To ask if impacted earwax is normally very painful?

[CarterBeatsTheDevil]

My DC(6) has a blocked eardrum. I have already taken her to the GP's practice nurse (who said impacted wax, just use olive oil and it will pop out) and to A&E later when she seemed to be in much greater pain than before. She was given amoxicillin at A&E but the doctor said the same thing as the nurse, that she had a wax blockage covering her eardrum quite a long way down (he thought it might be infected as well).

No fever, fine when painkillers are working but in bits when they wear off, which is happening a bit earlier than I would expect. They then take ages to kick in. She is taking paracetamol and ibuprofen alternately and we are also massaging with olive oil drops as directed.

I would take her to get the wax removed privately (NHS will not do it) but she has to have been using the drops for at least 2 weeks first and also not have an infection so she needs to finish this course of ABx first.

I really just want to have an idea of whether this level of pain is something that can happen when your ear is blocked, or whether I can/should be asking for anything else in terms of treatment or diagnosis?

I'm very happy to be told that sometimes impacted earwax just hurts and we just have to sit it out until we can get the wax removed, but it's not much fun for anyone right now so any experiences would be appreciated.

Both my children had to have their impacted ear wax removed in hospital when they were younger. My son had to have a general anaesthetic, as it was stuck so badly to his eardrum it was excruciating for him when they tried to remove it. Before he had it done, he was on painkillers around the clock. I remember getting up with him in the middle of the night and comforting him until the the next dose of painkillers kicked in. So, yes, for a young child, it's a very serious issue and I think it's appalling that the NHS won't alleviate their pain.

You don't need to use oil before microsuction - it will instantly alleviate the pain by removing all the wax.

I strongly recommend that olive oil is used before microsuction. Otherwise you risk being sent away and having to pay for an unnecessary extra appointment.

Why wouldn't you use the recommended product to reduce the pain and make it easier to remove?

To be fair, the pain between doses has reduced a little since Tuesday when it was at its worst and I think that must be due to the massage and olive oil. So if anyone else was in this position I would keep doing it because anything you can do no matter how seemingly tiny is worth it.

(Also, I really don't think I could face being sent away - at this stage if they said they'd only see her if she was sitting in a bucket of baked beans I'd be sourcing a bucket)

@MimiGC I was also horrified. They had 4 doctors trying to manage a full paediatric A&E waiting room, a full adult A&E waiting room and all of the ambulance arrivals. I could see why she wasn't a priority in those circs but the govt should be ashamed of itself that the health service is now at a point where it takes 8 hours just to free up a doctor to put an otoscope in a child's ear, let alone treat it meaningfully.

It can be - I have a lot of problems with this. I've given up on getting the GP surgery to syringe my ears, they'll do everything they can to avoid doing anything even if I'm effectively deaf and it's affecting my ability to function.

I just fill my ear with Earex, wait 10 minutes, then use a small syringe to blast it until the plug comes out (can't generate enough force to do any damage if it's a small one). If it's still painful after that, then it's probably an infection too - that's only happened once in the last 10 years, and I do this every 3-4 months.

Fair warning to anybody trying it: some people find that Earex causes a lot of irritation, in which case it should definitely be avoided.

IMPORTANT warning to anybody trying it: you must use warm water, as close to body temperature as possible. If you use cold water, you'll likely immediately lose your balance and throw up.

Yes can be very painful. I have the same, I have very narrow ear canals. Had grommets as a kid. So they will not syringe them for me, suction is not available on the NHS, so I have to wait till I can afford it, I also get buzzing in the ear, pain, pressure some popping.
It's not nice, I imagine it's worse for a child

@ntmdino please don’t recommend others do this. Ear syringing is a very risky procedure hence a lot of GP practices no longer offer it. Just last week a colleague perforated someone’s eardrum and this was using a machine which is safer.

As well as the things you are already doing encourage her to chew as much as possible (is she old enough for gum?) The action of chewing helps move ear wax.

I have childhood memories of spending time lying on my side with olive oil in my ear.

We find otex much quicker at getting it out then olive oil.

Our area will do the suction on children but only in hospital which is a pain. The consultant said to use otex every 6 weeks, regardless of whether we can see wax. It’s been good advice. Oh and yes, it can hurt even without an infection.

Absolutely DO NOT syringe it with water if your daughter could have an infection.

Your poor daughter :( My dad suffered terribly with earache and he absolutely swore by warm salt in a sock or something, held against the ear. He said it relieved the pain better than anything else. I had pain with impacted ear wax over the summer. Otex express drops and microsuction sorted it out but I had a miserable few days waiting for the appointment.

Glad things are a little easier - fingers crossed she will feel a big difference soon. The video below is from Earol so is promotional, but it does give good tips on the best way to use drops.

I spoke too soon. We're between painkillers (she's had max of both until 12.30am) and it's not much fun here right now. Appointment at audiologist at 9am. Absolutely refuses a hot compress (says it makes her too hot).

You should have ordered the hydrogen peroxide like I suggested yesterday. You could have used it today and given her some relief.

It works wonders.

Poor thing. Everytime I get a cold my ears hurt like mad. It can be agonising 😥.

I had impacted ear wax in both ears and removed by suction a couple of months ago after using hydrogen peroxide olive oil ear drops for two weeks. It was some of the worse pain I have experienced and I gave birth to DS without any meds as he arrived so quickly.

@Jewelspun I didn't use the hydrogen peroxide because the doctor told me that the skin going into her ear looked quite sore and the websites all say not to use it if it will irritate the skin.

I've also read that drops generally (olive oil or otherwise) can dissolve the wax but it can sometimes slide back down to the eardrum rather than sliding out. I wonder if that's what's happening here. But I guess all will be revealed tomorrow.

Update! She has a lot of wax in both ears going very deep. Enough has been removed that the rest may come out on its own with more olive oil drops, but we're going back in a week's time. In the meantime there is much less pressure and she is visibly happier.

Thanks so much again to everyone for the comments. It has all been really helpful.

Glad she's happier! It really is a miserable thing - I felt so panicky, disorientated and anxious when I had it over the summer. I could have kissed the woman who did my microsuctioning!

This, also please don't DIY syringe

I wouldn't go near it myself! We have an audiology clinic nearby and I would have taken her last week if I had realised they'd see her then.

Glad you've got her seen and she's had some of the wax removed. Fingers crossed that this will become less of a problem as she grows bigger.

I would think if it's very painful it's more likely the infection that is causing the pain, maybe pressure against the wax making it worse. Once the infection goes off it will probably be less painful and you can deal with the wax.