Deaf in one ear

[ciphergoth]

I am temporarily deaf in one ear :-(

This happens every couple of years; a build up of wax deprives me of half my head. Am pouring in Otex ear stuff, which usually dislodges it after about a week. But it's very disorienting. Certainly it makes me very aware that I wouldn't want anything worse to put up with in the world of hearing.

Comments

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Argh. I did experience that after a very nasty flu and had to have my ear syringed cos it was driving me mad with the 'sloshing' and 'clicking' that kept going on in my head. I am guessing that's not really an option for you due to work, but it was immediate and total relief compared to trying endless products which seemed to do very little to help.

[mr-purpleduck.livejournal.com]

How did you let everyone edit your tags ? Does it stop people from adding new ones as well ?

[mattp.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=229&view=full should be of help.

[aster13.livejournal.com]

You might be interested to know that olive oil has been clinically demonstrated to be as effective as Otex, whilst being both cheaper and less likely to irritate the ear canal and tympanic membrane.

Or you could try Hopi Candling.

[booklectica]

Oh, I'm sorry — you poor thing. Hope it does clear up in a few days.

[barakta]

/me mehs at ear wax. I'm evil I clean my ears against all audiological advice because I hate the feeling of waxy ears. I'm just glad my hearing aid doesn't sit in my ear; earmoulds are horrid!

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Earmoulds keep your ears warm and stop draughts getting in!

I've never had wax in my ears, probably because I clean my ears with cotton buds (with full endorsement of audiologists).

Hope it clears soon P! Or you could get a nurse to syringe it out. Or alternatively run with the concept, add an extra ear plug, blindfold...

[barakta]

Wow, audiologists endorsing ear cleaning? I'm impressed.

I do agree that earmoulds keep ears warm, but they also make ears slimy and annoying. I used to have a swim mould which I used when it was cold to stop my ears hurting. I didn't like the mould in for more than an hour or two a day.

[some-fox.livejournal.com]

Sympathies, I get that too.

Are you still up for the meeting tonight? Want to travel over together?

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

I'll probably go straight from work - thanks!

[funky-firelord.livejournal.com]

Yep me too, though its been a few years.




:-)

Firelord

[simm42.livejournal.com]

know the feeling well - always having problems with my ears..

Have you tried an ear candle? (try one of the chineese medecine places they tend to have them)

[ergotia.livejournal.com]

Ear candling can be dangerous IIRC from wikipedia.

[simm42.livejournal.com]

I dont think any medical procedure should be undertaken without either solid personal experiance or good advice from someone qualified.

Misuse of even a good medical treatment - which frequently happens with alternative treatments is still likely to cause harm

While any info on wikipedia might be reinforcement on the above - I'm dubious about the validity of some of the information on there (in the same way I dont automatically accept things as pressented on say a random lj post or a newspaper article)

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

You should read some of the links from the Wikipedia article. Ear candling is as thorough a form of hokum as homeopathy. The partial vacuum it produces could never be enough to draw out ear wax; if it were, it would destroy your eardrum too.

[simm42.livejournal.com]

Will bear some of that in mind

Is something I keep getting recommended to try - haven't does as yet though.

I'm pretty much unable to put any form of drops in my ears - almost anything will cause an infection (even antibiotic drops have made a mild infection into a really nasty one in the past), going swimming is just asking for trouble :(

One thing I have found to work is a hair dryer on low held pointed the ear for a couple of minutes - though this is usually when suffering from a painful infection rather than just wax buildup

[ergotia.livejournal.com]

Yes I dont think wiki is infallible but the source material on this one seems pretty convincing.

[simm42.livejournal.com]

does seem it

I think I'll stick to pain meds and a hair dryer ;)

Have had to have them shringed a few times but nothing recently fortunatly (sky diving and ear blockages do NOT go well together)

[e-laini.livejournal.com]

I have had problems with my ears in that regard for years (compounded by scuba diving). I find that using the Audiclean stuff they used to advertise on TV every couple of days instead of cotton buds stops it happening as often.

[ajva.livejournal.com]

Oh God, tell me about it. I only have one ear with good hearing anyway, and it has happened that that one gets blocked up with wax and I suddenly go completely deaf.

I was thinking of getting one of these. I know it looks like a bit of a uselessly quirky thing, but the fact is that in the ear hospitals this is exactly how they deal with the problem: a vacuum cleaner in the ear that sucks out all the wax and crap, albeit a scaled-up version (I've had this done many a time). So I think it may work.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Wow - I'm surprised that's safe, but I guess it must be. Cool.

[deathboy.livejournal.com]

I got this recently (for the second time), it drove me *bananas*.

if it's not clearing up, your GP might well have a nurse on hand that can clean your ear out (with water jets, they seem not to use syringes anymore) either the same day, or with a few days' appointment.

Mine took the usual few days to get the GP appointment, but as soon as he had a peer in, he said "yep, you need that sluicing out", and sent me off to a nurse who did it immediately.

The pre-requisite is that you've been using something to soften the wax for a week, otherwise they can't get much success (and thus won't bother, but will tell you to bog off for a week and use warm olive oil).

I was using Otex, but three different nurses told me to use olive oil, even though I was getting noticably better results with Otex. Eventually, I just told them I was using oil just to stop them getting arsey.