Ear syringing on the NHS

[Spidey66]

Also posted in health.
Went swimming a few days ago, and now my ear is blocked. Its painful, im deaf, and it's ringing. I've been putting olive oil drops in it and if anything its worsening.

I've had this before, and whats always sorted it has been syringing.

I went to a minor injuries/walk in yesterday because the pain was getting worse to be told the NHS no longer do syringing. The NICE guidelines now recommend micro suction for blocked ears but this is only done privately. Instead the NHS will refer to audiologists for hearing aids.

Hearing aid referrals for blocked ears? Come again? I'm only deaf for want of a brief intervention!

This is ridiculous!

Should ear syringing or an alternative be available on the NHS? Yabu = no go and pay for it. Yanbu= ear syringing or an alternative should be available on the NHS

I used to get suction free with my private hearing aids . Now they apparently have to charge due to change in NHS practice. I paid £65

My mum had her ears syringedby a private clinic for £60 and came out with vertigo
Maybe coincidence, but she had never had it before and it hugely impacts her quality of life.

DS had this problem, was referred to audiology. She said you might need hearing aids but first we need to sort the wax - audiologist referred him directly to aural care (took less than two weeks) who then suctioned his ears. All sorted plus we are kept on the books and can call directly for an appointment if it happens again - all NHS.

I think this is a good demostation of how free health care made us lazy.

True. I'd go so far as to suggest that given most people have a knife and a fork and a bottle of vinegar in their kitchens we should also at least try and do surgery on ourselves before resorting to surgeons in hospitals.

Went swimming a few days ago, and now my ear is blocked. Its painful, im deaf, and it's ringing

Maybe give it more than 'a few days' to sort itself out before you get cross that the NHS won't provide a medical procedure you have decided you need

[quote theDudesmummy]@Mrsjayy you fill the bulb with warm water and swish the wax out. Usually need a few goes. Because the bulb is small it does not create such high pressure that it would harm the eardrum (which can happen if you use a big syringe).

Mine is older than this one, I bought it many years ago (on holiday in the Caribbean, as it happens!), but it looks just like this:

]][/quote]
These are good if you use drops for a few days first. I would buy a new one as the bulbs cannot be cleaned and may get mould inside. My Dh had this and got an ear infection after using it. But it did work the first few times he used it. I would also only use cooled boiled water.

You need bicarb drops for a build up of skin in the ear as it will soften it, and olive oil will make it easier to pass out of the ear. I may have watched far too many ear wax extractions on youtube

OP if you can afford it get a private micro suction, just google your postcode and audiologist and go to a local clinic.

@Seasonschange

I think this is a good demostation of how free health care made us lazy. Blocked ears with wax should have the following steps :

1. Olive oil Ear drops for at least a week
2. Home use of one of those big ear bulbs after a weeks worth of drops
3. THEN seek outside intervention.

Most ear wax will clear itself and doesn’t require intervention. Wanting a gp to clear it within “a few days” of swimming because you don’t want to wait to see if it’ll clear itself or go through hassle of olive oil drops etc for a week is not reasonable.

Someone who has this issue repeatedly should be doing olive oil drops at least twice a week anyway to keep them clear.

See my earlier post. It is fine to say clear it yourself and stop wasting NHS resources, and therefore stop GPs doing it. But some peop,e like me have terrible recurrent problems that cause temporary deafness, pain for days, and now permanent tinnitus I should have had my ears micro suctioned after the first few infections , but no- 3 years of escalating problems and GPs did not want to know - they should have been taking other action then prescribing me antibiotics on repeat, And as I said earlier- for some of us ortex, and olive oil or self syringing does not work - do you really think I wouldn’t have tried to treat myself every time it flared up before the swelling built up rather than put up with excruciating pain for a week?

I voted you are unreasonable but I should have done neither.
Syringing is no longer done, but the alternative which I did have done years ago should be available to all.
But there is so few to do it.
It is done at a hospital day procedure unit. It was performed by a dr who used medical instruments to remove what needed .I just was laid flat on my back with hair out of way. No sedation and it was a bit painful at times. I have tried to get such again but been unable. I would pay but how can we be sure after the case in papers with the chiropractor? With the nhs at least they are qualified.

