Ear Wax

[supergreen]

My left ear is completely stopped up with wax. I tried to wash it out by turning my ear towards the shower head and it made it worse. Actually that's what got it fully stopped up, whereas before it was mild. Things are severely muted in my left ear. Do I just need to wait for it to go away on its own or is there something safe and relatively natural I can do for it? My right ear also has the same problem right now, just not as bad. This had happened before, usually a result of taking a bath and getting my head completely under water, but never this bad.

Anyone know why this even happens in the first place?

[queenfluff]

DO NOT try to get it out with water! The same thing happend to me many years ago and my ear got infected because the wax. I went to my "regular" doctor and she had to give me drops to get the swelling down before she could get the wax out and unfortunatley, she flushed it out with hard flushes of water with a syringe with me tilting my head down - it came out eventually but I couldn't ear as well in that ear after wards.

A water flush like that can damage your hearing. I have lost almost half my hearing (the wax infections happened twice in both ears) in both ears because of wax buildup and trying to remove the wax incorrectly (and yes, I tried to remove it myself - I wish I could go back and change that).

Oh, also - I hate to tell you this but you probably made it worse by trying to flush it with the shower - you probably pushed the wax farther back in your ear.

Go to a ENT or audiologist and have them remove the wax with a special tool. (it is a long silver piece). That is the safest thing you can do to protect your hearing.

There really is no natural way to remove it - normally ear wax should dry up and it should fall out by itself. But it sounds like you have alot of it so I would have it removed by a professional.

I don't know if you noticed yet but I noticed that the cleaner my diet is the less wax I have in my ears. If I go back to eating more cooked, I get more ear wax.

[juliebove]

You can buy little tools to remove the wax. If you have an Asian store near you, they probably sell them. They're like little spoons and they're made of bamboo or wood or something. I have some that are made of plastic. I bought them online. Here is an example:

http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/cvs/gatewa...?prodid=235822

But are you sure it's really wax that's the problem? Could be your ear is full of fluid or swollen shut.

You can buy drops that help dissolve the wax. They're made of a type of peroxide that will bubble when you put it in. You then use a bulb and warm water to flush out the softened wax. Using plain water won't do it and can cause an infection. But since you already put the water in there, you should probably try to dry it out using 1/2 alcohol and 1/2 vinegar.

[supergreen]

As annoying as it is, maybe it would be best to just wait it out for the stuff to dry and fall out.

[Davylp25]

Ear Candeling, I believe it's called... Something to that effect. Look it up. Aesthicians (spelling B reject) perform this.

[aililiu]

i dont know much about it... but theres a process called ear coning, i think thats what davy was talking about ^^....they use a beeswax candle.... anyways, i dont know the whole process but somehow it creates a vacuum of sorts, its supposed to be very safe and very effective, look into it!

also i think you can get oil drops to put into your ears.... sorry im not more useful! i used to work at a boarding school and one of the girls had intense vertigo from all the ear wax throwing off her balance... they put oil (dunno what kind) into her ear, it would leak down her cheek a bit which she didnt like BUT it solved the problem.

sorry im not more helpful, you could look into those options though.

:)

[spicyfull]

Good Topic SuperGreen..............

[Strawberry Smoothie]

Wouldn't hurt to try taking echinacea or a little oil of oregano internally just in case your body is trying to get an infection. I've had ear probems most of my life. One thing that usually helps if i get water in there is to jump up and down on the ground with my water logged ear tilted toward the ground. You'll look kind of stupid doing it, but if it works, who cares?

I agree, I wouldn't stick anything in there for fear of causing more damage.