I got my ears irrigated by a nurse with a spray bottle with a little tube instead of a spray tip. It was like the size of a WD-40 tube but more flexible so it fit in without poking. It went way up in there and shot cold hydrogen peroxide inside me and it was one of the most borderline sexually climactic experiences Iāve ever had. The wildest things came out of my ears and it felt amazing. 13/10 better than poking stuff in.
Only downside is after that everything was super loud for a bit.
*EDIT: obligatory my highest comment is now about a borderline eargasm. Since people are asking, I literally just went to a walk in clinic and said āI canāt hear, I think I have stuff in my ears.ā Talk to your GP, go to a walk in, or order the $12 spray bottle on Amazon and get some cold hydrogen peroxide. Enjoy.
I work in clinical research and we had a patient on their last visit complain of a ear blockage. My coworker was a freak for those things so she got all excited and got the flushing kit ready to do just out of the kindness of her heart. I watched her flush a gigantic ball/mess of earwax out of the kid. He was horrified but then started snapchatting it to his friends š¤£š¤¢
I have really dry earwax so it doesnāt exit my ear as it should and I just use the drops when I remember but I usually end up getting them irrigated at the doctorās once or twice a year. The stuff that comes out is absolutely horrific. Likeā¦it shouldnāt fit. Thereās no way that much wax fits in my ears. Somehow it gets worse and I always manage to outdo myself.
My wife got her ears flushed at about 32 years old. They flushed out her tubes from when she was a baby and went instantly super sensitive to any sound above speaking volume. Had no idea they could hang around that long, unnoticed and all.
What tubes?!?
Where I am they call them grommets. Tiny tubes that are inserted to hold open the ear canal (?) for babies or kids who have troubles with blocked ears.
Close! They are inserted into a childās eardrum to keep open a little hole. Ear infections happen in the part of the ear past the eardrum and the pressure built up behind it is was caused them to be so painful. Opening up this little hole gives them relief!
They are inserted into a small incision in the ear drum. The purpose is to help drain fluid in the ears because a childās ear canal isnāt fully developed. So sometimes it wonāt have enough of an angle that allows proper drainage.
PE tubes, stands for pressure equalizer. Prevents build up of fluid in the ear, which can affect hearing and therefore language development in children.
Right? Iām mad your comment doesnāt have an answer yet!
Idk wtf tubes are, and at this point I'm afraid to ask.....
Ear tubes
Do the doctorsā¦not..take the tubes out when theyāre done with them?
Mine didn't come out, ended up turning in my ear, and caused me massive pain for about two weeks.
My mom didn't like us staying home from school unless we were literally throwing up, so I didn't tell her because it just hurt a little at first because I assumed she would think I was taking it to stay home.
I ended up needing to stay at my aunt's for an evening after dealing with it for like 10 days, and the next day I felt nauseous, my ears were throbbing with pain and it felt like I was on the walls if I got up too fast. My aunt luckily was a nurse and let me stay home and I ended up going in to find out that they grew out poorly.
After that my mom was a lot better about believing me when I had shit going on. With my own daughter, I will let her stay home if she's just not feeling it that day, within reasonable limits of course.
Agreed. I grew up the same way. Didnāt feel comfortable enough to tell my parents I was unwell. They almost always brushed it off. Actually, I recall the one time my mother insisted I didnāt need go see the doctor. Well this was 09ā and I was getting progressively worse. So my grandmother had me call she make myself an appointment and she took me. Turns out not only did I have pneumonia, but I also had H1-N1. I had never been so sick in my life. I was unable to walk, so Iād be crawling. Even after starting antibiotics, I felt like I couldnāt breathe and thought I could die. That whole time my mom refused to admit she was wrong so I was just kinda left to my own devices. I was 17 at the time but still, I was seriously ill.
Now I believe my children when they tell me they donāt feel well. Fortunately they donāt usually want to stay home, so Itās not being used as a way to get out of school.
Some kinds at least just fall out on their own after a while. But Im gonna take a shot in the dark that youre also told to call if they dont.
Most people never realize they've fallen out, so wouldn't know if they should call or not. But their pediatrician will tell them if the tubes are still there.
More often than not, you donāt even realize when they fall out. Theyāre so little and itās easy for them to go unnoticed. If they havenāt fallen out, you can still see them in the ear drum when you look in. My oldest son lost one but I could still see the other in his ear whenever checking them. His fell out at daycare and she just so happened to have witness it. But thatās a pretty rare instance.
Nope, they're supposed to fall out!
Huh
Nope- they will fall out on the own as the ear drum grows. Usually within a year or two. My sister required a second set of tubes after her first fell out. Come to find out, the surgeon found the back of an earring hanging out in there. No idea how the doctors missed that.
