>be on vacation in Mexico with mom and gf
>get seawater in ear, ear infection develops
>gets bad
>like REALLY bad
>they think I’m just being dramatic, pissy and not wanting to do anything but eat aspirin and lie in the room
>wake up in the morning with pillow stuck to the side of my head
>wtf
>peel it off, pillow covered in blood, hair matted with blood
>doyoufuckingbelievemenow.gif
>go to Mexican hospital
>specialist is called in on his day off
>goes into my ear with exploratory camera
>sees problem, it’s a mass of infected flesh resulting from damage to the ear canal from a previous infection and never healed right
>goes in with this little vacuum thing and camera and sucks it right the fuck out

I’m not exaggerating when I say it was THE single most amazing feeling l’ve ever felt. I literally said to my gf as we were walking out that that little Mexican man had just pleased me in ways you could never even hope to achieve. It was like $400 all said and done. 10/10 experience would recommend

    • Elle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      9 months ago

      It’s genuinely such a relief to get your ear cleaned out when it gets all plugged up, undoubtedly more so when it’s hurting. I once had something similar happen somehow, just without as much of the pain. It started getting harder to hear out of one of my ears, and although I tried to rinse it out, it didn’t seem to help and I didn’t want to fucking pierce my ear drum trying something stupid. I held off but it got to the point that not only was I having trouble hearing out of the ear, my balance was being impacted.

      I had started to notice I felt kinda wobbly, and so I was finally like fuck it, doctor time. Go to doctor, nice lady does like the doc in the OP poking a camera in, then has some other guy come in and he’s like, “You’ll wanna tilt your head to the side for this,” as he holds a small bucket to the side, below my head. Gets basically a spraybottle with some special ear-nozzle or whatever, squirts a warm stream of some solution (think it was carbamide peroxide) into my ear and dislodges this big ol’ glob of earwax that had inexplicably managed to build up in my ear despite me not wearing earbuds/headphones often.

      I glanced at that poor little bucket now full of this nasty ass archipelago of earwax and felt fuckin’ great. Cost me a bit, but the doc saved me for the future telling me about some off the shelf stuff to help avoid a return visit.

      If you’ve never had this done before but have been congested, and briefly cleared your nostrils with a good blowing of your nose or something, it’s like that but so much better because your ears getting plugged up sucks so much more.

        • mx_smith@lemmy.world
          10·
          9 months ago

          That’s the part they don’t tell you about, it’s painful because it’s like hooking up a vacuum motor to your ear drum. I had this done after having sand in my inner ear from diving and it was the loudest thing I have ever heard.

        • Elle@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          9 months ago

          carbamide peroxide

          😎 No joke, I can’t remember exactly what they used on my ear (I think it may have been stronger than that, maybe just higher ratio of the same chemicals?), but that’s what you can get off the shelf.

            • Elle@lemmy.worldEnglish
              11·
              9 months ago

              Tilt head to the side, drip solution in ear, let fizzle for a little bit (that’s it reacting with the ear wax) with head tilted, gently rinse out with warm water. Usually comes in kits with instructions for more precise time to let sit.

              If after doing that a few times it hasn’t helped, you’ll want to see a doctor.

              • Chris@feddit.ukEnglish
                10·
                9 months ago

                Yeah, ear drops (try Otex brand in the UK), they tickle and fizzle and pop and it feels amazing. You have to use them quite a few times to clear the ear and sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.

              • radix@lemm.ee
                3·
                9 months ago

                Wow, that sounds great. Just one hangup: Doesn’t it risk an ear infection if you’re deliberately putting water in your ears?

                • prettybunnys
                  1·
                  9 months ago

                  Get a bulb syringe and use hydrogen peroxide.

                  They also sell ear cleaning stuffc hopefully the peroxide / cleaning solution are sanitary.

  • ddh@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    34·
    9 months ago

    I’ve had an infected ear vacuumed and can confirm. Almost worth getting infected again just for that.