I’m sitting here at my desk and can hear absolutely nothing out of my right ear. It is really annoying.
Since I can’t ask for medical advice on this site, I’m just here to complain.
I woke up bitchy this morning.
but she just went right back to sleep.
I just went and saw the company nurse. She had a look and said that my ear is full of wax. I have been using these wax earplugs to sleep at night and it seems that part of the one in my right ear is still there. I may have made it worse by trying to dig it out with a Qtip this morning. Looks like I’m off to see a doctor this afternoon.
I just heard of a couple of remedies for this. The first is some type of oil that you can get OTC that is supposed to loosen up the wax.
The second, and I’m not sure if I understand this correctly, is some type of a stick that you light on fire and stick in your ear. It is supposed to “wick” the wax out somehow.
Anyone ever heard of these?
The first is a good idea.
The second is a bad idea.
Have used the first on my son. Works good. Ask the pharmacist for ear wax removal products. Murine makes the one I used, I believe.
Ear candling is what they’re talking about - bad idea.
Unca Cecil had a column on the subject
It’s called Ear Candling. I’ve had it done. It does get all the stuff out of your ears, all the way down to your brain. 
Somehow, setting one’s ears on fire just does not seem wise.
Ear candling, eh? Yeah, it sounded kinda weird when I heard it - I’m glad to have a source for decent advice.
Missy2U, Where did you find the ear stuff? Do you think Walgreens would have it (that’s generally where I pick up prescriptions)?
Any drugstore will have it – look near the eye stuff.
It sounds like you have a seriously plugged up ear to me…I would go to the doctor for it. I had this done once…they flush it out with water, and the plug pops out. I would be afraid that if you try something at home, and you don’t get it all out, you will make the problem worse my impacting it further in there.
My doctor prefers that I do the OTC thing first, and only come in if it doesn’t work.
I read about an ear candling test. You see, after you burn an ear candle, you can open it up and see all the nasty junk it drew out. The thing is, the test burnt one away from anything to draw on and the nasty junk was still there. They are quackery.
If you have earwax blockage, it needs to be removed. This is relatively easy for anyone but you to do. You can’t see what you are doing so injury is likely. Since you already have impacted it further and added cotton strands to make the wax blockage stronger, a doctor might well be the safest course. Push it far enough and you are deaf for real for ever.
I have removed a wax blockage from my girlfriend’s ear. She was laying with her head on my breast when we were first together and the warmth melted the wax and fused it into a plug which deafened her in that ear. I was able to gently remove the excess wax. It was non-trivial to remove it without pushing any further in, but I was able to manage it and clean the other side which was nearly as bad.
Sorry for posting again so quick, but I wanted to respond to this and forgot to in my post up there.
My son’s doc says this as well - there’s no worries about impacting anything. The drops “melt” the wax and it works its way out.
I went to see the doctor yesterday and get this - I have swimmer’s ear. That’s right, swimmer’s ear in October in Wisconsin.
Here’s why - Lately, I’ve been hitting the weights after I get home from work. I normally shower in the morning, but since I don’t like going to bed after sweating, I’ve been showering at night, just before bed. I get out of the shower, put ear plugs in and go to sleep (the reason for the ear plugs). Since the insides of my ears are still wet when I put the plugs in, they stay that way until morning when I take them out.
Apparently, this is a breeding ground for bacteria and I got an ear infection - more commonly known as swimmer’s ear.
I had fluid built up behind my eardrum which was causing the lack of hearing. The doctor straightened it out and now I’m on antibiotic ear drops for a week.
I talked to him about QTips and he pretty much said that they do more harm than good. After I get this cleared up, he recommended that I flush my ears once a week with a mix of hydrogen peroxide and water to get rid of excess ear wax.
Not a very exciting end to my little drama, but at least I can hear again 
Did you have them bleed you afterwards to get rid of the vapors?
My grandparents need to have the wax taken out of their ears regularly… they have to use olive oil to soften it beforehand.
(I’m in Spain, here the practical definition of “begging poor” is “can’t afford olive oil”)