[MacAttack7]

Be careful with your ears (my public service announcement)

I just had to go to an ENT last week and was told I had a fungal ear infection. I initially went to an Urgent Care and they gave me antibiotics for a middle ear infection, but that was the wrong diagnosis...as usual from that type of place. After I took the antibiotics and my hearing got even worse I got extremely depressed and thought my hearing was gone permanently until I got an ENT appt. Apparently these infections are common with people who wear hearing aids and swimmers, and I read quite a few accounts about earphone wearers too.

I always run water in my ears when I shower and apparently that's a bad idea if they don't dry out thoroughly. Combine that with an earphone/music hobby that doesn't let your ear breathe or air out, and you end up with a dark, warm, moist environment perfect for fungal or bacterial infections. Plus you want to keep wax in your ear as it protects it from this type of stuff. All this time I've been running water into my ear and trying to keep wax out...opposite of what you want to do.

So anyway my hearing seems to be back to normal, and I'm very thankful for that. I got really depressed in an unhealthy way when I thought I had permanently lost my hearing.
Now I'm paranoid as heck to put an earphone back in my ear. I bought a quiet hair dryer and a rubber bulb to thoroughly dry my ear if I get moisture in it.
Might try the earphones again in January after my ear is totally healed up from the ENT working on it, but it'll take a while for the paranoia to wear off though.

(I won't mention how much money this ear infection has cost me....ugh.)

 

[baskingshark]

Be careful with your ears (my public service announcement)

I just had to go to an ENT last week and was told I had a fungal ear infection. I initially went to an Urgent Care and they gave me antibiotics for a middle ear infection, but that was the wrong diagnosis...as usual from that type of place. After I took the antibiotics and my hearing got even worse I got extremely depressed and thought my hearing was gone permanently until I got an ENT appt. Apparently these infections are common with people who wear hearing aids and swimmers, and I read quite a few accounts about earphone wearers too.

I always run water in my ears when I shower and apparently that's a bad idea if they don't dry out thoroughly. Combine that with an earphone/music hobby that doesn't let your ear breathe or air out, and you end up with a dark, warm, moist environment perfect for fungal or bacterial infections. Plus you want to keep wax in your ear as it protects it from this type of stuff. All this time I've been running water into my ear and trying to keep wax out...opposite of what you want to do.

So anyway my hearing seems to be back to normal, and I'm very thankful for that. I got really depressed in an unhealthy way when I thought I had permanently lost my hearing.
Now I'm paranoid as heck to put an earphone back in my ear. I bought a quiet hair dryer and a rubber bulb to thoroughly dry my ear if I get moisture in it.
Might try the earphones again in January after my ear is totally healed up from the ENT working on it, but it'll take a while for the paranoia to wear off though.

(I won't mention how much money this ear infection has cost me....ugh.)

Good to hear you have recovered (no pun intended)!

Earbuds are an option for those who get ear infections with IEMs (they don't go into the ear canal). Earbuds give superior soundstage to IEMs (in general), but they may suffer from a lack of subbass and isolation in most models, due to the lack of seal.

Headphones also, by extension, though where I stay, it is a bit too hot to use headphones for long periods.