Improving My Hearing
I was going to post this as response to another’s question, but then thought I should make a new thread so more people could see it.
I have seen comments here regarding hearing difficulties as we get older. At 71, I am not immune (though I have friends whose hearing is worse). While I was seeing my doctor regarding another issue, I told her about a clicking noise from one ear — I thought maybe I had water stuck and tried to get it out, to no effect. She asked me if I wanted to have my ears cleaned — “You do that here? Sure!”
She had a nurse that cleaned ears as a specialty. The lady came in with her kit, examined my ears and then started flushing them with fluid. She probed my ears with tweezers and had to flush them again. Whatever was in there had adhered itself to my ear canals, and as she pulled and pried, I felt pinching pains. Eventually she gets a grip and extracts a wad of furry content — it looked like a bee had died in my ear. That was the ear I had problems with. But then she removed a wad the same size from my other ear. I was astounded! I had tried on my own to clean my ears and felt the same pinching, but never produced much debris. This was really stuck in there! Afterward, I noticed that I could hear better.
A friend my age has noticeable hearing loss and I was telling him about this. He expressed interest and I asked the nurse about his getting such service. She said my friend should ask his doctor, who would either have someone on staff to do it or could refer him to an ear-nose-throat specialist. I thought maybe this information would be beneficial to members here. We got to take care of our own equipment too!
My GP's nurse tried and tried to clean my ears using a water pick and probe. I felt a rush of blood to my head, heat and dizziness. Almost passed out. Made her stop. Had to take off my shirt to cool and laid down on exam table till it passed. Never again. I went to an EEN specialest. He used a suction device. No adverse affects. Within 5 minutes he got both ears as clean as can be. |
FWIW, just yesterday, I was at my ENT doc — he’s the Division Chief of Otology at Oregon’s only teaching medical center, so i take what he says seriously — and he is strongly against people using hydrogen peroxide for ear cleaning at home. Hydrogen peroxide can be damaging if overused and is definitely dangerous if you have a perforation in your eardrum or ear tubes, or have an active infection. His recommended method is just 2-3 drops of either olive oil or mineral oil in each ear 2-3 times a week before bed. (You need only a tiny bit; you don’t want oil dripping out on your pillow cases.) The oil is entirely safe, even should you have a hole in your eardrum, and as a natural organic solvent, it will dissolve or soften any wax build up and allow it to be discharged from your ears naturally without suction, flushing or other invasive measures. He’s also in favor, of course, of regular hearing check-ups and cleanings by a professional if needed.
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@kirkwallace I don't understand how/where the wax gets discharged using this method--does it drip out on your pillow? Although if you're just using a couple drops 2-3x/wk., I guess there wouldn't much of anything discharged; maybe it would just collect in the ear? |
As my doctor explained it to me, the ear is designed to naturally discharge wax so that it never builds up. Obviously this works better or worse depending on the individual; and (surprise) it works less well as one ages. All the oil approach is doing is to help that process along; so, according to him, you never really notice any discharge. (I am guessing that he is assuming that one is showering and washing one’s hair and around one’s ears with some regularity.) This is not a solution for dealing with ears that have a current excess build up, although I guess it might help even in that case. The ideal situation seems to be that one is starting the few drops a night 2-3 times a week method with a clean set of ears (e.g., post-professional cleaning). |
@drmuso Even with all the build-up in my ears, I would sometimes feel a piece of wax about to fall out, so I must make at least my share of ear wax, that my ears try to evict. I think it is all about softening the wax, using some kind of liquid, but I don’t know if I want to be on a regimen of oiling my ear canals regularly. I consider my body mostly set-it-and-forget-it and think it should be enough that I have to take daily medications and apply cream to my eczema flare-ups. But getting older does demand more maintenance! |
