Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Philadelphia
Ear Infection, Doctor Made Worse? Posted: 07-25-05 00:32am
Since I was a kid I cleaned my ears with
cotton swabs, every day after bathing.
Now during mid-june of this year I ran out
and forgot to buy more swabs for about a
week. I tried cleaning my ear with a
tissue a couple times, didn't seem to make
much difference though.
Soon my right ear started to hurt. I
wear closed-ear headphones quite a bit, as
I work on my music at night. I suspected
this was what did it, my ears sweat while
the rest of my body is cool from air
conditioning, which I can't turn off.
Anyway, the ent suctioned wax from my
eardrum, suctioned and sprayed my nose,
and told me never use cotton swabs, that I
had pushed the wax in with them. He
didn't ask me a whole lot, he pretty much
assumed he knew. Prescribed neomycin
& polymyxin b sulfates and
hydrocortisone otic solution, 5 drops 3x a
day for a week. I did so, going to see
him at 9:30 this morning.
The trouble is that my left ear has
started hurting after a week of not
cleaning it. He did in fact check both
ears when I was in, and showed me what a
healthy ear looks like with my left ear.
What I suspect is that the original
infection came from the week of not having
swabs, not from the swabbing itself. I
never clean too deeply because it says on
the box of swabs, and my mom taught me not
to stick the thing too far in.
Is this likely? Should I find another
doctor, since following his recommendation
got my other ear hurting?
Thanks.
Chuckk
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wakkochic17
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 494 Location: South Carolina
Posted: 07-25-05 11:02am
The one thing about constantly cleaning
your ears.. Is that it removes the ear
wax naturally there. When you do that,
your ear gets in the habit of constantly
producing more wax. I suspect that you
have trained your ears to make all that
wax, and now it is building up. I would
suggest buying liquid ear wax removal
solution (you can buy it at any pharmacy
or store). Use that for awhile, instead
of the cotton swabs. I would not clean
your ears every day. Give it a few days
in between cleanings to get your ears back
into a normal cycle of producing wax.
Also.. On top of that.. Similisan
(spell?) is a brand that makes a great
natural ear drop that eases ear pain. I
used it for awhile myself. That might
help soothe the discomfort.
