of entertainment as well.

Sydney Harbour Bridge
 spectacular 2013 New year Celebration

Big cities around the world celebrate the new year with fireworks where city folks come together in their hundred of  thousands to share the joy and express the common hope of a brighter year ahead.

I see this new year as another chance to improve myself and my relationship with people that matter. I also hope to comfort my patients more and increase my diagnostic skills and detect the causes of their malady earlier so that I can lessen their sufferings.

On the financial front, I hope this year will be just as great as 2012 if not better market-wise. Lessons learnt from last year have provided a compass for me to navigate the murky water of volatile markets which are expected to continue for some time yet.

While there is no gain without taking a risk, I hope I will temper my risk appetite with gratefulness of small gains, real gain not paper- high!

** All images are from FlicKr friends.