Help! WDW in 9 Days but Hearing In Right Ear Way Down (Wax), Very Annoying

[terri01p]

If all else fells try to find a doctors office open 24 hours, I know my doctors office is and it's 24/7 and they don't charge anymore for after hours than they do for a regular visit, just your usual co-pay.

 

[disneyfreak33]

I can say this works - using a bit of vodka, just a few drops. If all else fails that is.


If it's that bad you will need to see the doc to get it cleaned. I had to have one visit for my ear cleaning, it was so bad and so impacted it hurt tremendously.

I will also say this - don't use q-tips to clean your ears. It does more harm then good. Though, I do use them on occasion I do not use them every time. It will just impact the ear wax more into your ear canal, which as I stated above hurts a lot.

 

[Shmily1]

DD has relatively small ear openings so she has this problem the most. We use the ear candles every couple of months, sometimes doubling up when we do it, but they work great and get lots of wax out!! They are easy to use and she loves having it done since it makes her feel better.

Good luck!!

 

[kismet1003]

I'm interested to hear if you tried anything yesterday and if it worked.
I would strongly suggest going to the Dr. I've had ear problems since I was little and get them drained about once or twice a year. I don't swim anymore because of this but my husband just had the same thing happen after he went swimming and the over the counter supplies made it worse. He just went to the Dr and got it drained and he was good to go.
Hope you found something that worked.

 

[englishteacha]

I'm sitting here with quite an earache as well! I think it's a sinus infection or ear infection. I go see the FNP today. If you have trouble when you get water in your ears, using the drying drops or wearing earplugs will really help prevent infections. I try not to go underwater when I swim, and if I do, I use the drops. I will sometimes wear earplugs, but I hate not hearing what's going on around me. As a kid I had a constant ear infection. My doctor told me to wear earplugs anytime I was near water-even in the shower. I didn't get any more ear infections.

So for those of you battling with ear problems and it's not wax, I hope this helps.

 

[rantnnravin]

My mom's remedy was to have us lay on a heating pad (wrapped in a hand towel) for about 20mins at a time. The wax melts and slides out. Worked every time - and no fire!

 

[ceecee]

I would go to a Dr. I wouldn't want to take a chance on not feeling well for your vacation. It could be something besides wax and you could end up feeling really bad. DD had an earache and when I took her in, it was swimmer's ear, really bad pain and she couldn't hear well, she was on antibiotic drops for 5 days, her friend had it as well and her mom tried to wait it out, she's on her second set of orals now. A friend's parents use salt instead of chlorine in their pool and 3 kids got this a few days after a sleepover/swim party.

 

[proteus]

Tried the Debrox twice so far, it was hard to get the drops out when I finished. No change yet and now I have a slight ringing in that ear.
There is no soreness, just a feeling of wax inside. I will give it another 2-3 days with the Debrox and also get something to irrigate. The idea of a heating pad sounds interesting, I have one and may try that tonight, thanks!

If there is a serious medical study that proves ear candling is effective I'd like to see it. All I find on the internet are studies that show this is a fraudulent practice, here is one from the Canadian govt.:

"There is no scientific proof to support claims that ear candling provides medical benefits. In fact, Health Canada conducted laboratory tests that showed that ear candling produces no significant heating or suction in the ear canal.

However, there is plenty of proof that ear candling is dangerous. Ear candling poses a risk of fire. It can also cause serious burns and other injuries if hot wax drips into your ear, or onto your skin or hair. There have been reports of several cases of ear injury in Canada.

In 1996, a report published in the medical journal Laryngoscope concluded that "ear candles have no benefit in the management of cerumen (ear wax) and may result in serious injury." Health Canada agrees.

The authors of the report, all of whom were medical doctors, conducted a survey of 122 ear specialists. They found 21 cases of serious injury caused by ear candling. In six of these cases, patients temporarily lost their hearing."

Anyway, enough on that subject, don't want to get into an unending debate...

Darn ears...

 

[proteus]

Well...the Debrox didn't work and my hearing is worse now. Not a single bit of wax came out. There is no pain at all so I think this is just wax, so frustrating!

Anyone know where I should go to get this taken care of quickly? I called several ENT's in my area and the average wait time is 6-8 weeks.

 

[emh1129]

Well...the Debrox didn't work and my hearing is worse now. Not a single bit of wax came out. There is no pain at all so I think this is just wax, so frustrating!

Anyone know where I should go to get this taken care of quickly? I called several ENT's in my area and the average wait time is 6-8 weeks.