These are good if you use drops for a few days first. I would buy a new one as the bulbs cannot be cleaned and may get mould inside. My Dh had this and got an ear infection after using it. But it did work the first few times he used it. I would also only use cooled boiled water.

Thank you I will look, into getting one, I'm use oil anyway.

@Whatamesssss I think I must be luckier than others as I have never needed drops, the bulb always does the job within three to four squirts each side. I have used the same bulb about once every six weeks for nearly 30 years, I just swish it through with hot water after I use it!

@theDudesmummy That's good, maybe my Dh just has mouldy ears. 😄

You could use vodka rubbing alcohol to clean it too.

I had an absolutely horrific ear infection as a result of syringing. Some water got trapped. I have never experienced pain like it and I say this as someone who has given birth three times. Never ever again. I will be paying privately for suction if I get a wax build up again

@aprilinspringtimeshower

Did you miss step 3 of my post? I didn’t say no one should be treated I said where appropriate people should try homecare first.

@VladmirsPoutine

I think this is a good demostation of how free health care made us lazy.

True. I'd go so far as to suggest that given most people have a knife and a fork and a bottle of vinegar in their kitchens we should also at least try and do surgery on ourselves before resorting to surgeons in hospitals.

Do you go to the doctor every time you have a cough/cold and ask for antibiotics? Or do you home treat and only seek medical attention if some red flag appears?

@VladmirsPoutine

I think this is a good demostation of how free health care made us lazy.

True. I'd go so far as to suggest that given most people have a knife and a fork and a bottle of vinegar in their kitchens we should also at least try and do surgery on ourselves before resorting to surgeons in hospitals.

Ahh so this was where I went wrong waiting on gallbladder surgery....I should have just cut the fecker out myself! I could have used a bottle of chardonnay as an anaesthetic.

Seriously though, I am one of those who does suffer regular troubles with my ears, lots of wax and possibly odd canals. It's not really the same as treating a verruca though. I cn see what I'm doing with a verruca, I can't see what I'm doing to my ears, and doing it wrong is potentially very dangerous.

I am somewhat reluctantly seeing someone this evening to get this microsuction done. I say reluctantly as I do think it's a simple procedure that as well as effective (for me) does prevent longer term damage as ear drops don't appear to do much. I won't use Otex for instance as when I've done that before I've either had an allergic reaction or it caused an infection. In the past syringing has been a miracle cure for me.

Sorry when i say ''it's a simple procedure'' i'm referring to syringing, not microsuction.

@jimmyhill

Went swimming a few days ago, and now my ear is blocked. Its painful, im deaf, and it's ringing

Maybe give it more than 'a few days' to sort itself out before you get cross that the NHS won't provide a medical procedure you have decided you need

I've been having similar problems since my teens. I'm 55. I know by now what does and doesn't work. Drops and olive oil doesn't. Syringing does.

Sometimes we know our own bodies best.

I get wax build ups occasionally. The first time I had it I was in France, and a lovely doctor cleaned it out by squirting water into my ear. When it happened in the UK, the doctor told me to use olive oil (apparently my FIL got into trouble for doing this when he went to the doctor with the same issue, so who knows if you are supposed to or not!)

Now I do it myself with this.

Trouble is that GPs end up having to treat those things once they turn more serious. So them refusing to treat them at the early stages, with simple/cheap treatment, often causes more GP appointments and more treatments at a later stage!

Agree to some extent, but I also think people need to take more responsibility for their health instead of relying on the NHS to ‘fix’ everything. The NHS is at breaking point. People are literally dying due to delays in life saving procedures and treatment (lack of staff, lack of beds, lack of surgery slots etc).

It’s rare for blocked ears, sore throats, warts, veruccas, ingrown toenails etc to become serious. Provided you follow self help methods at home, buy the right treatments from the pharmacy and look out for signs of infection why would you expect a GP to treat it? Even simple eye infections can now be treated over the counter with antibiotic drops, without involving a GP.

The NHS nolonger has the time, funding or staff to carry out minor procedures like clearing blocked ears. Why SHOULDN’T we expect to pay £30 at Specsavers for microsuction? We pay for dental care, eye exams, glasses/contact lenses etc. Why should wax in ears be the responsibility of the NHS? In theory dentists should offer NHS treatment (though we still pay, like we pay for prescriptions) but in many areas finding an NHS dentist is impossible.

