Has anyone tried the Otovent Balloon

Have you got Tinnitus as well as balance ,lots have both ,never heard of this balloon,but interesting .Ive got fullness in ears every day ,but think allergies play part on the Eustachian tubes as well .How long have you had this condition ? Are you in the UK .

What is this balloon and how does it work?

Never heard of that ...hope it helps you 

Have heard of this and was wondering how effective it is as I suffer from this complaint every time I have a cold or flu........fullness in ears and sometimes I feel like my eardrum is going to burst.  Doctor said I probably have narrow eustasian tubes.  Really glad to hear you are getting help.

I have never heard of that. Did you have to have surgery for this procedure?

Hi All......OTOVENT.....Its a plastic tube that you attache a balloon to the end (supplied)...and hold it to your nose and squeeze the other nostril and blow, when you hear your ear pop swallow and it seems to clear you ears for a while at first ...I have found that after a few days I did'nt need to use it as much....Its under £10.00 at the chemist....I got mine on prescription from my GP through my consultant...I have got to a point that I'll stand on my head if it helped!!! 

Yea I looked on line at a demonstration.  This was in a Drs officers the Us and they actually don,t recommend blowing it up by,the nose as it,s too hard, but blow,it up by mouth first, then hold the end to nose, after taking s sip of water and swelling at same time as releasing someair into nose whilst holding other nostril closed.  And getting one today as they seem to be £7 in Boots.

I am 60 and had an adult version of Glue Ear last year for which I eventually had an operation for the insertion of a grommet (simple operation, no pain, and instant hearing back again). The Otovent is a small balloon with a nozle that you put up one nostril, close the other nostril and blow the balloon up through your nose. It opens the tubes up to your ears and helps drain fluids and equalise pressure. When you blow your ears pop a bit like in an aeroplane. Didn't help that much but ENT also recommended a thing call 'Nasal Rinse' by NeilMed, and sold in Boots. This is a 250ml bottle which tou fill with warm water and add a sachet of special salt. You then gently squirt it up your nose and it rinses out all the goo and dirt in your sinuses. It worked well on me and my wife tried it and twice a day rinses 'cured' her hay fever.

 

HI All   .....How are you getting on with the OTOVENT......

Hey Pisces.

My hearing would get "dull" and sometimes stay that way.

This is because my skinny eustachian tubes would clog.

For years, my Ear, Nose & Throat doctor gave me Cipro drops to clear them out.

Then, he recommended the Otovent.

What he has ME do is this.

- Attach the balloon to the holder.

- Close one nostril with one hand

- Put the holder and balloon up to the other nostril.

- Make sure there's a tight seal.

- Exhale thru nostril into the holder to blow up the balloon a little.

- Do a sharp "K, K, K, K" sound.....

- While letting the balloon deflate back up your nostril

The "negative pressure", as he called it, almost always opens up my ears on the first try.  If not, it'll open them on the 2nd.

I test the effectiveness in 1 of 2 ways...

1....I put the television volume down low enough that I can't understand what people are saying, use the Otovent, and then see if I can now understand them,

OR

2....I snap my fingers next to each ear, use the Otovent, and then see if the snapping is now louder.  Sometimes it's so loud it actually hurts my ears a little.

I would say that - like anything - there's no guarantee that this will work for everyone.  But this has worked really well for me over the last 5+ years.  I have an Otovent in my car, one at home, and I just broke open my spare..

.

A couple of caveats.....

- Whenever you get an ear infection, I'd be very careful when using it the first time, since it can be somewhat painful.  (It should stll clear you out.)

- If you have tinnitus, you should probably see an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to see what can be done to fix it, or at least keep it from getting worse.

I always order mine online (from the UK?), and they ship it to me here in The States, usually within a week or so.

Hope this helps....