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The neverending battle with heavy earwax buildup

indelibleface

indelibleface

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
6,006
Location
Portland, Oregon
Man, where do I begin...

Ever since I was little I've had issues with earwax buildup. It runs in my family. My dad has always had problems, and now he passed his tainted earwaxy genes down to me. Often, my ears will leak an earwax colored fluid that smells like pure refined evil (I know, it's gross, I'm sorry). They'll clog up to the point where I can't hear very well (right now it feels like someone strapped a humongous wad of cotton balls to my ears with duct tape).

I've tried so many things. I hear those ear candles are complete and utter bullshit so I hesitate to give those a shot, but I've tried the earwax removal kits to mixed results (sometimes it seems to help, other times it seems to make it worse). They work if I catch it early enough -- usually what will happen is the earwax will get lodged in there so deep that there's no way to get it out easily, even with those carbamide peroxide drops. Occasionally I've had to go to the doctor and get his gigantic syringe to flush out my ears completely -- I'm wondering if I could save time and energy and use exactly what he uses. I've noticed that part of the blockage has to do with ear canal irritation and swelling, so I've sometimes taken pseudoephedrine and ibuprofen together for a few days to help loosen it all up (a decongestant and anti-inflammatory, respectively), although I'm not sure if this actually works like I think it does. I'm almost sure that the drops also cause some of the swelling! Gah!

Either way, sometimes my ears will remain clogged for months, other times they'll clear up in a few days. Being a musician, this is highly inconvenient, bordering on maddening. I don't know how much more I can take of this bullshit. So, my earwax afflicted brethren, what the hell do you do to fix your ears? And is there some kind of permanent fix? A surgery perhaps? I'm desperate.
 
im sorry to hear about your ear wax troubles :(
as for myself, I dunno, I clean my ears with q-tips after every shower (i love this feeling....i've always loved it since I was a kid!) and I've never had a problem with ear wax buildup...

Doesnt going to the ear specialist help after he flushes he out? I can imagine that it wouldnt be too hard to maintain the cleanliness of your ears by cleaning it with a qtip everyday after your shower (I assume you bathe everyday...:p) \

I know some people might say OMG cleaning your ears with a qtip is bad! But hey, myself and my siblings and everyone I know have been doing it forever, the only reason wax builds up is because it is not cleaned out on a regular basis...
 
I would do what your Dr. does. I have had this problem before and my Dr. did pretty much what you described. A quick Google search with "syringe ear" came up with some products that might help. Obviously be very careful and maybe even ask your Dr. for some advice or tips on the safest way to do it yourself.
 
Sticking stuff in your ear isn't recommended, though I do the q-tip thing sometimes.

The ear syringe/glycerin-carbamide peroxide drops treatment is helpful. Be careful that anything you stick in there is really really clean, if not sterile.

Another thing that can help: heat some salt or sand in a pan on the stove, just as hot as you can stand it. Then, put it in a sock, and lay your head on it, bad ear down. It helps to melt and soften all that crap.
 
Cheap and easy way to keep your wax to a minimum...olive oil!

All the district and practice nurses I know swear by it. They don't like the medicated ones because a)they are expensive and b) contain harsh chemicals that can actually irritate and inflame the ear.
They swear that all thier patients that use a few drops a olive oil every day, need thier ear syringing a lot lot less than people that use OTC ear drop preparations.

Also using a q-tip is a short term fix but in the long term it just pushes the harder wax deeper into the ear and you can also really damage your ear by going in too deep.

I think you can buy ear syringing devices for home use but I would be very wary of using these. As a nurse you have to be trained to syringe ears because there is a risk is really damaging your ear drum if not done properly.
 
I had this problem for a while. Mix some water, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide together and suck it into an oral syringe, then blast the hell out of your ear. It usually took about 5-10 minutes of high power blasting at varying angles, but eventually the wax always able to be dislodged. It can help some if you put a little water in your ear and tilt your head to let it soak a few minutes before hitting it with a syringe, too.

Occasionally I've had to go to the doctor and get his gigantic syringe to flush out my ears completely -- I'm wondering if I could save time and energy and use exactly what he uses.
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Nah, you can get the same results with an oral syringe, you just have to be persistant.

I think you can buy ear syringing devices for home use but I would be very wary of using these. As a nurse you have to be trained to syringe ears because there is a risk is really damaging your ear drum if not done properly.
Click to expand...

I did this loads and loads to myself and recently had my hearing checked and it was excellent. Though I never used a device specific to ears, just an oral syringe like they use for babies and sell at pharmacies (which doesn't squirt out too hard).

Incidentally this problem went away in about three months and I've never had any problems since (it's been a good two years now), and I don't regularly clean out my ears or anything like that.
 
