[plainsong]

Hey guys, I mentioned this in the Headroom forum in the thread about the Total Bithead, but something happened to me on Thursday that was rather scary.

It started after I got out of the shower. My routine is always to then clean my ears with Q-tips while they're still wet. Well, there was slight discomfort in my left ear after using the Q-tip, and the ear was suddenly congested, and sounded like there was water inside. Only it wasn't coming out. Over the course of the weekend, the more I played with the Q-tips, the worse it got. I was careful not to shove the things in there, I like to just swab around gently instead, but I wasn't getting any wax at all on the Q-tip from doing this.

I called my mom, who told me dad had big wax buildup problems like this when he was my age. So I made up my mind to go see the doctor. I called on Monday and was told the earliest time was two weeks from now, wonderful Finnish healthcare system.

But the guy gave me the tip to call at 8am to get an "emergency" time that would be much quicker. I couldn't go on Tuesday, but I went today and here's what happened.

My doctor (my regular doctor, I like her) took one look and told me that I'd managed to force the wax as far as it could go, it's against my ear drum. I showed her my etymotics, and she said those couldn't do that, but a Q-tip certainly can. She explained that you should never ever use them, and that they should come with a warning to not use in your ears. She sent me to the nurse to get my ear flushed, and perscribed some ear drops in case I had any pain.

The nurse flushed my ear with warm water and that swishy feeling is gone, but things still aren't right. It's going to take a multi-faceted approach. The first part of it was today with the flushing. Then Thursday night I treat both my ears with some stuff from the Pharmacy called Remo-Wax. Then I come back on Friday for the final flushing. It's that bad, folks.

Oddly enough, my listening pleasure isn't effected that much. The left ear sounds a bit funny in real life, but sonic information is getting to it. With headphones, with my main rig, you can't tell anything is wrong. While with my Total Bithead, yes you can tell something ain't right.

I just hope my eardrum isn't permanently damaged from this. I haven't had any bleeding or anything, so I think it probably is ok, and I can still hear...although weirdly. Without headphones the left ear is currently living in a world of recessed midrange.

The moral of the story: never ever ever use Q-tips for ear-cleaning, even after showers.

 

[D-EJ915]

I had a problem like that last year, I couldn't hear at all out of my left ear, it was terrible, the pain was excrutiating. I went to a patient first (quick med place) and they just flushed it out...it was kinda fun actually

, but I could hear a lot better after that.

 

[tortie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong The moral of the story: never ever ever use Q-tips for ear-cleaning, even after showers.

Now im scared to clean my ears!

What does your doctor recommend for cleaning your ears?

 

[KR...]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tortie Now im scared to clean my ears! What does your doctor recommend for cleaning your ears?

acid or hot boiling water...

But seriously, they make special Q-Tips for ears, they are much thicker than the ones that weren't never meant for ears but people use anyway. These fat tip ones are what I use, I try to find a pic if I can.

 

[plainsong]

The doctor recommended warm water or if you feel you've got some wax in there, the Remo-wax stuff.

The reason it's so bad is because I didn't listen to my body. I've had a bad problem with colds, flues, and bronchitis this year. If I'm honest with myself, the problem started in September. But I thought it was congestion because I had a cold, and after the feeling would go away eventually. But it would come back.. I just thought it was part of having the colds and it obviously wasn't. If I had my ears flushed then, I wouldn't be in this situation now.

 

[pedxing]

Different people need different tools.

I cannot use a Q-tip because that just pushes stuffer further back into my ears.

I use a wooden pick device for most of my life, although most literature that have mentioned the existence of this device have said they are the worst things a person can use. Its similar to the metal stick with a loop at the end that I see doctors use on patients for removing flaky ear wax. So far, no problems. Not to be used with kids running about.

I have a hole in my ear that will let water in. Flushing water in to get rid of ear wax has a tendancy to leave fluids in my ear and stir up my cochlea. I can become extremely dizzy and nauseated.

 

[radrd]

You can't scare me. About two years ago I poked myself in the ear while cleaning with a q-tip. After listening to AC/DC with my Etys, I removed them and discovered that one was bloody.

After a trip to the emergency room (where they didn't find any significant damage), I resolved never to use q-tips again. That lasted about a week, and then I got sick of wax on my Etys.

I still use q-tips regularly, but I am careful not to be agressive.

