[AndrewB]

Well, I tracked down and purchased ear candles from a lady on Ebay. They arrived as promptly as my payment was sent. (QUICKLY).

First some background information on me; I suffer from Tinnitus, and have had my hearing loss verified by my doctor at about 150~300Hz and 5500~7000Hz. I cannot hear a child whisper in my ear. Let alone follow a adult conversation in a moderately quiet resturant, let alone a busy one.

So with that said; The candles arrived, I grabbed my earthy-crunchy girlfriend along with some paper plates, matches(fire), a cup of water and a razor blade. Then off to the bed room we went.

After playing around abit to warm up my ear wax, we inserted a ear candle through the center of a paper plate, stuck it in my left ear, and lit it.

The sensation is interesting, as the smoke will warm your ear canal and also the fire provides a vacuum to draw the ear wax out. The pop and click/hiss of the candle burning is unique.

After slicing open the first candle, we decided it was doing something and proceeded to "do" two more in my left ear. The third candle removed virtually nothing from my left ear.

So, I flopped onto my other side and Lisa began candling my right ear. BTW this ear is more bothersome than the left. The first and second candle removed a bunch of wax/debris from my ear, the third removed a bunch more, but considerably less than the first two.

Being warm and fuzzy, the dark chocolate and port now kicking in, we went on to other activities, that I will not reveal here.


Now we are 18 hours from the initial candling, what can I say. I believe that this has made a reduction in the 'ringing' in my ears. Sound 'sounds' a bit clearer, the higher frequencies of speech are more readily understood.

I can hear my son whisper in my ear, both of them, anyone out there with a three year old knows how softly a child can speak, well I heard him today.


To sum it up:
Other than being able to hear my son's whispering.
I can not quantify the result, nor am I one to jump after or lead lemmings around. So I would strongly recommend the drawing of one's own conclusions. If you're hearing is good, feel blessed, I felt there was nothing to loose, and perhaps gained a little.

I will post a follow-up in a few days, as we are going to candle my right ear some more, and I'd like to see (hear) what gains and changes will settle out in say 5 days.

Ciao for now,
AndrewB

 

[shivohum]

Hrmm.. I'm not a doctor or expert, but according to several reports on ear candles, they are ineffective and possibly dangerous. The wax that you see is just the melted wax from the candle.

 

[x1lexure]

If the wax is from the candle shouldn't the 3rd candle look about the same instead of looking less "gunky" as he said?

Did you do this the candle vertical or horiziontal?

 

[john_jcb]

In reading these threads I wonder what the candle will do that a warm water syringe will not. Warm water does not have all of the inherent dangers that the candle does.

 

[eric343]

Quote:

More recently, two investigators tested candles to see whether the wax accumulated after burning came entirely from the candle or included wax that came from the ear. To do this they burned candles with the tip (a) inside the ear, (b) outside the ear, so the wax dripped into a bowl of water, and (b) inside the ear but with a tube in place that would permit ear wax to move into the tube but would block candle wax from moving downward. They demonstrated that all residue originated from the candle and that no ear wax was removed from the ear [2]. Why Candling Can't Work Since wax is sticky, the negative pressure needed to pull wax from the canal would have to be so powerful that it would rupture the eardrum in the process. However, candling produces no vacuum. Researchers who measured the pressure during candling of ear models found that no negative pressure was created. The same investigators candled eight ears and found that no ear wax was removed and candle wax was actually deposited in some of them! [3]

(from the Quackwatch link)

Are you sure you aren't experiencing the placebo effect?
(note - don't show this to your G.F., it sounds as if the candles create a nice romantic mood

)

 

[lethoso]

well, i'm not sure as to the validity of candles, but getting your ears syringed out really does help. A while back mine had accumulated heaps of wax, the doctor syringed them out and my hearing improved quite a bit...

 

[AndrewB]

We played with the candles some more last night. This included burning one as a 'control'. I wouldn't recommend the practice based on last nights observations.

I did want a reducion in the ringing and to hear my son, so that qualifies as a placebo.

The 'wax' that appeared to have collected in the candle, was from the candle. After looking into my girlfriends ear (we only did her right ear) before and after there was a fairly clean ear to begin with, and after 2 candles there was a large collection of 'wax' buildup in her ear that was from the candle itself.

It seems as though a warm water bottle would provide the same 'nice' feeling that the candle did.

We had fun with the idea, I'd like to thank the folk that posted the quack web sites, we read them as well before trying the candling.

Andrew

ps Mom's advice rules: Never stick stuff in your ears!

 

[Jim R]

I have a some oceanfront property in Arizona that is for sale if you have any money left after buying the ear candles.

 

[DrTacoElf]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim R I have a some oceanfront property in Arizona that is for sale if you have any money left after buying the ear candles.

nice put me down for a beach lot

 

[Magic Robert]

The early settlers thought that the feral cats they saw were a mix of cats breeding with racoons. This is because they saw the cats washing their food just like racoons do.

This might be of interest to Kelly.

It applies here, I think, for similar reasons. For everyone who replied who has not tried ear-candling, I recommend you keep it that way.

Ear candling does affect the ear, because it gets your ear HOT. As the candle burns down, you think the flame is half an inch away when it is 5 inches away.

This warms the ear canal (like an ear-lavage would). It doesn't move anything, which makes the lavage much better. You can buy a lavage kit at the pharmacy. Goop to soften hard earwax over several days and a bulb syring to wax it out.

However, what it won't do is change the state of congestion in the eustachian tube, which goes from the ear structure to the back of your throat. The ear candle I used warmed my ear enough when I used one years ago. that I felt my eustachian tube drain (from the heat/muscle relaxation, positive ions, racoon particles, etc.) You can get the same effect from any heat source.

The point: I think that this is more than the placebo effect. There are just better ways to achieve it.

Of course, we must remember that it did appear to lead to sex.

I plan to buy some ear candles and light them. I do not plan to stick them in my ear. I am going to use one on my interconnect and one on my powercord. If I hear benefit, I am going to trademark the concept and go into the tweak business.

BTW, I am thrilled for you being able to hear you kid's whispers.