Sometimes environmental allergies cause my ear canals to itch. I try not to scratch because I know it’s not good to stick things in the ear (including fingers), but I’m sure I do it in my sleep, because more than once I’ve had problems with impacted earwax. It’s been bothering me again for the last few days. This causes pain and muffled hearing, and when I’ve had it before I’ve gone to the doctor to get my ears flushed out. The last couple incidents happened to occur during vacation time, so I was free to go get it taken care of. This time, I’m stuck at work. I asked my boss if I could go to get the flushing done but he won’t let me because he doesn’t consider it “an emergency”. So I went and got some over-the-counter Cerumen impacted wax remover, followed the instructions to the letter…and it didn’t help at all.
So, if I was to just leave the problem be, would the wax eventually dry out and work its way out of the ear canal? Or is it really necessary to go get my ears flushed again?
Purely my own experience, I once had an earful of impacted wax that I gave a good and thorough soaking with over the counter drops from a pharmacy (actually on the shelf drops IIRC) The wax wouldn’t shift and after about a week or so I went to see someone about it. The nurse in the health centre took a look in my ear and noted the wax was quite soft but just wouldn’t shift and so I got it flushed out.
So, on balance I’ve heard that if you go to the doctors too often to get your ear syringed, it can promote wax production (but I don’t know if that’s true) but sometimes the wax just sticks in there.
YMMV and all that of course, but I do sympathise with your frustration at the feeling of a bunged up ear.
I’m the only one who works in my store, and my boss has never trained anyone to cover for me, despite my insistence on it; plus even HE doesn’t know how to run the place, although he’s the manager, which leads back to:
He’s an asshole. A stupid one.
I basically just want to know if any severe and/or long term problems will occur to my ear canals and/or eardrums if I leave this problem be. I don’t even care about getting rid of the problem if it’ll eventually resolve itself. I’d rather suffer awhile with this than have to deal with my boss.
You can do your own ear wax flushing if the drops don’t work. Get one of those syringes they use to squirt medicine down little kids’ and pets’ throats (no, no pointy bits in the ear, either). When you’re in the shower, fill it up and let 'er rip. Start slowly until you have an idea for how much pressure you’re going to be generating, and be sure not to plug the canal with the syringe. Or, you can use one of those teardrop-shaped squeeze bulbs, but they can stick farther into the ear (which might cause more problems than it solves).
My inclination would be to flush them at home. Start off with a bit of hydrogen peroxide or mineral oil or the stuff you bought at the store to soften the wax. Let it sit inside the ear for about 15 minutes. Then use an ear syringe (available at the drugstore if you didn’t get one in your kit) with warm/hot water and some dishwashing detergent. The water should be at least 100 degrees F, but can be a bit hotter so long as it doesn’t cause pain. Squirt a syringeful of soapy water into the ear (do this over a sink, ear facing down). Repeat multiple times. You’ll feel it when the wax dislodges (you can hear again!).
The first time I did this, it took close to 20 minutes get all the wax out. I left the stopper in the sink so I could see what came out.
I’d be surprised if the problem resolved itself, but IANAD so I don’t know.
This happens to me every couple years. I just buy a rubber bulb syringe, take it in the shower with me, along with a plastic cup to help me fill the syringe from, and squirt the thing in my ear for like 20 minutes until–blort–this vile core-sample cylinder of black-brown evil shoots out of my ear like an X-Files creature.
Ah, ok. I have a bulb, but I didn’t think you were supposed to keep squirting for several minutes…in the directions that came with it it just said to flush the ear canal “a few times” with warm water…not real specific. I’ll try it for longer tonight and see what happens.
I’m another one who periodically suffers from waxy yellow buildup (forget menstruation – earwax is the single grossest thing my body generates).
Use the OTC stuff a couple of times as recommended above, but if it still won’t come out, you may have to visit the doctor. The last time I couldn’t clear my ear myself it turns out I had an ear infection. (Both the MD and the RN at the practice I go to had trainees shadowing them that day, so I got to ask the four people crowded around me, “How many medical professionals does it take to clear out an ear canal?”) (None of them laughed, oddly enough.)
Once a year or so, I set up with a syringe, some cotton balls, and a 70/30 mix of warm water and H2O2 and some plain ol’ water.
Squirt in water/peroxide, let sit for few, flush with clean water, and repeat until the foamy funk that’s coming out on my cottonball is no longer a dark brown.
Have you tried scooping it out with one of those ear spoons? It’s what Chinese people do. I dunno where they sell them but ask around Chinatown and they should have them. It’s a teeny spoon on a stick. They’re a lot more no-bullshit and a lot less messy than flushing your ears.
Oooooh. Ear diggers. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. One of the little perks of being chinese.
There used to be a professional ear digger, though… I can’t remember if it’s combined with barber, but they basically kept a loooong pinky nail and dug out the wax for you. Later it evolved into the ear digging tools like the little metal spoon, and now it’s DIY. But it’s so SATISFYING. Hee. scritch scritchle scritch
Ah! Found the BBC article on it.
Whoops, sorry, was in reply to Lissener’s quote. Seriously, if you’re careful, you’ll reach the point of pain long before you hurt yourself. I’ve never heard of any ear-related problems from people jabbing out their eardrums before, but YMMV. shrug
FWIW, I remember when I was in grade 8, a classmate accidently perforated his eardrum while using Q-tips. He said didn’t even realize it until later on in the day when he began developing sharp pain and ringing in one ear which developed into hearing loss. I wouldn’t take the chance.
It seems like you’ve got plenty of advice here on how to handle the problem. One thing I’ve noticed about my own ear wax situation:
I often need to flush the ear with warm water BEFORE putting the drops in. If I don’t, the drops just sit there for some reason. Warming up the ear canal results in the bubbly sensation of the ear wax being dissolved, or loosened, or whatever happens. Then, a flush with water again.
