Turtlerock Forum

So sometime in January I finally got some rest after a hectic year and felt relaxed for the first time in a while. And of course, I got sick. It lasted for a few weeks, so I went to the doctor and amongst a couple of minor treatable ailments he said that my ears were 100% blocked.

I though "well, they can't be 100% blocked because I can hear you? "

But apparently...100% blocked with wax.

I had been worrying lately that I wasn't hearing very well.

So I went on a 3 day process of putting drops in my ears each night then had to go back to have my ears flushed out. Then 3 more days of drops in my ears.

I was feeling a bit nervous as I was half way into a 100 day recording project for an exhibition where I had to record an improvised piece of music each day. So I was thinking..."If my ears are 100% blocked, what the hell do my mixes sound like? What is this project going to end up like? Was I going to have to go back and fix everything up.

After the drops and the flushing out I notice that things are louder and a little brighter (and the dizzy spells have stopped).

But I feel my ears are a bit vulnerable. They seem to be sensitive to things like having the car window open whilst driving. And the cry of our 14month old certainly seem very much louder. Even talking on the phone for a long period seems a bit tricky.

Our piano tuner, who I was speaking to on the day that I went to the doctor said "be careful, because the wax also gives your ears protection".

Has any one ever experienced this before?

Vic

P.S - The 100 day recording project turned out fine. You can see a short 8 minute doco about it here.

http://youtu.be/MnN_1RdgGDA

And here is a WIN TV Prime Time Television News Story about it.

http://youtu.be/gILZUEgSPh0

I was thinking of having my ears flushed out soon. I'd be interested to hear what people think of this technique as I haven't had this done before. Is it 100% safe?

Some reliable info from the (US) National Institute of Health:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 000979.htm

You can do this yourself - a bottle of cerumol and cotton wool balls, a rubber bulb syringe and a dish of warm water.

I notice this buildup occurs very quickly (i.e. within hours) if I'm listening to louder music - I put it down to a protection mechanism. And yes to all the extra sounds - enhanced high frequency and reduced booming - that squeal of the t.v. (14.7K?) !!!!!!

i get my ears flushed out by the doctor.

Only every 4 months or when i see fit.

I do use an ear wax dissolving thingo first for a whole week, which breaks the rock solid stuff deep in the ear canal a nice soft wax, which is easy to flush out.

It will be sensitive for days after.

As for sensitivity, cities are fkn loud places....no surprise that shit hurts our ears.

TV scan rate for CRT is 15.625KHz for PAL D/G

I'm a bit suss on clearing out the wax - i think it is a natural earplug in a way.
But I'm sure some people generate too much wax, but also wonder if they were cleaned more often with a cotton bud would this not keep the buildup at bay - rather than waiting until they are fully blocked?
Ive never done the flush - come close but thought otherwise and they cleared up with a cotton bud and a bit of time.
You guys may be eating too many candles.

Hey

i have gone to have my ears flushed before and told that even though there has wax in there they were not completely blocked and flushing is a bit extreme, so i got prescribed a "medicated" saline solution to drible into my ears after showers and whatnot. It seemed to clean my ears up pretty well, and i am (as is probably common around these parts) pretty fastidious with my aural hygiene.

I think is was called something really bland like audi-clean

Stay away from cotton wool buds. Disaster!
My left ear blocks from time to time.
Ear syringing is not 100% safe (is anything?), but I've had it done four or five times over the years and been fine.
This last time we decided to go DIY.
We used drops for four days , with cotton wool to keep the drops in the ear. It actually dissolves the wax, meaning you don't need to syringe (flush).
At the end of the week we decided to flush just to be sure and my partner did it gently for me (I'm paranoid about my ears).
I think over production of wax is quite normal. We looked it up on the net and some research does suggest exposure to loud noises, or wearing earbuds/headphones seemingly encourages wax build up.
I recommend the drops and occasional gentle flushing as good maintenance as soon as you perceive the first sign of an issue. Don't wait until you have a hard bullet blocking the sound out.

A lot of headphone wearing does it to me.
Had a friend who had the end come off a cotton wool bud and get lodged in his ear canal.
There is a saying - You should never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear.
Tried Audiclean, didn't do much for me.
Hate those drops like Cerumol etc, all they seem to do for me is melt the wax down and it coats my whole ear.
Love the day after a good ear cleaning. I can hear people's thoughts..

headphones and earplugs are terrible for the ears...by the virtue of blocking the ear canal, you create moisture which can increase the likelihood of infections, bad stuff. heard that somewhere, made a lot of sense.

since i stopped going to places with loud noise, ie. electronic gigs and what not...i've been a lot better ear health wise. (even tho i was wearing musicians earplugs).

dont get epic wax build up or any of the garbage i used to get.

All this talk reminds me of that doco - Derek tastes of Earwax, about synesthesia.

I would do the soften the ear wax for few days then syringe out with warm water a few times a year. However I've also found the value in keeping the other side of the ear drum clear. This isn't a part of your body you can get to easily but snorting vapoursed saline water encourages the eustachian tube to open and drain. A product called FESS is a handy way to do this.

disclaimer .... I'm a technician not a doctor ....

rob wrote:
......snorting vapoursed saline water ....

Think I'll pass on that one

Neti pot anyone?
Ewwwww.

I had a nasty cold/sore throat and my grandma gave me this old remedy: snorting baking soda mixed in warm water. I was an idiot and tried her trusted remedy. More pain is difficult to imagine, my head nearly exploded, bloodshot eyes for days and the most severe hacking cough to go with it all. Thanks Grandma.

