# Beetle in my ear **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292 "2002-04-18T11:43:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![papertiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@papertiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papertiger)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/1 "2002-04-18T11:43:49Z")
No I don’t have fatal familial insomnia, but I have just been swimming and came to the lab to work on my courseworks. I felt something in the outer part of my ear, and pulling it out found it to be a beetle encased in wax and swimming in fluid. I shit you not. I had felt something in there recently but thought it was just a waxy build up. Anyway can this sneaky little critter have caused me any harm while it was in there? Laying eggs or eating my brain or something? It was an orangy little bugger, like a common house beetle. I suppose it is remotely possible that he was already floating in the pool, and found his way into my ear, but then my ear feels a lot different (in a good way I hope)since I pulled him out. Freaky. ---
**Author:** ![meyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@meyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meyer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/2 "2002-04-18T11:46:30Z")
:eek: Yeah, thats it, I really don’t know what else to possibly say ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/3 "2002-04-18T11:52:27Z")
Were you able to understand all spoken languages whilst the beetle was in there? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/4 "2002-04-18T13:04:05Z")
have you checked the other ear? ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/5 "2002-04-18T16:03:53Z")
[mike myers]The good news is, we got it out. The bad news is, it was a female…[/mike myers] ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/6 "2002-04-18T16:06:18Z")
damn, that would freak me out for the rest of my days. get thee to a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/7 "2002-04-18T17:51:09Z")
> [@](#): > > have you checked the other ear? 🙂 No joke: Cecil: [Why do we have wax in our ears? Do roaches ever crawl in there?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_111.html) > [@](#): > > […] a patient showed up at a hospital with cockroaches in both ears. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/8 "2002-04-18T20:41:07Z")
How big was it? I almost forgot…Oh. My. God. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/9 "2002-04-18T21:10:07Z")
Do not, under any circumstances, see the film Mountains of the Moon (I think that is the title). A character in the film gets an insect in his ear that he cannot remove, it begins to drive him crazy…and out in the middle of the desert, with no other means…let’s say he was forced to use a long sharp piece of metal and he was deaf in one ear afterwards… Had me squirming in my seat long after the scene was over! My sympathies to you…I know I once had a problem and they removed ear wax and I was also grossed out to see how much was in there (although the doctor said it was nothing out of the ordinary). ---
**Author:** ![abel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@abel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/10 "2002-04-18T21:27:13Z")
Do you mean one of those little ladybug look-alike beetles that swarm all over the midwest every year, or are you talking about something out of Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/11 "2002-04-18T21:30:02Z")
I thought I had a beetle in my ear once, but it turned out to just be Pete Best. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/12 "2002-04-18T22:00:24Z")
Seriously, if the same thing had happened to me, and there was no pain and my hearing seemed normal, I wouldn’t worry about it unless that “different” feeling lasted more than a week or so. And no, I’m not a doctor or anything, that’s just what I’d do. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/13 "2002-04-18T22:09:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*I thought I had a beetle in my ear once, but it turned out to just be Pete Best. \*\* Yow! Good one Revtim. I had Stu Sutcliffe in one ear and Murray the K in the other. No fun. papertiger, I can only echo JuanitaTech: Oh. My. God. homer/…mmmm, ear beetles!/end homer ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/14 "2002-04-18T23:58:12Z")
I had a little copper-colored beetle in my ear when I was in elementary school. I slept with my ears covered for YEARS afterward. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/15 "2002-04-19T00:22:42Z")
Now tell me your tinnitus went away. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/16 "2002-04-19T00:23:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > \*\*I slept with my ears covered for YEARS afterward. \*\* Wait…_how?_ ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/17 "2002-04-19T04:45:39Z")
My friend once got a _click_ beetle stuck in her ear. It clicked in there constantly until she got to an emergency room. ---
**Author:** ![robo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@robo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/18 "2002-04-21T02:09:03Z")
I saw a movie a long time ago as a kid (might have been an episode of some freaky tv show like Outer Limits). An insect enters a man’s ear and starts chewing its way to the other ear over the course of weeks or months. They have to tie him down to a bed because the pain is so great. Finally, the insect comes out and the man is starting to recover BUT then the doctor tells him it was a female and had lain eggs inside his head. Really freaky story for a young kid. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/19 "2002-04-21T04:27:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rysdad \* > \*\* > > Wait…_how?_ \*\* Usually with my arms or my hand or a pillow. ---
**Author:** ![ejrn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a6a055/32.png) [@ejrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ejrn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292/20 "2002-04-21T05:09:14Z")
The funniest story I ever heard from a patient: This guy was a cocaine addict with too much money who would tend to get a little paranoid at the end of a long cocaine binge. Each and every time he would _know_ that there was a bug in his ear and would present himself in a state of panic to the nearest ER to have it removed. Of course, they never found a bug but that means nothing to the delusional. He would go from hospital to hospital trying to find a doctor who could remove the bug. He wouldn’t give up until he came down from the coke. The funny part was that each time he started a binge, he would tell himself, “You know this is going to end badly. You are going to wind up taking a tour of all the emergency rooms in Manhattan.” He told the tale with a lot of self-deprecating humor and had us rolling on the floor. When I saw the subject of your post, the first thing I thought to say was, “Lay off the coke, man.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetle-in-my-ear/104292.md?page=2)