Doing the wrong thing

Hearing Loss
#1

About eight months ago, I had a problem with ear wax. I tried Bicarb, which didn’t work, and a water spray, using pre- boiled water to flush it out, and eventually I did see a small amount of wax, and the problem went away.

A few days later the same thing happened. My ears were blocked, and I could not shift anything. So I had to wait until my ears cleared on their own. This can be slow, and I have sometimes been deaf for two days.

This went on for about two months, and I was getting fed up. So I tried hydrogen peroxide 6%, and that didn’t work either.

I had an audiology appointment, and she had a look and could not see any wax.

I had an appointment with my GP in March, and she found an infection in both ears. Gave me antibiotics, which unfortunately didn’t work, as later she found it was a fungal infection, so a change of meds, and another hospital visit.

This resulted in having suction to remove the infection, and ear drops which are doing a great job.

The doctor said my ear canals were wet, and advised I leave my aids out for a while every day. This is difficult because I do like to hear what’s going on, and wearing aids do make the canal wet anyway.

So it would seem that I was making the situation worse, trying to remove something which was not there in the first place.

I goes to show, that even at 83, you can still learn something.

Although it has taken nearly five months to get rid of this infection, at last I am hearing very well. I have made up my mind, not to put anything my ears, except ear drops when necessary.

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#2

Wow, sorry for your problem. You mentioned they recommend removing your hearing aids periodic to allow your ears to dry. Is that correct? I’m wondering if you are wearing vented or non-vented cones. Of course this would be determined by your hearing needs but maybe if your not using vented cones you could try them and have your aids reprogrammed for them. Just a thought! Good luck.

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#3

Just a thought - if getting an appointment with your doc is a problem, something like CVS’s Minuteclinic is a quick way to get your ears examined. If wax covers your ear drums and you’re on Medicare, they’ll clean your ears and bill Medicare.

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#4

Hi Bob.

Thanks for your reply.

I have ear moulds with 2mm vents.

As they are soft, I don’t think they stay open to let any air in.

#5

Hi philbob57.

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, never heard of that place.

We have a local hearing clinic, which say they have a mobile

wax removal service.

I tried to e-mail them, but never had a reply. So they don’t look at their e-mails at all,

which doesn’t make them very reliable.

#6

Give them a call.

I find email is not very good for establishing any kind of business relationship. But it can work well once you know each other.

Every email from my new customers start out in my spam filter. Once I click “not spam” they show up as expected.

#7

I think I remember people saying that hard acrylic molds are less apt to induce wetness in the ear than silicone (soft?). I use acrylic and have no other experience to go on.

#8

Just fwiw, after a difficult ear wax problem, my otolaryngologist recommended letting warm water spray gently into my ear canals while taking a shower. I verified this with Dr. Cliff. It works.

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#9

Hi mingus.
That’s strange, because the hospital told me to keep water out of my ears,
because my canals were wet. causing the infection.

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#10

Same here, micro suction at the hospital was the cure. I use plugs in the shower.
Appointments since covid are problematic and I’ve used Weldricks recently.
Watch out for sharp edges on your molds, they can start a problem.

#11

Yep my audi tells me to wear plugs in the shower. I also had a canal infection caused by excessive moisture.

#12

Hi jeffrey.

I was told my ear canals were wet, that is the cause of my infection. These infections take a long time to clear up. My soft ear moulds make the canals wet anyway, and you can’t stop that.