As far as wax goes, you could have gotten that wax in there without a q-tip. I never used to use one, and I had really bad wax build up on my ear drum.

For that deep wax, you're best bet is to buy a kit at the drug store. It comes with drops and a syringe to flush the ear with warm water. They work pretty well.

 

[plainsong]

Well if you had a bloody ear and have lived to tell about it, then I should be ok. It's just annoying that it's so deep and so compacted that all warm water did was get some of it. They insisted I take the multi-day approach so as not to abuse my ear more. I've used the eardrops twice, but only because my husband nagged me to. I'm only supposed to use them if I feel pain, and I'm not feeling any. I'm feeling annoyed, but not in pain.

Yes, that Remo-wax stuff comes with a syringe kind of thing and it looks none too pleasant. This won't go down in history as one of my top-ten weeks. About the same time my ear started acting up, Pixel (our dog) had a loose tummy. Then on Saturday there was a little bit of blood in her wee-wee (keeping it tame for the children

). So I rushed her to the vet, and €95.00 later, she has a bladder infection, and is now on 10 days of puppy-antibiotics. And why? Not because we're not clean people, but because she had a false pregency around the same time that she caught kennel cough from a neighborhood dog. Both these things knock down the immune system. But at least the vet is semi-famous, as he starred in a Finnish version of Vets in Practice. That's something, at least.

The only one who is well is the man of the house. Maybe he will serve us hand and foot if we act sickly enough. It's worth a shot.

 

[radrd]

I'm not sure exactly what you have for drops, but the ones that I have are specifically for dissolving wax. You let a few of these drops sit down in your ear for a few minutes, then you let them run out and/or flush them out with the rubber syringe. They generally require a few treatments to get it all. Though, I used them with q-tips because it speeds the process up a bit.

 

[Edwood]

Consider yourself lucky. I know someone who had a roommate bump into her when she was using a Q-tip, and it pierced her eardrum. SHe was bleeding quite a bit from the ear. Now she has permanent hearing damage.

For as much time and money I've put into headphone gear, I made it point to make an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. The most important component is your ears, afterall.

-Ed

 

[Vertigo-1]

I'd be careful with those OTC earwax eardrops. Since it's a rather thickish liquid, it can cling to your ear canal and get "stuck". The last time I tried using those eardrops, I ended up having a bit of it stuck inside my ear...and that eventually developed into an ear infection.

 

[Edwood]

Remember, folks. Ear wax is there for a reason. It is common for "flakes" of it to be in your ears. They naturally "slough" off. (yes, gross) A lot of wax build up is not good, but no wax is much worse.

If you aggressively clean out your ears with solutions, you may wind up getting an ear infection from water from the bath or swimming.

-Ed

 

[plainsong]

Oh it's annoying, but I know how lucky I am. And if somehow there has been permanent damage, it's actually not that bad. With my main rig you can't tell, so it's all good. And really in the grand scheme of things, there are far worse problems people have to cope with.

I'll have my husband go through the Remo-wax instructions closely, as they are only in Finnish and Swedish, but from my Finnish, it says you should put 20 drops in the ear and wait 20-60min. I think in my case the longest is best.

Then you flush it with warm water in the syringe.

That was another fun moment. The nurse spoke no English, and she spoke Finnish so quickly that I could only get 3/4 of it. Finnish-speaking Finns often have this problem of using such slang and dropping endings so that it's tough for us foreigners to understand. My Swedish-speaking friends tend to speak Finnish far far more clearly, but maybe that's because in this two-language country, they had to learn it as well.

She wrote down the important bits (which I had understood when she said them, but it was nice to double-check), but it was illegible for my husband. Luckily the pharmicist understood it. Do pharmicists have to take cryptology as part of their training?

 

[ls20]

been using them just fine.. wont stop now

 

[Demolition]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedxing I use a wooden pick device for most of my life, although most literature that have mentioned the existence of this device have said they are the worst things a person can use. Its similar to the metal stick with a loop at the end that I see doctors use on patients for removing flaky ear wax. So far, no problems. Not to be used with kids running about.

These things are ubiquitous in Japan. Possibly in other Asian countries, too. There's a description of them at this page (scroll about 1/3 down the page to the blurb titled "What's The Stick With The Little Spoon on the End?").

I have a few of these things. The Japanese call them mimikaki (mimi = ear and kaki = rake/pick). Very effective if you have flaky earwax, rather than the wet or gummy variety.

D.