If your ear hurts, you should probably try to think about what could be causing the pain. Some of the most common reasons for ear pain include swimmer's ear and ear infections. If you have recently been swimming and your ear hurts, your pain may be the result of swimmer's ear. In the event that you have or have just gotten over cold or allergy problems, you might have an ear infection. There are other problems that can cause ear pain, including a ruptured ear drum, but this tends to be a rarer problem than ear infections or swimmer's ear.

Swimmer's ear, which is actually an infection of the ear canal, is often the result of too much water getting inside your ears when you shower or swim, but it also occasionally occurs for other reasons. You may get swimmer's ear if you scratch the inside of your ear canal or if you clean your ears thoroughly and remove too much ear wax, which is there to help protect your ears from damage. When you have swimmer's ear, you might have problems hearing, and your ear may itch or hurt when you touch it. You can usually treat swimmer's ear with antibiotic ear drops, and the pain can typically be managed with pain relievers until the infection goes away.

Cold and sinus problems often lead to ear infections, which are commonly referred to as otitis media. If your ear hurts as a result of an ear infection, you might also be running a fever. Irritability and sleeping problems are other common side effects of ear infections. Sometimes ear infections go away by themselves, but occasionally antibiotics are needed. You will need to see your doctor if you think you have an ear infection so that he can determine whether antibiotics will be necessary to cure it.

Ear infections can occasionally lead to ruptured ear drums. If your ear hurts and you have thick yellow or green drainage coming out of your ears, it is likely that your ear drum has ruptured. You might also notice bloody drainage coming out of your ears. You should see your doctor if this occurs, but in most cases ruptured ear drums heal themselves. It may take a few weeks for the hole that has formed in your ear drum to close back up. If your ear hurts and you do not believe that it is the result of an ear infection or swimmer's ear, you should probably see your doctor so she can help you determine what is going on.