I had an bad ear infection many years ago as a child and the treatment was a penicillin jag in the bum. Very painful - not the jag itself but the after effects. Couldn't sit down for a day. But it probably saved my hearing.
I had that too when I was a child - six jabs in total, three in each side ... could hardly sit down by the time they'd finished! I had a bad abscess though which left me with a damaged eardrum and so I'm partly deaf in that ear as well as a having a constant feeling of dullness and a funny sort of whistling sound (luckily both slight). However flying is agony because the eardrum is scarred and therefore can't adjust to changes in pressure. Colds too get it going because the Eustachian tube gets blocked.
Unfortunately I had a lousy GP and it was only later that I discovered via a specialist that something could have been done about this, but that would have had to have been within six months.
No doubt though things have moved on since then, but I've long learnt to live with it, although the deafness can be a bit frustrating at times.
People forget/are unaware that they should take some probiotics when on antibiotics - we have good bacteria in our system that antibiotics kill and we need to replace this.
I'm going to start calling you the Probiotics Lady, Bev, since you must surely be their global ambassador!
