i’m scared i’ve been prescribed the wrong medication.
i (19F) have a perforated eardrum as a result of having T-tubes when i was younger, my left ear did have one previously but it healed, the right one never has (5+ years). i’ve had an infection (at least 1) in my right ear for what must be over a year now, i’ve tried at multiple times to get it sorted but it’s never worked. i don’t have pain in the ear, but there is constant yellow odoured discharge from my ear, i have to sleep with a cotton pad on my ear every night or it will go everywhere, and i wear hearing aids and it constantly gets in and blocks the tube and the smaller air chamber hole (i forget what the proper name is for that part of the mould) in november i did swabs and the results came back as having 3 simultaneous infections (either 2x bacterial and 1 fungal or the other way round) i was prescribed at first flucoxacillin 500mg tablets 4x a day for a week, i noticed a reduction in the discharge on these but it was still there when the week was done, this was by a nurse practitioner at my gp practice. i had an appointment at the hospital ENT who prescribed ciprofloxacin 0.3% drops, i did the first dose of these and felt probably the worst pain i’ve experienced, it was like my ear was being eaten from the inside, and it went on for about 5 minutes straight, i was literally sobbing and couldn’t do it again. cut to now, about 7 months on, ive been experiencing an increased amount of discharge and have started to become more ill in general, having a very sore throat, nausea, headaches, eye pain and breathing issues. i have no explanation for these symptoms other than maybe they’re linked to my ear infections because i’ve had those so long. i saw the gp again and this time they prescribed amoxicillin 500mg 3x a day for a week and i saw no change on these, i saw ENT and they did swabs again, and she looked in my ears, she told me my right ear is infected so badly that there are boils, she was vacuuming the discharge from my ear but had to stop because said if she knocked a boil it would burst, she tried prescribing solfradex drops but none of the pharmacies in my area had it in stock so i didn’t get to take it. i went to the gp again a week later and they had my results, i didn’t really understand what she was saying but the gist i got was that i have both bacterial and fungal infections and also thrush in the ear, i was prescribed gentamicin 0.3% drops for a week then told to take clotrizamole 1% for a week after those. well, when i was given the prescription i had forgotten which i was supposed to take first so i googled it, and it said to absolutely never take gentamicin with a perforated ear drum - i know, dr google doesn’t know everything. i called my gp this morning to a) confirm the order of medicines i was to take, and b) to confirm that gentamicin would be safe for me. the response to that second part was that yes it’s safe because whatever infection it is that i have reacts to the gentamicin, which doesn’t completely fill me with confidence. im so scared of taking the drops and feeling the pain i did previously and also of the fact that everything ive seen says not to take it when you have a perforation. im going to call the pharmacy in the morning and get a second opinion, but hoping someone else maybe could shed some light? i’m just so done and want this over with 😭😭😭 TIA
Posted Jun 30, 2026, 2:35 AM UTC