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i have a few waxy issues with my ears myself. (thanks to my pop as well) if i don't consistantly keep 'em clean myself, i'd prolly need to see a doc too. the daily q-tip thing works pretty well for me too. also if it did get bad, my girlfriend (i know, she has a strange fix about keeping my head and all its parts neatly clean) would have me lay my head down sideways on her lap, and pour a little hydrogen peroxide in one ear at a time, let it sit for a minute or 2, then give it hell with a few q-tips. seems to work well tho. sorry 'bout your ear problems, you're not alone.
 
recons said:
hot shower every morning followed by a q-tip.

daily maintenance is better than a big hupla to get it clean after its already clogged.
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Exactly. If your ear is already cleaned daily, there will be no wax to "push" back anyway doh.
 
I have the same problem.

Buildup can be caused by:

- loud sounds (concerts, using head phones too loud)
- irritation of the canal or tympanic membrane (swimming in chlorinated water, or too deep)
- foreign bodies in the external canal, such as q-tips or any other cleaning devices.

You may have noticed that if you try to remove the wax, your canal becomes even more blocked. This is because of the swelling caused by any abrasion to the canal, even slight.

The ear is not a place where anything should go...including q-tips. The only thing you should ever use is something called a lance which is the plastic rod with the loop at the tip used by your doc to remove wax (they use metal ones usually).

If you do manage to get excess cerumen (wax) buildup, the following solution should work:

Mix about 20ml of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide), 10 ml of dilute acetic acid (sold as white vinegar), and 10ml of warm water.

Put about 5 drops in affected ear and tilt sideways so the solution stays in the ear. Let it leak down into the external canal, where it will accumulate at the tympanic membrane (don't worry, this is water proof). You will feel a "bubbling" sensation as the wax dissolves in the acidic solution. Let it stay in for a few minutes, suction out, then redo however many times it takes until it feels cleaned out (usually when there is no more bubbling).

After this is done, simply take some ibuprofen, and go to sleep to let the swelling go down.
 
I'm sure everyone is going to say how stupid or dangerous this is but..

I use a bobby pin bent open to really get in there and do some cleaning. I had problems my whole life as well and never did anything like this. I'd just eventually go to the doctor and have them flush it out. I bought my own cleaning kit thing, etc.

However, this one time I couldn't hear out of my ear for literally like 2 weeks and I'd read an article about Japan or something and how these people there clean your ear with a modified bobby pin type thing with a hook on the end for money.

I woke up at like 2am and was FURIOUS about my ear for some reason so I went into the bathroom and used a bobby pin for the first time being extremely carful. In like 5 minutes I'd cleaned it all out.

I really don't know if I'd recommend this as it's supposed to be so dangerous but I did it without any problems and I continue to do it if I ever have ear issues. Also, I know the anatomy of my ear extremely well now.

If you want to be hardcore and risk injuring yourself and losing your hearing you should do this. Otherwise just go to the doctor and have them do it.
 
crystalcallas said:
Exactly. If your ear is already cleaned daily, there will be no wax to "push" back anyway doh.
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actually...

water is the main reason for heavy wax buildup in the ear. the wax on the outside is what makes its way out. those of us who have issues with ear drainage and extra h20 buildup have probably seen an ear-nose-throat doctor multiple times. q-tips would do no good in this situation (however, they will not really cause any harm, as long as you don't push it in at all).

also... flushing earwax often is NOT good for your ear's sake. there are now more advanced and safer options... most ENTs can get in there with a little scoop and some even have special suctions. the latter options cause less damage to the eardrum in the long run.

my advice to the OP? get a good cleaning, buy some wax ear plugs, wear those babies every time you shower to minimize getting water in your ear and you'll cut down on doc visits majorly. just please leave the wax removal to the pros! they have educations in that shit for a reason haha.
 
I hate to bring this back, but Maybe it's just me. I will be laying down sometimes and I will start to feel a tickle in my ear, then out rolls a small ball of wax !! some are small but I have had a few the size of a BB. How does it get to be a round ball like that and just roll out? I am not bullshitting either, this really happens
 
nuke said:
It usually took about 5-10 minutes of high power blasting
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that's fucking stupid advice

the reason why doctors do it is that you can burst your eardrum

get the doctor to do it, it's much safer if he does it

and for the love of god don't blast anything down your ears as hard as you can
 
rm2x said:
that's fucking stupid advice

the reason why doctors do it is that you can burst your eardrum

get the doctor to do it, it's much safer if he does it

and for the love of god don't blast anything down your ears as hard as you can
Click to expand...

An oral syringe can only go to a fraction of the pressure of what their bigass syringes can. The syringe they used at the doctors office actually hurt my ear quite a bit; this didn't hurt at all.
 
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