Coughing, blood in ears, neck pain. History of asthma. Can coughing cause ear injury?
Patient: I have asthma and had a coughing bout which lasted a good hour. I m coughing because I cannot stand the cigarette smoke/odor coming in thru my air-conditioning vents, but this is another issue with the landlords. However, shortly thereafter I used my nedi-pot and took a shower. Upon cleaning my ears, I had blood in my right ear showing at then end of the Q-tips. My right ear is hurting pretty bad now. Also, my neck on the right side where my cervical spine incision is hurting and pain radiating upward towards ear. I m not so sure how serious to take this. And could my coughing caused some injury to the ear and/or incision? Doctor: Hello.  Coughing normally will not cause bleeding in ears. It can however cause problem to an extent if your eustachean tubes (connecting nose to middle ear) were blocked due to cold.  From you history, there seems to be some injury or boil to your ear canal. Your hearing seems to be ok since you have not mentioned about any loss. Please get your ear examined.  There is no need to suffer from a cough bout for 1 hour! Whenever your asthmatic airways trigger a cough bout, it is a good idea to take inhaled salbutamol 1-2 puffs and that should abort the cough bout.  Bad prolonged cough bout can cause neck/ abdominal pain and can also cause fainting.  -Dr. Tushar