First topic: Ears
I've had bronchitis for upwards of a month now. It started out pretty awful. I was coughing a ton at the outset, and had a fever of about 101 on July 5th. The fever only lasted one night. At this point, it's minor coughing and just some mucusy gunk in my chest. WebMD says bronchitis can last up to 4 weeks, so I assume the coughing should stop any day now. From what I've gathered from researching on the internet and from my nurse practitioner sister/roommate, you pretty much just have to outlast bronchitis, so a visit to a doctor seems a little unnecessary - I haven't been missing work and the cough is more of an annoyance than anything else (really only cough maybe once ever hour or two). I've been drinking a lot of fluids.
But the odd thing is, my left ear has been "clogged" for about the last two weeks or so. It's a bit like the pressure that you get when you descend on an airplane, except there's no pain at all, only the cloggy feeling. I am having a hard time hearing out of my left ear. Sinus-wise, i feel okay. My nose hasn't been very runny at all.
So my question is, do any of you goEMAW'rs/ENT Specialists know of any connection between bronchitis and whatever is going on in my left ear? I've put alcohol and stuff in it, but to no avail. Can I expect this nonsense in my ear to go by the wayside when I get over my bronchitis (which I assume will be this week) or am I going deaf in my left ear?
Should I see if this thing will just work out itself? Should I seek antibiotics or should I stick with nasal spray?