I don’t think this really merits a blog post but since it’s been a while and I’m feeling good about something I suppose it will just have to do.
Today I went to have my ears syringed after three weeks of blockedness and frustration – and it is just so damn good to be able to hear properly again, and realise the extent to which it had become a problem.
I have pretty narrow ear canals and as such am prone to this – in the past I’ve been able to kick start any issues by administering olive oil based drops which – and this is lovely – softens the ear wax and lets your ear do its thang naturally in clearing away surplus waxy build up. Sadly this wasn’t enough this time and I found that around three weeks ago I was pretty much deaf in one ear.
After trying the usual olive oil based treatment and convincing myself it must be some kind of swelling so hammering the ibuprofen too, I relented and went to the doctor after I saw no improvement who confirmed it was impacted earwax causing the problem, and that my ‘good’ ear was in pretty bad shape too. Deep joy! He prescribed some sodium bicarbonate based drops which I was to use for a couple of weeks to soften it up in preparation for a revisit to see a nurse to get them syringed.
It’s something that can come with horror stories attached – directing a reasonably powerful stream of water at something as fragile as your eardrum does have inherent risks but frankly I was in so much discomfort I was about ready to take a drill to my tabs to get some relief, so really the only concern I had was the two week wait before I could get some relief.
When still finding your feet in a new job and getting to know people not being able to hear properly is quite a hindrance, I found too that because it distorts how you hear yourself speak it means you end up speaking more quietly yourself, so not only was I having difficulty hearing others, they couldn’t hear me either and probably even now are thinking “Who’s that really quiet dude who joined the business recently?” – so I’m looking forward to being able to unleash my inner gobshite in the office tomorrow!
Anyway, the drops did their job and the consequence of that was both ears ending up blocked presumably due to the now more pliable gloop in my lug holes – lovely! The stingy prescription allowance of 10ml ran out with a few days to go so I picked up some Otex, a Hydrogen Peroxide based pharmacy ear drop, from Boots just to keep the momentum for the last couple of days.
Then today, blessed relief, a trip to see the nurse who checked me over before blasting away into my ears by turn and giving me my hearing back – such a relief, and for your own relief you’ll be glad to know I resisted the fairly strong urge to take a photo of the surprising amount of detritus she was able to extract from each of my ears.
I dread to think how long this has been building up into the final problem I ended up with – so I’ve decided to be a bit smarter and use the olive oil based drops I already have more proactively to stop such a build up occurring in the first place – enjoyable though the process was, the reality is that this was only the case because it gave relief from such a frustratingly debilitating situation, one I’d rather avoid in the future.
Gosh, health care tips on the blog that no bugger reads and to think I left Boots nearly three months ago!
Alan Fisher 
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