I think he's speaking of fluid in the Middle Ear, not the External part of the ear.
I'm having a very similar issue.
Started with difficulty breathing through the nose at night, which developed into a lot of fluid and phlegm coming out, the post nasal drip caused a full blown sore throat, with flu symptoms, fever, muscle aches, insomnia, developing in a matter of days.
In the end, once most of it subsided, I was left with sinusitis, which also left my ears filled with fluids.
I've tried decongestants and expectorants without success (never had coughs anyways... but doctors recommended), Sudafed, Advil Cold& Sinus, Mucinex... and am currently on antibiotics (Doxycycline) to see if it's bacterial in nature.
I'm also getting minor dizziness, lack of concentration, minor hearing loss and fatigue. Most of it due to the fluid in the ears, very likely.
The Saline Nasal spray did not work for me, it seems to have mixed rates of success with people and sinus infections. I've been reading some horror stories of sinusitis and clogged ears that have lasted for over a year... so I'm hoping this clears up soon, as it's hard to lead a normal life with it.
I've seen two physicians... and the attitude in general is that I should just keep taking whatever they recommend, pray and wait till it goes away. I was hoping for something a bit more based on facts and less on faith, but this seems to be a hard issue to tackle for the medical field. Either that, or it's so minor as to not be worth their notice.