Sure £30 may be a lot to some people but if it’s the difference between being able to hear properly and waiting over a year to be seen by someone on the NHS trained in microsuction, is it such a hard decision?

@StrangeToSee

Trouble is that GPs end up having to treat those things once they turn more serious. So them refusing to treat them at the early stages, with simple/cheap treatment, often causes more GP appointments and more treatments at a later stage!

Agree to some extent, but I also think people need to take more responsibility for their health instead of relying on the NHS to ‘fix’ everything. The NHS is at breaking point. People are literally dying due to delays in life saving procedures and treatment (lack of staff, lack of beds, lack of surgery slots etc).

It’s rare for blocked ears, sore throats, warts, veruccas, ingrown toenails etc to become serious. Provided you follow self help methods at home, buy the right treatments from the pharmacy and look out for signs of infection why would you expect a GP to treat it? Even simple eye infections can now be treated over the counter with antibiotic drops, without involving a GP.

The NHS nolonger has the time, funding or staff to carry out minor procedures like clearing blocked ears. Why SHOULDN’T we expect to pay £30 at Specsavers for microsuction? We pay for dental care, eye exams, glasses/contact lenses etc. Why should wax in ears be the responsibility of the NHS? In theory dentists should offer NHS treatment (though we still pay, like we pay for prescriptions) but in many areas finding an NHS dentist is impossible.

Sure £30 may be a lot to some people but if it’s the difference between being able to hear properly and waiting over a year to be seen by someone on the NHS trained in microsuction, is it such a hard decision?

I think it's the "stealth" approach that's the problem. NHS dentistry and ear suction has been removed by stealth, without consultation and without approval/knowledge of the general public. That's what people are talking about when they want a "proper" discussion about the future of the NHS. As it is, ear syringing has been taken away by GPs without any proper notifications etc - people who used to have it done at their GP surgery are suddenly being turned away, often without any proper explanation nor information as to where to go to have it done privately.

I agree with pp's that in general people expect to much "maintenance" treatment from the NHS.

Locally we now go privately (as in book ourselves and pay) for mole/wart removal, ear suctioning, physio, podiatry, counselling and of course eye-care and dental.

@Seasonschange Do you go to the doctor every time you have a cough/cold and ask for antibiotics? Or do you home treat and only seek medical attention if some red flag appears?

Personally speaking, I have two recurring problems. One being a severe/chesty cough, the second being recurring ear infections. I'm in my late 50's now, and have had these problems since my 20's. I know my body. Every time one or other badly flares up, I have to go through the motions with the GP. I have to go through the "self treatment" first, which never works. Then, the GP finally relents and prescribes either a strong linctus (cough) or an ear spray. Inevitably they don't work either. Finally, on the 3rd or 4th appointment, they prescribe the antibiotics, which is what I knew I needed in the first place. When you've gone through this several times over a few decades, you do tend to know better than a random doctor who's never met you before and clearly hasn't bothered to read your notes as to checking what they did to cure it last time it happened!

Back in the 90's I was at a 2 GP practice, where you always saw one or other of the GPs. They got to know you. It was far better. I remember once when my cough flared up and the GP (who'd actually remembered my prior coughs and checked the notes) issued a prescription for the antibiotics straight away as he himself mentioned that normal cough remedies and the stronger linctus hadn't worked previously!

I had microsuction done at a GP clinic a couple of years ago - but it may be that policy has changed to save money/time.

Currently going through a Process trying to get DD back on her paeds microsuction referral as private clinics won’t do kids and it’s only done via hospital paeds ENT in my area. Poor girl can hardly hear at school, drops make little difference but the waiting lists are super long.

Lots of little things are no longer available on the NHS. Ear syringing. Painkillers. Cough medicine. Removal of skin tags and small cysts etc. Allergy medication and support with special diets. Toenail cutting for the elderly who can’t reach. My mum is on warfarin and I’m terrified to cut her toenails in case I cut her and she won’t stop bleeding, or maybe she gets an infection due to diabetes and loses her toe. But I have no choice because the NHS doesn’t cover it any more. And I paid £500 to have a cyst removed from my cheek because it was unsightly but not causing a problem so the NHS wouldn’t cover it.

Irresistiblyoverwhelm have you tried a Clear Ear clinic? I've taken my child there and they were happy to microsuction - they usually have an audiologist who is specifically trained to treat children.