I can't hear out of one ear -- help.

[kirei]

My right ear is clogged... to the point that I can't hear out of it, and it makes everything feel.... yucky!!! When you're used to hearing with both ears, and then one stops working... I donno, its nearly like nails on a chalkboard to me. Not that extreme... but its creepy. What's worse.... dd keeps screeching at me for no apparent reason....

Okay, so... I donno, how do you clean your ears? My mom always cleaned our ears with an unbent paper clip, because it would really get in there and clean stuff out. So thats what I do, although I know it is highly UNrecommended. I have always been extremely slow and careful about it.

The problem is, I think wax deep in the canal sometimes clogs my ears. This hearing problem often occurs when I clean my ears -- sometimes cleaning helps to UNCLOG it, but not this time. I think wax has been pushed in the way, and I can't get it out.

And the weird thing is... its like when I try to clean it out and unblock it, I can sometimes almost hear the paper clip touch something, like its ALMOST going to get it out of the way. But its just too deep in there, and I don't want to damage anything.

So... any ideas? I'd really like to be able to hear.

Also... does this happen to anyone else?? WHY is this bad enough that I can't hear??? And it seems to always be my right ear, too. I have had times where this lasted for a couple days, and I hate it!!!! UGHHHH!!!!

[littleaugustbaby]

I do this too. As a matter of fact, my right ear's all plugged up right now. It's always my right ear too. Mine usually clears up on it's own after a while, but sometimes it takes a long time (weeks). Most of the time when mine plugs up, it's because I have a cold. You could try a decongestant, that might work. If you go to the doctor, they can clean them out for you. You can also try the over the counter ear drops, they're supposed to soften the wax so that you can flush it out, but they've never worked for me. A lot of people swear by using olive oil or garlic oil too. Or ear candles. Try a search in the health and healing forum, this comes up a lot.

[sevenkids]

2 of my boys have a lot of wax in their ears, they get so clogged up it's impossible to communicate with them!
I have them lay down, and I put a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide in their ears, and let it bubble out the wax. You can actually see little chunks of wax breaking up and floating to the top and out. Sometimes I have to do it more than once, but it always works. When it stops bubbling, they lay with the treated ear down and the rest drains out.
It's very, very noisy in there, though!

[Alkenny]

I'll second the peroxide suggestion. My mom always did that with us, and I do it with my kids!

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

My husband gets large lumps of wax. I have a 40 ml syringe shank, (without a needle) and he puts a towel around his shoulders, I get a bowl of warm water, he holds a jug under the left ear ~ its always that one ~ and I fill the shank, and slowly but steadily with a bit of push, unload the water into the ear. I keep going, until he indicates its shifted. Then a couple more shank fulls, and I get a small torch, and usually the main pellet is right there. So I use rounded pointed long nosed tweezers to grasp it and pull it out, and about four more shanks will flush out small flaked remains.

Then no-one dare say anything louder than a whisper until he adjusts to not having a mute in there any more....

[littleaugustbaby]

Originally Posted by Momtezuma Tuatara

Then no-one dare say anything louder than a whisper until he adjusts to not having a mute in there any more....

I know that feeling well! It's very surreal when my hearing actually comes back. But it feels so nice to not have to shout, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" every time someone speaks to me.

If you don't have a syringe, you can also use a bulb syringe (like the ones they use to suck out babies' noses) to flush your ear. It just takes a bit longer.

[kirei]

I just tried the peroxide..... UGH that felt disgusting. It took a lot of restraint to lay there until it finished bubbling. Ew.

Unfortunately, it only helped a little. It did shift something, and I am able to hear better... but I can still FEEL that its clogged. Its very deep.

I don't have a syringe AND I can't find any of those nose things for the baby. I even checked at the store, and they didn't have any cheap. They did have a little kit that had a bulb and ear cleaning stuff... so I may go back and get that. That was $7, though... compared to $0.59 for peroxide...

[BelovedK]

Try warmed olive oil...I hope you feel better

[sevenkids]

Originally Posted by kirei

I just tried the peroxide..... UGH that felt disgusting. It took a lot of restraint to lay there until it finished bubbling. Ew.

Unfortunately, it only helped a little. It did shift something, and I am able to hear better... but I can still FEEL that its clogged. Its very deep.

I kow it's loud and obnoxious, but.........could you

Do it again?

[babybugmama]

moved to health and healing.

hope it clears up soon.

I get a weird thing happen with my ears too and all I want to do is go hide until it passes.

[kirei]

Originally Posted by sevenkids

I kow it's loud and obnoxious, but.........could you

Do it again?

Actually, I don't think its too loud... and I think the noise is cool. Its just the fact that it feels like I am drinking it, or like its going into my nose and even my eyes.... I think I just can't stand how it feels mixed up with my sinuses. YUCK!!!!

However, I did it TWICE more... and there is a definite improvement. I can hear out of my ear now, and I can feel that it is nearly all unclogged. Still a little bit left, I think.... if I rub my ear too much, it blocks up again.

THANKS!!!

[ssealy07]

Hydrogen peroxide is the key

I couldn't hear out of my right ear the other day. It turned out to just be a wax buildup deep in my ear. What you should try is dropping a bit of hydrogen peroxide in each ear, stop up the ears with cotton, and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. This will soften up any wax in your ear. Next, mix together hydrogen peroxide and warm water, and use a nasal aspirator to squirt the mix into your ear (You'll want to hold a bowl of some kind under your ear to catch the dripping water and wax). Just squirt into each ear for about a minute or two, and it should rinse out the wax in your ear. Afterwards, if you still feel like your ear is clogged, just shake your head- You've probably just got some water left in there now. After that you should be good as new!

[diamond lil]

Hydrogen peroxide is a good idea, but I love ear candles. You can buy them at most natural or health food stores. I bought mine at GNC. For tough cases of wax, you may need to do 2 or 3 candles per ear. Don't do it alone. Have someone else in the room while you are doing it. I almost caught myself on fire once.