An Ear Problem Solved

I have suffered with impacted ear wax most of my life and it can be quite uncomfortable. At home, my caregivers followed my Ear Nose, and Throat doctor’s recommendation of ear wax softening drops every three months followed by syringing my ears. This method alleviated the problem.

After I came here, my ears got severely impacted. I only found a couple of nurses who would syringe my ears after days of wax softening drops. This method removed most of the wax but not all of it. Back then, the facility used a Waterpik to remove hardened ear wax.. I was a bit reluctant to have my ears Waterpiked. But it did get rid of the wax problem.

Over the years earwax impaction was treated with wax softening drops for several days and then my ears were syringed. Sometimes all the wax came out and many times it did not. I even went to my doctor’s office only to be told there was not enough wax in my ears to warrant using his fancy equipment. ENT’s were not willing to remove the wax either. They would give me drops and suggest my ears be syringed periodically. I became more and more frustrated. It seemed like my life would continue with both ears half plugged.

This past week I was suffering through another round of ear wax impaction. The ear wax softening drops were used every day religiously. A nurse here syringed them out but she was unable to get the wax located close to my ear drum. Then I was told that a doctor would be here to check our ears for impacted wax and also to do hearing tests on those who needed it. I quickly signed up.

The doctor checked my ears and found wax. Then he irrigated my ears using a syringe with a rubber tube attached. Each ear was syringed about a dozen times. I told him they felt better but he had not removed all the wax for my left ear. The nurse said the earwax was close to my eardrum. After examining further, he found the wax and removed it with a lighted, plastic curette.

The doctor found my left eardrum was swollen outward, which meant I had fluid behind my eardrum. He suggested I take Sudafed once a day for several weeks to alleviate it. My ears feel so much better and I no longer hear muffled sounds and whistling in them. I am very grateful that we have these services here.

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