Earache during pregnancy

Earaches in pregnant women can basically have the same causes as in non-pregnant women. Inflammation of the external auditory canal or the middle ear occurs occasionally during pregnancy and is usually not a cause for concern.There is no immediate danger to the pregnant woman or the unborn child. Nevertheless, many expectant mothers are initially very insecure.

Although earaches are a common symptom of mostly harmless diseases, women in pregnancy should always consult a doctor. The cause of the pain should be identified in time and a suitable therapy initiated to prevent the disease from progressing and a possibly complicated course. A dreaded complication of inflammation of the middle ear is meningitis, whose intensive therapy is associated with certain risks for the unborn child.

In general, the earlier a therapy is initiated, the lower the medication requirement and thus the burden on the fetus. Wherever treatment is possible without the additional intake of medication, it should be preferred in favor of the child. This will be decided by the doctor after a careful risk-benefit analysis. The doctor can also help with the choice of the correct medication, which is also permitted during pregnancy.

Earache with cold

If earache occurs in the course of a cold, it is often due to an acute inflammation of the middle ear (otitis media), which is caused by germs – especially bacteria and viruses – rising from the nasopharynx via the Eustachian tube (tuba auditiva) into the middle ear, where they cause an infection or inflammation of the mucous membranes. Thus, bacterial and viral infections of the mouth, throat and respiratory tract are potential sources of infection for an ascending middle ear infection. If the inflammation of the middle ear has been induced by bacteria, these are mainly pneumococci, Haemophilus influenza, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus or Moraxella catarrhalis.

However, bacterial infections are much rarer than viral infections. The bacteria usually enter the middle ear directly via the auditory tube, less often indirectly via the bloodstream. If it is viruses that cause inflammation of the middle ear, they are often associated with concurrent infections of the upper respiratory tract, although they are usually more likely to be carried to the middle ear via the blood.

Influenza caused by the influenza virus can also lead to acute inflammation of the middle ear (influenza otitis) and eardrum, which can cause earaches and hearing loss. The inflammatory affection of the mucosa of the middle ear, which is well supplied with blood and well innervated, leads to a sensation of pain, as does the accumulation of fluid in the middle ear, which can occur when the ear trumpet is displaced due to a swelling of the mucosa caused by a respiratory infection and a negative pressure is created in the middle ear when it can no longer be adequately ventilated. The development of an inflammation of the middle ear and thus also of earaches in the context of a cold generally occurs more frequently in children; the probability decreases in adulthood. The reason for this lies in the anatomical peculiarity of children: due to growth or development, the ear trumpet in children is shorter, narrower and runs more horizontally, so that a rise of bacteria or viruses in the case of a cold can take place more easily.