To continue using cotton buds in my ears

[bumblenbean]

.. when the expert view is that it’s a pretty bad idea? I cannot seem to stop this rather unsavoury daily habit. I don’t do it to shift earwax, but simply because the sensation of twirling a cotton bud in the inner ear feels so good! I’ve heard it described as an eargasm (!) - I wouldn’t go that far but it is very satisfying especially if there’s a minor itch in the ear ...

AIBU to carry on regardless, since i’ve never had any untoward incidents? Admittedly I did have a minor crisis once when the cotton came away inside my ear and DH had to perform an extraction with a pair of tweezers... but that was due to a rather too vigorous twirling action which has since been modified

DH thinks I’m mad to keep doing it and appears to think I’ll end up piercing my eardrum or something else rather dramatic. Surely someone else out there indulges in this despite knowing it’s probably a bad idea?! Or do I need to go cold turkey?

And does anyone have any other inadvisable yet oddly compulsive habits they can share?

I've never heard of anyone flushing them down the toilet.. even hearing of idiots doing this with baby wipes was a shock to me... just shows you how different folks can be...

Dd got one stuck. 4 hours in casualty.

It’s one of my greatest pleasures in life. I did get one stuck once and went quite deaf. Pulling it out with a pair of tweezers a coulittle me of days later goes down as a memory to be treasured for the rest of time

Glad I'm not the only one!

It may feel good OP, but it's dangerous. STOP! (If you can!)

I do it. Can’t be without it.

I use an ear spoon instead. It’s far more efficient and I no longer get earaches, but it still scratches the itch :o

Cotton buds have no place in your ears.

Your ears ARE self cleaning. Wax is a normal and necessary bodily secretion, a bit like sebum or vaginal mucus. The reason you feel you’ve got to clean them yourself because wax has built up is because you've over cleaned them, the canal then makes more wax in response, you then shove a cotton bud in which stuffs the wax down beyond the point at which the muscles of the jaw and face can remove it. Vicious circle. The diameter of a cotton bud is pretty much the diameter of your ear canal.

Poking things in your ear is a risky business - the ear canal is fairly resilient but the drum is really quite delicate and beyond that is a marvel of engineering in terms of bones, the cochlea, fluid and fibres and nerves. Damage it and you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of potential hearing and balance problems.

Those of you that need to get your ears syringed - hope you’ve got plenty of money because within a few years it won’t be available on the NHS any more. We (primary care) are not commissioned to provide it and as there is no payment many surgeries are stopping doing it, unless it needs to be done prior to an audiology appointment. You’ll be paying about £60-140 for microsuction.

Those of you with itchy ears should try using a spray called EarCalm. You can buy it over the counter and it’s great for soothing the itch. The skin in your ears is the same skin as your face so if you’re prone to eczema, psoriasis, dry skin etc you are also prone to itchy ears.

Please treat your ears gently - as satisfying as it is to poke things in them they’re really quite vulnerable so treat them with respect!

Interesting about the spray - tbh I would do anything to stop my ears itching when they get started. I get hardly any wax in my ears so I'm not 'cleaning' them - more just gently rubbing to try to stop the itch.

I really didnt need this thread! I'm a week into going cold turkey on this lifetime's pleasure after a horrid bout of vertigo. Oh well, at least it's let me live vicariously for a while...

Cotton buds shed fibres, tiny so you cant see them, which irritate the ear. Harder to remove than whole bud.

Thank you for the recommendation Sidge

Basically, if you stick cotton buds down your ear, you're creating the problem that you then feel like you need cotton buds to fix - itching, excess wax, wanting to do it more, etc.

It's like using a vaginal douche - you're temporarily fixing something you see as a problem, but then you're making it virtually guaranteed that all those symptoms will come back even more strongly, and then you'll do it again and create a vicious circle. And to anyone who says "Yes, but I don't push wax further down my ear" - yes, you absolutely do. Also stop using ear spoons - they're like cotton buds but worse.

Bloody hell sidge lesson learned