I’ve been getting a bit hard of hearing of late. So got some eardrops and have been using them for about a week. Anyway they seem to have softened things to the point it’s moulded into a complete plug. I’m now stone deaf.

So I called the GP to see if I could get my ears syringed . Except the NHS don’t do this any more. She advised I try a pharmacy, who would charge about £70.

SEVENTY EFFING QUID!! TO SHOOT WARM WATER IN ME LUGS!

Otherwise she said just carry on with the drops . Anyway 3 days later and I’m still deaf as a post. Any suggestions to sort this, other than crowd funding an earwash, as people are getting fed up with me ignoring them or SHOUTING AT THE ALL THE TIME.

Sorry for the shouty bits, EH? What you say?

Pardon?

You can get the syringe kits for about £5 from the internet.

So I called the GP to see if I could get my ears syringed . Except the NHS don’t do this any more. She advised I try a pharmacy, who would charge about £70.

They do. Your GP doesn’t.

So I called the GP to see if I could get my ears syringed . Except the NHS don’t do this any more. She advised I try a pharmacy, who would charge about £70.

Your GP means he isnt prepared to pay for it for you from his NHS budget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkpE6m-ytRc

Save yourself a tenner:

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7722902

Except the NHS don’t do this any more.

Horse shit. I get mine done every 6-8 months.

Nurses normally do the ear syringing, last time I had it done was a few years back – my right ear canal has always been smaller and over time the wax just builds up. I’ve not needed it doing recently as riding a motorbike means using earplugs daily, they keep the ears nice and clean.

Get some drops and a bulb syringe.  It works well, and is more convenient than having to go to the doctors to get it done.

 I’m now stone deaf.So I called the GP to see if I could get my ears syringed . Except the NHS don’t do this any more. She advised I try a pharmacy, who would charge about £70.

Genuine question. How do you know that’s what she said?

I’ve got a Braille app on my phone

she wrote it down

(he did then need a calligrapher to decipher the scrawl and a medical textbook to translate ‘lipid occlusion of the vestibular pathway’)

I had an issue with earwax for years but eventually my GP stopped syringing ears because it can lead to worse problems. He suggested I just used the shower, letting the water spray directly into each ear for about a minute. It took a few weeks to clear but gradually my hearing sorted itself. I still do this and I haven’t had any problems for years now

So I called the GP to see if I could get my ears syringed . Except the NHS don’t do this any more. She advised I try a pharmacy, who would charge about £70.

No she didn’t – she tried in vain to explain to you that you’d called a wrong number. Anyway – the Chinese takeaway you’ve ordered has probably gone cold by now.

He suggested I just used the shower, letting the water spray directly into each ear for about a minute. It took a few weeks to clear but gradually my hearing sorted itself. I still do this and I haven’t had any problems for years now

I’d stop ‘still doing this’ unless you actually have a problem to solve – fine if its solves the problem but don’t do it as prevention- ‘Swimmer’s Ear’ is a much more difficult problem to solve bit of ear wax. I had never known what depths of grumpiness I was capable of.

done it myself once or twice. Do it over a pan so you can see what you’ve got out.

After particularly troublesome blockages earlier this year that drops, etc wouldn’t touch I decided to bypass syringing as the blockages were completely hardened and plugged, and paid for private microsuction.

Yes, it was about £45, but after two weeks of not being able to hear, wooly thinking, balance issues and so on it was well worth it.

Your dr may not, but the Nhs in general do still offer this, keep taking the drops and ask again until they do it. I had it done about 3 months ago.

Some drops are more effective than others.

I find I have to do two or theee stints with Optex before all the crap comes out of my ears. I hate doing it but have to do it every quarter. Optex is allegedly the “best” but it’s effec for me.

I too have stopped having them syringed, mainly because shoving bits of wax further down the ear canal became more painful than not hearing.

And I’ve suffered with surfers ear too which is nasty.

A couple of drops of olive oil, lie down sideways and listen to the radio for ten minutes, gently massaging your ear (perverts cease!) and after a few more days it will soften to the point it falls out at the most inopportune moment.

If it’s properly plugged you’ll be there for days with olive oil, drops, etc – it’s not worth the hassle.

Find a local microsuction place and just get that done; it takes about 10-15mins and they’re guaranteed to get rid of everything .

NHS do it but it’s through some central call logging setup not your GP. Of course you won’t be able to hear what they are saying. Oh and last time I had it done (last year) there was a 4 week waiting list. Oh and it’s not syringing now it’s suction, which I found more uncomfortable than the old syringing.

Earwax, it’s a pain in the arse.

I do mine every 6 months.  20ml plastic syringe (10ml will also do).  Warm water in the bathroom sink.  Suck the water up, in the syringe, insert in ear and skoosh.  Try and keep your ear parallel with the sink.  You can monitor progress by examining the water.  Usually takes 10 to 20 goes before big lump falls out.  Try different angles with the syringe, you will hear the best angle.

once clear, you can hear a fly scratching its arse 20m away

Earwax, it’s a pain in the arse.

