Ray Dog

Slightly personal question: How do you clean your ears to keep them from getting blocked with wax? I've been having some trouble with this lately.

Are eardrops easy to do as a blind person? I wouldn't know, I never had to use them. I probably should be using wax softeners, but I don't want to screw it up and waste the medicine. Lol.

Sometimes my mom and I will use the dreaded q-tip/cotton swab to get wax out of my ears, and that helps if my hearing is very slightly muffled. But I think I'm paying the price for that now, since my hearing on the left side is persistently muffled. About 4 hours ago, I tried to irrigate it with warm water, and that made it much worse. It hasn't improved yet. Everything sounds extremely right heavy now. I won't be playing audio games or doing fancy audio work today.

I'm guessing I got myself a proper blockage. Deciding what to do about it is slowly but surely making my anxiety levels slope up. Part of me wants to try more at-home remities or just go to ergent care, because sitting here doing nothing about the problem is killing me. I'm even starting to psych myself out wondering if there is a blockage there at all, because my anxiety kinda does that. Another part of me is saying, calm down, you're not deaf, this is temporary. Maybe it would just go away if you quit worrying. Just ugh.

Mar 14 at 7:00pmWeb
Show threadRay Dog6d ago
Update on my ear situation. I lucked out and got in to see the doctor practically when they opened this morning. They saw that I had some earwax stuck in there, and they tried to flush it out with water and hydrogen peroxide, but it didn't come out willingly. They got some out, but the rest is stuck deep in my ear canal. So they prescribed some eardrops to soften it and hopefully it'll come out on its own. The good news is my hearing is much better now than it was when I went in. Not quite normal yet, but it's about 90-95 percent there lol
Show threadSean | Ginsenshi The blindwolf6d ago
@musicalman I've never had luck with the wax softening drops, for me it makes it Worse .
Show threadSean | Ginsenshi The blindwolfMar 14
@musicalman usually have to go to the ENT for a ear cleaning once a year.
Show threadRay DogMar 14
@ginsenshi Yeah I'll probably have to start making an ear cleaning a regular thing when I get my yearly checkup with my gp. Just wish I could deal with it at home when my hearing starts to get muffled lol
Show threadbscross32Mar 14
@musicalman Hydrogen peroxide does the trick. I have a little dropper I use, but if you're deft enough, you can do it from the bottle if it has a hinged cap on it. Lie on one side, the ear you want to do first facing up, put a few drops in and let it do its thing for 5 or so minutes, then have something to catch it with when it comes out, turn over, let it drop onto whatever, and do the other side.
Show threadStevoMar 14
@bscross32 @musicalman Yeah I do the same thing. Water by itself doesn't work for me because it just makes the thick wax wet, but usually if I do peroxide and then water after that it flushes mine out pretty good.
Show threadsnow ratMar 14
@musicalman if you have that much of a block, go to a doctor, like soon.
Show threadExtra Terrestrial Ira🖖🏻🛸Mar 15
@musicalman
Most eardrops come in a simple dropper bottle, so while you might put a few more than the bottle says, it's fine.
They usually look like those plastic bottles of eye drops, you're meant to squeeze it and one drop is supposed to come out at a time.
Some kits come with this rubber ball that tapers on one end, you're supposed to squeeze it to then remove the eardrop liquid and wax after letting it sit for a while. Some people also use the rubber ball thing to flush warm water after the drops.
I've never found that successful, but you could try.
If you're desperate, most urgent cares will attempt to get the blockage out, especially since this could affect your balance. Would highly recommend scheduling with your primary doctor too.