Earlier this month, I caught a head cold. It was the kind of cold where my nose ran continually, to the point that I felt like I was losing brain matter. Then for a couple of days my right ear plugged up, making everything sound like my head was trapped in a tin. I could handle the runny nose and gravelly voice without too much drama, but the ear thing made me a little crazy and very irritable. It’s human nature not to think too much about things until something goes wrong, and ears are no exception. Lately, we’ve seen a number of patients in the clinic with issues either directly or indirectly related to their ears. While all things ear-related may seem pretty straightforward, there’s a lot to know about ears from the realm of Chinese medicine, including the following: As acupuncturists, we think of ear-related symptoms as having to …