That’s not earwax.

Arsewax.

How are you lot getting so much wax in the first place, are you sticking things in your ears every five minutes?  I’ve never had cause to remove wax from my ears, ever.

How are you lot getting so much wax in the first place, are you sticking things in your ears every five minutes? I’ve never had cause to remove wax from my ears, ever.

Some folk produce more than others I guess.

I’ve had this issue a few times, quite debilitating, even if in one ear. Earplugs while camping were my nemesis. Syringing myself with a rubber bladder thing worked well.

Had mine done a few times over the years.  Recently they started to refuse unless I had done a week of warm olive oil in the ears as suggested earlier.  Doctors warned me away from the hundreds of other sprays and gumph and said a bit of warm olive oil works as well if not better.

I tested this out once by fibbing to the doctors that I had indeed done the week of oil.  I hadn’t.  It hurt like buggery and the nurse couldn’t get it all out as it was packed in solid.  Told me to do another week.  Went back and in a few minutes I was clean again.

I am now at the stage (Post holiday with all the swimming etc) where I feel like I need it again.  I did 1 application of warm oil and its 100% better.  I just need to get the motivation to do it for a solid week.

My process is

1) Get calpol syringe (We have about 20 floating about at home due to kids)

2) Put some olive oil in mug and put in microwave for 1min (Please test temp is ok for you)

3) Turn head and pop in syringe.  Calpol syringe is much too big to cause any damage.

4) Squirt it in and mop up mess.

Play around with the temp of the oil you can/cant get away with.

How are you lot getting so much wax in the first place,

Particularly narrow ear canals in my case, along with an ever increasing amount of hair as time marches on… doesn’t take much for me to be all bunged up.

Feels great when I get it done though. I can almost hear colours…

once clear, you can hear a fly scratching its arse 20m away

Ah yes, the moment you walk out the doctors and suddenly EVERYTHING IS TOO LOUD!!!!!

I used to regularly get blocked ears that on occasion turned in to nasty ear infections. Tried every lotion or potion on the market, tried using the shower, made sure I cleaned my ears every day and generally did everything I could to avoid the extremely painful infections.

None of it worked long term. After the last bout and visit to the doctor they told me to leave my ears alone. Don’t clean them, don’t dig around in them, don’t go chasing any wax you think is there and don’t jet them out with the shower. Doc said they naturally clean themselves and by cleaning them out you strip the natural oil your body produces for this exact job which leads to future problems.

Did as they said and have had no further problems at all.

No she didn’t – she tried in vain to explain to you that you’d called a wrong number. Anyway – the Chinese takeaway you’ve ordered has probably gone cold by now.

I did, while hitting repeated redial to the engaged surgery, manage to hit the next number and call the local taxi firm. Asking for an appointment with the nurse and not being able to hear the response caused much confusion 😳

Come clean now i bet the cotton buds have been used like packing gunpowder but your not telling us

How are you lot getting so much wax in the first place

Some folk produce more than others I guess.

This is the size of it. I’ve had mine done quite a lot over the years from when I was a youngster (local nurse with huge syringe and matching biceps) through to new fangled low pressure flushing (‘cos now we think syringing can damage the eardrum, so don’t do this at home folks) to modern suction, which I had last year and found quite nasty. I have fond memories of the buxom nurse with the syringe full of warm water.

Anyway, apart from that, the last time I had it done I saw my ear canals on the big screen and my God they’re are really hairy which can’t help WRT to wax build up. I have asked in the past what factors can increase wax build up, specifically does noise affect and it (I play in an orchestra immediately in front of the brass and that can make your fillings rattle). I was told no.

‘cos now we think syringing can damage the eardrum, so don’t do this at home folks

Same as everything – guidelines are there to protect the stupid and the careless.  Forcing liquid into your ear canal can be dangerous – yup.

Take it slow and make sure you’re aware of the stiction in the syringe you’re using (potential for having to press harder to overcome it and pushing too hard too fast when you overcome the sticking point).  Obviously, if you don’t want to do it, let someone else do it, and hope they’re in a better position to do it than you are -e.g. not hungover, bored, or unfamiliar with the equipment.

Buy an ear camera for a tenner on eBay and see what’s going on inside.

Fantastic things 🙂

Olive oil worked better for me than proper ear drops. Nurse wouldnt syringe mine until I had softened them enough with olive oil. I partially ignored this advice first and it was agony so had to stop and I gave the olive oil a better go. Cleared most it if without the need for a syringe.

Need to do them again actually…lovely.

Get it done, but get it done at the most reputable place you can find. Not at a dodgy home-made setup in the backwaters of Cornwall while on holiday, or you might end up with tinnitus so bad you have to pay for private consultations to get your ears sorted.

edit – I’ve had the ear-plug effect by the way, so I know what it’s like. It’s a nightmare.