Mastoiditis Symptoms

The bulge of your skull that you feel behind your ear, is the exact location where mastoiditis occurs. It is a bacterial infection that infects the mastoid air cells that are found in the bulging area. It usually occurs when a ear infection reaches the mucous membrane that surrounds the mastoid air cells and finally reaches the bone, thus causing an infection. It's usually children who suffer from this infection. But, if you know what are the mastoiditis symptoms and treat them in time, then the person suffering from it, will recover in no time.

Symptoms

There are several symptoms of this infection. If you notice any one of these symptoms then you should immediately take the patient to the doctor. Although it's mainly children who suffer from this infection, even adults can suffer from it. So, both have to be careful as this infection can lead to loss of hearing.

• Of all the common symptoms, one main symptom is ear pain or maybe discomfort in the ear.
• Along with this, the person might also experience a slight or bad headache.
• Besides this, the person might also suffer from hearing loss.
• Along with this, they will feel a pain in the mastoid area.
• This area may also start swelling and turn red in color. The area also becomes tender.
• Drainage from the ear starts. There might be drainage of blood or pus or maybe earwax.
• The person will also get an irritating feeling in his ear if he is suffering from this infection.
• Also, when you touch the ear of a person who is showing signs of this infection, it will feel warmer than the normal body temperature.

In children however, you will notice one thing when they have this infection and that they lose their appetite and become very irritable. So now, what to do if a person has this infection? Well, the good news is that there are several treatments available for this infection. If treated in time, it can be cured.

Treatment

Although there are treatments for this infection, it is a difficult thing as medication cannot reach the mastoid bone properly. Thus, what happens is that, the treatment becomes a long term. So what doctors do, is they give the patient antibiotic treatment first through injections and then orally. The antibiotics that are given are mainly ticarcillin, clavulanate, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. These antibiotics will help kill the infection causing bacteria. If this fails, then surgery is the only way out. By this, one part of the bone is removed and the middle ear is drained and the infection is removed. This process is called the mastoidectomy. After that, the antibiotic treatments are continued.

If the infection is not treated on time, then the situation is further aggravated by the person either suffering from meningitis or from brain abscess. So it's better that when the person starts showing the first symptoms, you should take them to a doctor and treat it. So now you know what are the various symptoms. Parents should be careful when it comes to children as they are the ones who suffer the most. So if you, as parents hear your kids complaining of ear aches or notice that they have swollen ears, or notice any of the symptoms in children, then take them to a doctor immediately. Take care.