I've had slight hearing loss with brown fluid discharge for 6 - 7 weeks

Hi,

I am a 29 year old male and for the last 6 - 7 weeks, I have had a slight hearing loss in my right ear. The hearing loss seems to get worse in the evenings.  This is when I arrive home from work, away from the outdoor and office noise and into a very quiet environment at home. When I lie down at night and tilt my head slightly towards the right, I notice that the hearing loss is not as bad as it was when I was standing up. It's as though the ear "opens up" after I lie down.  I always have the urge to "pop" my ear, but that only gives me slight temporary relief for a few seconds, but even then it is not total relief.  Along with the hearing loss, I also have brown/dark brown fluid coming out of my ear. The ear wax is also dark brown and sticky which is strange because my earwax has never been like this.  Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and there is some of the brown fluid on my pillow and every day when I wake up I need to use about 2 or 3 cotton buds to clear the fluid from my ear in the mornings. My ear does not build up with fluid during the day unless I stick objects in my ear to try and remove ear wax.

There is something wrong but I do not know whether it will heal by itself or whether I need antibiotics. From what I was reading, it seems like a have a perforated eardrum and it is possible that I damaged my eardrum because i do try to clean earwax often, but I thought it would have been healed by now, but it hasn't.  There is no pain, but a bit of discomfort. I am wondering if I possibly have an ear infection or something else? I do not have any medical conditions, but I have always produced a lot of ear wax since I was a child.

Many thanks for your help,

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