To be shocked at what came out of my ear?

[pinkstinks]

I have been deaf in one ear for about a week and a half, this has been a bit frightening and odd.

The night it happened I cleaned my ears and had a shower, I was washing my hair and the water went in but it wouldn't come out. I tried everything google suggested and then had to sleep, Apparently sometimes it clears overnight. It didn't and I felt all weird for the next few days. Then it started to get a little better until I went to the gym, had a shower and the same thing happened again!

Again it was horrible but then improved a little over the next few days until Friday, wen I had an itch in my ear at work scratched inside and out came the cotton from the cotton bud!!! Bloody hell it had been in there over a week.

Aibu for buying cheap ear cleaners from pound land? I think the answer is yes, however wibu to complain?
I'm quite shaken up although it was amazing when it came out and I could hear again!

[pjmama]

YABU for putting cotton buds in your ears - daft trick.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Yabu for putting anything smaller than your elbow in your ear, stop it its not sensible

[puds11isNAUGHTYnotNAICE]

You have to be really careful with cotton buds.

[JollyGolightly]

YABU. Nothing smaller than an elbow should be put in your ear, according to my DofE first aid training.

[attheendoftheday]

Don't clean with cotton buds, they push wax further down the ear canal and can damage your ears.

You don't need to clean the internal part of your ear at all, it's self cleaning.

[dickiedavisthunderthighs]

Bloody nora, so you relied on what Google told you rather than what your brain told you which presumably was to go to the doctor?

[HoppinMad]

Yabu - it isn't recommended to stick cotton buds in your ears iirc it pushes the wax further and can cause damage to eardrum etc?

By the way did you not notice the bare stick whilst cleaning, that the cotton bit had disappeared off it

[apostropheuse]

Nothing should be put in your ears - other than your own elbows, as others have said.

Your ears are self-cleaning. Wipe around the edges, but leave your orifices alone!

[DeepPurple]

How did you not notice that the cotton had come off?

[FuckNugget]

I thought this might be a spoken thread for a moment with a compacted earwax extraction .

But I agree with PPs, don't put cotton buds in your ear.

[FuckNugget]

Spoken = sporner

[pinkstinks]

Don't worry nothing else is going in there! I didn't realise the cotton had got in, I thought it was just water, hence googling all sorts of swimmers ear things where the vast majority of advice was it would sort itself out. It was only when it came out I put two and two together, I noticed the bud was misshapen but I think only half of it ended up in my ear. I didn't think anything of it, apparently you shouldn't clean your ears before a shower anyway! Who knew!

[ScrambledSmegs]

Cotton buds aren't advised for cleaning your inner ear. Just the outer area.

[ncforembarrassingproblem]

I went to nurse once for an ear syringe as I was deaf in one side, she took one look and said there was a growth in my ear and she'd call the doc. She said she'd gently syringe first. Seconds later a rotting, dark brown piece of cotton popped out. She was horrified - but I genuinely didn't know it was there. She reckoned it had been there for a couple of weeks or so.. Nasty!

[HoppinMad]

Have to add, there's nothing more satisfying than grabbing a cotton bud and sticking it in to get rid of a terrible itch. Have to resist the urge since I found out the harm they can cause

[MadBusLady]

Oh dear how far is too far? the outer ear is just basically rhe ear, right? So if I clean around the edges of the hole bit is that ok?

[MadBusLady]

I have been known to use hairpins somebody tell me off

[Raum]

If you think you have a blockage use some thing like otex rather than a cotton bud

[ncforembarrassingproblem]

I've used hair pins, needles/dressmaking pins, and a bent paper clip..

[pinkstinks]

Hairpins?! :o

[pinkstinks]

That was supposed to be a shocked face!

[squoosh]

I know you're not supposed to, but cotton buds in an itchy ear is orgasmically pleasurable.

[NoEyedDeer]

How disappointing - I thought it was going to be a worm, or a sock or something

[MadBusLady]

String of flags? Or ?

[apostropheuse]

I actually had to go to A & E one time to have a piece of a headset removed from my ear. The soft plastic thing from the headsets that go into your ear. It was such a relief when the doctor took it out. The lovely doctor told me it was quite common - but normally the patients were about twelve. I was about forty eight at the time.

Embarrassed.com