JackD

I woke up this morning with my left ear feeling blocked and I couldnt hear properly with it. Went to the doctor who jammed her scope thing in it and completely blocked it meaning I cant hear at all with my left ear. She said its a wax problem, and I have to wait 3 weeks to get them syringed to fix it, but I have got a recital tomorrow!

In addition I'm meant to be playing in and also conducting an orchestra at the end of this week.

I really don't know what to do

gzent

Find another doctor! 3 weeks? That's BS!

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Manny Laureano

Jack,

Must be the time of year as I had the same problem last week. Here's what I did based on past experience with the doctor. You don't want to do the Q-tip thing as that can just compact it and make it worse. What they do at the doctor's is place this huge syringe-like device at your ear that runs warm water gently but firmly into your ear. It softens the wax and usually a big plug of earwax falls out.

I often accomplish the same thing with the nozzle on my hand-held shower head. But I have to make the stream gentler so I don't do something awful to my ear. I cock my head sideways to let gravity help. Usually this helps but I have to spend a little time on my bed with my head dangling over the side to let excess water run out. Can you picture that? Use gravity.

Don't know how the British health system works but here you can go to the emergency room and you wait for a doctor to take care of the procedure. If that sort of thing is available to you, go that route.

Good luck, I hope by now you haven't made the situation worse out of frustration.

ML

Wildman

A few drops of hydrogen peroxide will help melt the ear wax. Too much will make you tender. Be careful!

I was advised to use this method by a doctor he thought that the kits were too powerful. We can buy kits in the USA that will help you to do this I would assume that they available in England.

MahlerBrass

In the past I've used hair pins, be careful not to puncture something, but it helps actually dig the wax out as opposed to pushing farther in like the Q-tip does sometimes, also, I believe there is some over-the-counter stool softener that I was told to buy when I had the same problem, it cleared it up within a matter of days. Best of luck to you!

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JackD

Thanks for the help guys. She gave me Sodium Bicarbonate drops which seem to help, and I tried the shower head thing - now if I pull on the bottom of my ear I can hear normally. Can't do that while playing though, and its very weird playing with only one ear!

ROGERIO

My wife is a nurse and she always tells me to put some baby oil in my ears. The oil breaks down the wax so that it doesn't get impacted. Once it's loose, it can easily be washed out in the shower. Works well for me.

I've also heard the Q-tip is a bad idea unless everything is loose and liquidy...

Tootsall

What Rogerio said. My wife is also a nurse (ex ER and ICU post-cardiac recovery). Baby oil.

ROGERIO

Since we are talking healthcare.... and personal hygiene…

Several years ago (not ears... but years )... I read about an interesting treatment for allergy sufferers in a yoga book. It’s a self applied treatment called the sinus rinse.

You know when you go the ocean and after being in the water a while your nose starts running. Well, it works in the same way…

Take a cup of tap water and nuke it until it boils. Take a teaspoon of salt (preferably without iodine) and stir it in the hot water until you can see it all dissolved. Keep checking the temp until it’s close to 100 degrees. Go to a private place and stand over a plugged sink. With your head down and slightly tilted to one side begin pouring the contents into the top nostril. The salty (saline) water will travel through one sinus into the other and then out the other (lower) nostril. Repeat using the opposite nostril and keep going back and forth until the entire cup is empty. You may be shocked at what comes out (reason you plug the sink). I use a devise like what Manny alluded to a “huge syringe-like device” to inject the saline into the nostril. This way you can keep the saline from backing out the same nostril.

This is a tricky thing to do and will obviously feel like you are about to drown. When you get good at it you can even open that thingy in the back of your throat that allows post nasal trip…. some of the water will flow thru it and wash it out too. It all feels very good after you get done…. Well worth the trouble if you are an allergy sufferer like me.

I try to do it once a week. Good luck.

trumpet blower88

Wow, thank you for that last post about allergies. I only suffer from seasonal allergies and I just got over it about a week ago, so I should be fine for a while. But next time my allergies start up I am definatly going to give that a try.
It seems alot like the old saltwater thing for an itchy throat...

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