Usually they fall out after a year or so.
Sometimes they donāt and they donāt exactly chase people down asking about their tubes, since, well, they usually just fall out.
I have an ear that seems to overproduce wax a bit, maybe I should request this.
You definitely should. You will be amazed at the difference in hearing quality, balance, etc.
Itās actually small parts of desiccated brain tissue...
Waitā¦whatā¦Iām horrified
Haha idk if you're serious but just to ease your mind, it isn't.
Okay good lol Iām literally waiting to get my ears cleaned right now and I donāt wanna freak tf out before they get in there
or is it
Same. Only every time I get it irrigated (and itās always only my right ear) I get a an ear infection. Or maybe the infection was already there and the earrigation just earritated it.
Thatās wild! Thankfully I havenāt gotten an infection since I was a kid. I imagine itās probably all the water maybe?
The best pain though is the glorious headache you get from everything being so loud at first
You know the drill, pics or it didn't happen buddy
I donāt have pics but I just followed you on here for next time I get my ears done. Youāll get some juicy earwax pics without warning.
Oh my god lol
I like you :)
I got one of those DIY ear irrigation thingies off Amazon recently. Seriously, one of the best things I have ever bought.
Use some Otex or other peroxide based dissolver and let it soften the wax for a day or two, providing theres no infection, get that cleared up first otherwise it'll sting. Then go at your ears with the irrigator. The key is to not use anything other than liquids. Nothing solid should ever go in your ear to get stuff out.
I swear I thought some alien had laid an egg in my ear because what came out was like a hard, capsule of ear wax. Like a Seven Seas tablet. And it was solid, like stone almost. I was amazed and repulsed in equal measure.
If you've gone a bit deaf from ear wax buildup then that's likely the kind of blockage that's in there. And it'll come out no problem with one of those kits.
Those are the kind of wax chunks I get! I might have to try that. I always feel like Iām wasting the drās time when I go in to get that done. Iāve used a kit from the drug store before but I donāt think I did it right
The key is to have patience and use dissolving ear drops as long as possible. Just keep putting them in your ear until the "crackling" sounds like it's really close to your ear drum. That's when you know the liquid has made its way around the wax and has probably loosened the blockage. Don't touch the ear with anything, even if the peroxide is making it itch a bit. Just put the liquid in and try to forget about it and top it up regularly.
Then when the crackling sounds really loud use the squirt gun thing with warm water and just keep gently sloshing warm water into your ear canal. You might be there for a while, doing it several times. I usually refill the bottle about three times before I get anything. But eventually you'll hear the water on your ear drum, and that's when the magic starts happening and the stuff just starts falling out. It works, like clockwork.
Patience and perseverence and you'll get clear, non infected ears every time. That's the big one for me, not getting infected ears any more.
Its now the only method for me. It's like finding a miracle cure for something I've suffered with for about 20 years now. I wish all this stuff was around when I was a teenager and started getting these deaf ear earwax problems.
Seriously it's like someone invented the toothbrush, but for ears. Now it's fun, and relaxing, like fishing haha.
How does it come out if it "shouldn't fit". Honest question I've never flushed out my ears. Does it come out in chunks somehow?
I have no idea. Usually when I get mine done there will be a few smaller chunks and then one big solid like 1.5inch long piece. Usually pretty thick too. It just feels like that shouldnāt fit in my ear holes, but I donāt know much about ears anyway haha. It usually takes them a while to get the big piece. It actually feels like my ear is taking a dump when it finally comes out.
You may have the ABC11 gene. Thanks TIL!
Feels so disgusting, but I keep reading it again.
For all the shit people give kids about being on their phone and other "in my day" cane shaking, this is the absolute proper way to use your phone and technology.
Yeah the nurse flushing my ear was weirdly excited while doing it and then asked me several times if I wanted to see what came out. Lol
There's a reason a lot of people work in medical; they're just weirdos that really enjoy gross stuff š¤£
This explains why the nurse got so excited to freeze off a couple of skin tags when I was a teen. š
Are you sure it was your ear she was flushing?
How do you go about asking to get your ears irrigated? Thatās the dream
"hey, doc, can you irrigate my ears?"
"Sure, your copay is $25."
Yep. Hapes is correct. Just ask your doc. If you are in the US you could go to an urgent care as well. People who didn't have a primary physician would treat the urgent care as their primary instead. So yeah, very few actual urgent cases... I used to do an ear irrigation at least twice a week.
I found a YouTube channel that is just clinical earwax removal using a scope. r/popping stuff right there.
Thereās also a r/earwax sub. Itās so, so gross and so, so good.
Gen Z is scary, man
This might have been my friend lol