+ 1 on the FESS. i use that every few days. cleans out a bunch of city dirt and shit as well.

Things sound much clearer since I had mine done but also I didn't realise how irritating the sounf of the world is.

I'm looking forward to my wax filled ignorance to come back.



Vic

snorting vapoursed saline water

This was recommended to me by an ear nose and throat surgeon who I saw when I had severe sinus issues. He gave me a large syringe, about 30ml IIRC, fill with saline and squirt up the nose. Certainly clears out a lot of junk from the ENT area, though not really pleasant, its not as bad as it sounds. Easier to do in the shower, privacy and it allows you to get messy with it.

mylesgm wrote:I had a nasty cold/sore throat and my grandma gave me this old remedy: snorting baking soda mixed in warm water.

My son loves making volcanoes with bicarb and a bit of vinegar and dishwashing liquid. He's pretty adventurous, but he's never tried it up his nose.

I use a nose spray called Nasonex that my doctor prescribed me to keep my middle ear clean and I use warm (not hot) water in my ears to stop the wax going hard. My doctor told me, like others already mentioned in this thread, that wax is a good thing to have to a certain extent and suggested the warm water. Ever since then whenever he checks my ears he says they look quite good!

I should mention, I put the water in by pooling it in my hand and slowly tipping it in my ear to avoid damaging anything.

Drumstruck wrote:

rob wrote:
......snorting vapoursed saline water ....

Think I'll pass on that one

Well this is standard practice for anyone with "eustachian dysfunction" (a perpetually blocked eustachian tube). I'm the lucky winner on that front. This eases the pressure considerably, but it makes quite a mess though.

I wouldn't have thought it would have much direct benefit for the ear canal as the eustachian tube isn't actually connected (it connects to the middle ear, on the other side of the ear drum). But maybe the warmth helps soften impacted ear wax.

When I'm feeling clogged up, I like to use Hydrogen Peroxide. The H2O2 fizzes in your ear and dissolves the wax. It may take several attempts if you have a hard crusty wax plug.
This is not recommended for everyone, especially if you have a perferated eardrum.
Ask your doctor.
Al

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQm7YpxgOnA

...

i see lots of wax each day. best solution i've seen is "ear clear" a peroxide based wax drop which is most effective when applied over a number of nights, not just once.

cerumol waxsol et al are either water or oil based which are pretty useless and will only soften wax, where as the peroxide based drops actually dissolve the wax.

some ENTs also recommend a weekly dose of warm olive oil to achieve the same purpose.

with middle ear infections or eustachian tube dysfunction you will get a low tone hearing loss (250-500Hz) by as much as 20-30 dB. Wax tends to cause higher frequency hearing losses (which is why post removal everything was brighter) however your canal needs to be completely blocked for this to have any effect.

Wax doesnt really protect your ears, it just stops creatures from crawling or flying in whilst you are sleeping. it has some anti-fungal properties as well.

try to avoid syringing if possible; if you have a perforation in your ear drum blasting water into your ear is just about the worst thing you can do. it can also induce dizziness or vertigo. for these reasons a lot of GPs dont syring ears anymore.

After a week with a blocked left ear I had an ear irrigation yesterday. Wow what a relief!
I spent 4 days prior doing Ear Clear drops (twice a day) and then the big SS syringe at my GP.
I won't tell you what came out.

It's nice to be back in the land of the hearing.

Oh the gunk that comes out !!!.

I'm not convinced of the ear syringing that I had. I can hear better, but i feel like I now have occasional pain in my ear and weird intermittent "fluttering" .

Anyway, tomorrow I might just organise to go to an ear specialist to be on the safe side.

Vic

cotton tip once a day.
clear ears for years (and the tinnitus to prove it!)

snorting vapoursed saline water

I too was told this by my ENT doctor back when I was a teenager. Not a very pleasant procedure but did relieve some of the blockage/pain. Thanks must go to mum who passed down her sinus problems onto me & throughout the summer months whenever I went to the beach or swimming my sinuses would get so blocked up I couldn't bend over without a huge pressure welling up in my face. Needed to take a variant to clamoxyl for 3 weeks twice a day, huge tablets too, was a horrible time especially when mixed with alcohol!

I've used Waxsol a couple of times but as Petermulas said, doesn't do to much but rather gives you a lubricated ear canal... A portion gets disolved but not enough to warrant much change i found anyway.
But whatever you do, don't use ear wax candles! Highly dangerous and can be very detremental to your hearing. One case I studied as part of my mini thesis was some 40 or so people tried ear candling, 17 experienced problems: 1 perforated ear drum, 14 had wax deposited into their ear canals, not out, and 2 had third degree burns around their pinna & ear canal!

Bass player in a band we recorded a few years back got his ear drum blown out by a fender twin at a gig he saw at the toff, had to walk around for 4 months with ear muffs on before his hearing came back & the pain subsided. Looks like that texas twang can be painful in more ways than one!

cheers

An "old wives tale" says not to put anything smaller than your finger in your ear - it's pretty logical that our fingers and earholes have evolved in parallel to work together - some of those old wives weren't so dumb.

I stand by cerumol - 40 years of use about twice a year. Leaving it in overnight to soften all the yuko then syringing gently (GENTLY) with warm water.


Now if you ever get a steel splinter in your eye (i.e. in the eyeball) I've got a great trick for removing it - this'll make you laugh - you put your upper eyelid over the bottom eyelid and blow your nose. It was a common fix when I worked in a toolmaking factory - worked nearly every time and is much better than watching the doctor's tweezers approaching your eyeball erghhhh.