I've had swimmers ear. Hurt like hell but doesn't sound like what you have.
As for Advil... I used to be an Advil junkie. Used it for everything. Then one day was drinking some booze of some sort or the other and my left eye started to swell up, no iching of pain of anykind, just swollen. I thought it was the booze but I can't stop drinking so I just ignored it. Then it happened again a month or so later and kept happening every once in a while, sometimes with booze sometimes without. It took a while to figure it out (especially considering the mess my memory is, you know from the acloholism). It was Advil! Advil, my sweet sweet pain relieving friend had betrayed me. I haven't used Advil for almost a year now, however, the silver lining is that I can continue sousing it up without fear. Who want to live into thier 70's anyway?
Out with Advil in with booze is the moral of my brief tale.