To have a bloody good rummage in my ear with a cotton bud?

[Cheesyslice]

I'm going insane. It is SO. FUCKING. ITCHY. I'm climbing the walls.

I've had an ear infection since Tuesday. It's crippling. Been to GP twice and on anti b's plus nurofen / codeine / paracetamol. The left side of my face is swollen. Even hurts to bloody eat.

Obviously advice is to not stick anything in the ear but if I was gentle would I get away with a little ninja scratching session or would it make it worse?

my love of ear digging is absolutely not the reason I am in this situation in the first place

[Calabasa]

I had a child who shoved plasticine in her ears, and had to have it removed under general anaesthetic after she managed to push it against her ear drums!

I get itchy inner ears as a hayfever symptom, drives me nuts. I do use ear buds to scratch with, but I also keep my little finger nails long for the same purposes... earbuds only get broken out when the fingernails dont cut it....

[slashlover]

ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!

[Picklypickles]

No!! Don't do it, it just makes it worse. I've ended up with some really nasty outer ear infections from ratching away in my itchy, eczema riddled ears with cotton buds until they bled. My GP prescribed me a spray called Otomize, its amazing, stops the itching completely and very quickly.

[Pertella]

@MissTweed

Wriggling your little finger in your ear here is called an "ear wank"

I call cotton buds ear dildos

(Yes, I know it's a necrothread)

[modelthroughit]

@HighBrows

Am I really the only freak person to put hydrogen peroxide in my ears? I thought loads of people knew about this, it really works.

No! Doctor recommended it to me a few years back when I was getting recurrent but minor ear infections. I have 6% hydrogen peroxide from boots and mix it with equal amount of water.

You know when it’s doing something useful as it FIZZES like crazy. My partner was always disgusted until one day she had an uncontrollable itch in her ear and grudgingly allowed me to treat it. Now she’s a convert :)

[NoIDontWatchLoveIsland]

Zombie or no, this thread belongs in sporners

[user68901]

Try a little dribble of lemon juice. It’s definitely worked in the past for us. Something to do with the acidity

[cologne4711]

Oh for goodness sake, zombie thread. Haven't been caught out by one of those for months!

Well I hope after 7 years the OP''s ear infection has gone away.

[cologne4711]

OP I am the same, I know it's bad, but it is so satisfying!

Olive oil and garlic is good for ear infections.

[RTX2080tiuser]

Just to add to this rather old thread, I have just got my results back from my doc from an ear swap that went to be tested to check what is wrong with my ear as its been swollen and utterly stinks and with pain something I have never suffered from, Doc told me and I thought this may be some good use to you all that I have been scratching the inside of my ear as I have "THRUSH" in the ear de fooooook...

I got thrush as the previous week I had been on anti-biotics and they can in a lot of cases cause thrush in the ear...So from tomorrow I am now going to be on x2 sets of dropped for ten days...Mmmm

[xylem8]

The doctor prescribed me a steroid spray for an ear infection which was really really good.
I have used TCP (diluted )before which works wells

[Cheesyslice]

Fucking hell. That is terrifying.

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

my Ds1 poked a bud in his ear when he was young, perforated his eardrum and he got an infection it developed into a Cholesteatoma, which is a cyst type thing behind the eardrum, it ate away the bones in his ear and he had to have several operations to clear the infection and rebuild the bones. It could have eroded his facial nerve leading to facial paralysis or if left untreated grown into a brain abscess which could have killed him so Step away from the cotton buds, kirby grips etc etc.

[gobbin]

Love to get the little finger in (it's why we have them, surely?) and wiggle around, get suction then pop. Good stuff.

I have neat, pixie ears, so assumed I'd need neat, little earplugs when on the bike. Nahhh! My lugholes are the size of the Mersey tunnel apparently! It would explain why I never have much of a problem with earwax lol.

[Cheesyslice]

-I might try a kirby grip on my good ear later--

[Cheesyslice]

ROAR @ 'ear wank'



families 30???! Epic

[MissTweed]

Wriggling your little finger in your ear here is called an "ear wank"

[FamiliesShareGerms]

Apart from giving me itchy ears, this thread has reassured me that my mum is not completely unusual for using Kirby grips on us - I have never met anyone else who does this.

I disagree that all ears are self-cleaning: DS's are pristine (only thing about him that is); mine are moderately waxy; DH's are very waxy (he once didn't clean them for ages, went swimming and needed to use 30 ear buds to get the wax out...); and DD's have a very dark brown wax which suddenly appears and looks like earth in her ears.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Wiggling your little finger in your ear is called "Puggling" actually! HTH!

[Wellwobbly]

Poor Cheesy. It is an outer ear or a middle ear infection? Do you have to put drops down?

Ear infections are horrible.

The problem with using cotton buds for 'ear digging' is apart from the risk of doing some damage to your ear with them, they can actually make the problem worse. They're not very good at getting the wax out, more often than not they end up pushing most of it further in so it gets impacted. - Quite right.
I know someone who shoved the wax THROUGH her ear drum. She perforated her own ear using those damn things. She said she screamed with the pain.

(and got the GP imploring her not to use them speech)

[BeKindToYourKnees]

Wiggling your little finger in your ear is called 'wootleing' in our house.

I have been know to use an un-bent paperclip

[Cheesyslice]

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

DP uses his car key!
I watched a service user have his ear syringed once. A hairy lump of wax the size of a quails egg came out! How is that even possible???!!!!

[ClayDavis]

The problem with using cotton buds for 'ear digging' is apart from the risk of doing some damage to your ear with them, they can actually make the problem worse. They're not very good at getting the wax out, more often than not they end up pushing most of it further in so it gets impacted.

My GP surgery recommend a few drops of olive oil for a week or so to soften it. They don't do any syringing any more as far as I know.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Use one of your little fingers and give it a good jiggle. This is the only way to get a good safe scratch going!
Eating a nice big bowl of ice cream is also great for easing ear infection itch!
The popping is probably because you are all swollen in there, and your eustacian tubes aren't working properly.