I would just go to a walk-in clinic. It's really a very simple procedure, so it's not something that you must go to an ENT for. And it should be really, really fast now that you have used the Debrox.

I hope you feel better soon! I know how disorienting and frustrating it can be when your ear is blocked!

 

[OzFan]

Do you have a Walgreens or a CVS close by? They both have clinics in them. I would just pop into one of those and someone take a look. My daughter gets this all the time, it probably is a combo of wax, and water build up. The problem is when the water has no where to go, you can get a nasty case of swimmers ear. Good Luck!

 

[proteus]

Plenty of CVS in my area, I'll try that, thanks!

 

[suprgrlx]

I've had this happen twice. The first time, I didn't know what it was and I went to the doctor. They flushed it out for me. The second time, I knew what it was so we went to the drugstore and bought a kit like this:

It wasn't this brand, but it came with drops and a bulb. It was under $10, I'm pretty sure. You put the drops in (for example) your right ear. Then you lay on your left side and let the drops sit there for about 15 minutes. Then I went to the bathroom and leaned over the sink. My husband filled the bulb and then sprayed it down into my ear and the wax came out. (You could probably do it without the husband, but I used one hand to hold my hair out of the way and the other to plug my nose!). It feels a bit weird, but I wouldn't really say it hurt.

Good luck! I hope you feel better before your vacation!

 

[bmoncher]

Well...the Debrox didn't work and my hearing is worse now. Not a single bit of wax came out. There is no pain at all so I think this is just wax, so frustrating!

Anyone know where I should go to get this taken care of quickly? I called several ENT's in my area and the average wait time is 6-8 weeks.

With the Debrox - I can tell you when I worked in Primary Medicine... we used 10-12 drops in the ear and then use a bulb syringe to flush it out... not a few drops...

Beth

 

[proteus]

Thanks Beth, I wasn't using a bulb. I will give Debrox another try this weekend, if it doesn't work I have an appointment Monday morning with a GP (could not get an ENT in time).

 

[3girls4me05]

See your regular dr. No need to see an ENT. I had this last year. I lost all hearing in that ear (course I let it go a couple of weeks I went in and the dr couldn't even see my eardrum. She didn't hold out much hope and thought that I should try those drops everyone else here has talked about. I was desperate and willing to give it a try. Bless the nurse. She flushed and flushed and put more and more drops in and finally and huge chunk of wax came out and I could hear again! Wonderful! No ear infection..just a simple wax buildup.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

You definitely need to use the bulb with warm water. I also use the bulb just to apply straight peroxide. A steady squeeze is best.

 

[mslclark]

I had the same problem. I went to my Dr. and she said to try a few drops of mineral oil or peroxide. Nothing helped. Months later I had a sinus infection and went to the quick care clinic. The Dr. there said my ears were also infected and completely blocked with wax and to use Debrox. Also gave me antibiotics for the infections I used it and really couldn't tell a difference. A few weeks later I had severe earaches. I called an ENT and got an apointment the same day. He used some machine that literally sucked everything out of my ear (I'm sorry that sounds gross but I don't know any other way to put it). He also gave me antibiotic drops for my ear, said it was swimmer's ear. It was so painful!

So I highly recommend seeing an ENT so he/she can use that great sucking tool - it worked and my ear feels completely unblocked now.

 

[d1gitman]

all these remedies are great, but i wouldn't trust my ears to anyone but a professional. it's not like you can just replace your hearing if you goof something up.

last year i thought i just had wax as my hearing was blocked up after showering and i couldn't pop it out. my 1st 3 days at WDW were very annoying with one ear near deaf. i finally went to a walk in clinic in FL and had it checked out, expecting them to just flush and clear it out. While they did just that, it turns out that i had an ear infection in both ears but didn't knwo it. they gave me a presription for antibiotics and i was on my way.

seriously, i don't suggest experimenting with one's ears. check your area for walk in clinics or walk in non-emergency care at the hospital that is after hours.

 

[GlendaO]

When i feel as if I have excess wax I candle my ears.
Go to any health food store and see if they have candleing candles.
They are hollow bees wax candles.
Get a paper plate and cut a hole in the center and put the candle through the hole (so any ash that falls, falls onto the paper plate)
Lay on the floor with your ear up towards the ceiling.
Light the candle.
It will take about 15 minutes to do and all the ear wax gets sucked out of your ear and into the hollow candle.
It's very painless and very cheap!! Way cheap and better that the Dr's or even the drops.

Personally never used these but my DF swears by these!! He had problems off and on for years until he found these.