Pressure Behind Ear / Blockage?
 

Hello RS,

If I was in Canada I would have went and seen the doctor today already, but because I'm not, and hate to fill out forms for my student medical coverage, I decided to sit out and wait for a day first.

TLDR: Ear plugged all of a sudden, can't hear jack, cleared for a day, then plugged again

Anyhow I recently started swimming again. I used to be a regular swimming back in my mid-late teens, so I know how water in my ear feels like, and how to get it out.

Anyways this started yesterday afternoon after coming back from the pool.
My right ear seems to be in a permanent state of plugged, I can barely hear anything from it, I've tried to hop on one foot, shake my head, open my Eustachian tube - generally anything that I'd normally do to drain the water from my ear, to no avail.

I'd though I'd try to clear it up with a bit of water when I get home for my shower (a 15 minute drive), but that didn't work either.
Normally at this point I'd just sleep on my ear and let gravity do its work, but again, I woke up at 4AM just not being able to hear anything from my ear...

In the morning I finally gave in and used a Q-Tip to give it a quick clean (I know I know you ain't supposed to... but it was too tempting), and guess what... it helped, My ear was cleared and all was good.

Then about an hour ago, it started again... My right ear is plugged again but cleaning it this time does not help (despite picking out some earwax)

Any thoughts before I go visit the doctor and fill out a bajillion forms?

TIA

Put 1-2 drops of olive oil in your ear before you go to sleep. It helps if you put cotton balls in there so the oil doesn't run down your pillow. Doing this allows the hard wax you force down the cannel to loosen up and possibly causes it to flush down when you take a shower. But this does take time (2-5 days)

I had this issue before, and 2 doctors told me to do this because it allows them flush out your ear easier than if you do nothing at all. Kinda painful too if you don't use this method as sometimes it doesn't work and you might have to go back in to get it reflushed.

Good Luck

^ Thanks for the help,
Ended up just visiting the doctor, who did the syringe thing to flush out quite a bit of earwax... the instant he did it I felt my ear slightly pop and I could hear again.

All good!

^ That happened to me about a year ago. Doctor just pulled out this HUGE ass syringe thing and flushed my ear. The amount of earwax that came out surprised me....but the moment it came out and my ears popped...

DAT POPPING FEELING :sweetjesus::megusta:

Sigh I had this done when I was a kid and the amount of earwax that was in the bucket really astonished me!

Another time I went to the ear doctor in Parker Place in Richmond and the doctor used this really sharp tool to remove a literally fingernail sized earwax from my ear and everything went from 360p sound to 1080p sound!

Unfortunately now my hearing has become pretty shitty again... Time to get another flush? Most doctors won't do it for you until you've tried a lot of other things though :(

Get eucalypts oil and put like 5-6 drops in a pot of boiling water, put a towel over your head and put the towel over the boiling pot and breathe in the steam for a few
Minites
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The olive oil thing works well.

Best part is you can put anywhere from 1 drop/day to 10 drops/day into your ear.. the oil doesn't have the same effects as water would and doesn't harm anything inside your ear canal.

I have this issue all the time, used to have to get it syringed with water 2-3 times a year and everytime it was so nasty what would come out. Olive oil does soften the wax so it might come out in the shower. You can buy over the counter drops that work as well, Murin or other types. I use this combined with a syringe I have at home to spray my own ears, it doesn't work as well as the one the doctor has but it does work.

A lot of doctors will not spray water in your ears anymore because they are afraid of causing permanent damage. In my case the wax is never hard, it comes out really easy with water.

Right now I have fluid built up and it's almost worse. Same feeling as being plugged with wax but it isn't combined with an earache. I'm just hoping it goes away sooner rather then later but I'm 3 days and counting right now.

funny i came upon this thread as today is my first FULL day of having ear plugged. gonna call in for appt tmrrow and hopefully get this shit flushed. friggin hurts mannn

Put some Murine (bought at pharmacy) or some olive oil in it today and tomorrow before going. Then you can at least say you tried to clear the wax (if thats a problem) and it didn't work. You might want to also try an antihistamine like reactin if it is fluid build up behind your ear drum it helps it to drain . This time of year it seems like fluid behind the ear drum is more likely then a wax buildup, more common if you've just gotten over something.

One of my ears still has fluid behind it, been messed up for 10 days.

lulz had this happen to me too ahaha. if you're afraid of it happening again shoppers sells these ear syringes that look like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ar_syringe.png they cost like 5 bucks

just warm water and clears it out nicely. just requires more squirts then the doctor doing it

ended up having no earwax or water in their..i still feel the pressure though. doc said it might be the tube inside the ear and he gave me some advil cold n sinus to see if that helps. if it doesnt then im going back on tuesday

when u do this urself, is it possible to push too much water too hard n damage something inside ur ears?

Do you have wet or dry earwax?

when i pick my ear, what comes out is usually dry n flaky, not sure abt the inner part but i assume its dry n flaky as well