Remember the wicked earache I was battling? The good news is that the earache is gone, the bad news is that it left me half deaf. That's right, I am getting nothing at all in my left ear. It's kind of like how after you go swimming and you have water in your ear and it is really annoying for like five minutes but then you hear a pop and the pressure is gone and all is well in the world; except its lasted two days and no relief yet.
The internet is full of wise guys who will tell you to dump all sorts of nonsense into your ear. Olive oil. Castor Oil. Vinegar. Alcohol. And my personal favorite hydrogen peroxide. Is it just me or does dumping hydrogen peroxide in your ear seem a little.....precarious. I don't have a lot of experience with hydrogen peroxide but in my mind it seems similar to, say, acid. Yes, dump acid in your ear. The ear seems too dangerously close to the brain to dump acid into. And so even though I was tempted to dig my eardrum out of my head with a spoon I still had enough sense to not dump hydrogen peroxide, or acid, in my ear. So did I go with the safest bet, olive oil? Nah. What would that do? Besides make the boys go wild (Did you hear about the bacon scented candles, ew.). Alcohol, now that kind of made sense. If there is water in the ear the alcohol would evaporate it up with itself. Genius.
Now, I dare you, go drop a few drops of alcohol in your ear. I'll wait....
Do it.
Wimp. I'll spare you the expense and tell you, it hurts like h-e-doublehockeysticks. Seriously. What kind of idiot puts alcohol in their ears (besides me?). My internet buddies, the sages of all wisdom, have seriously let me down on this one.
So I'll keep walking around head banging and whacking my ear with a spoon and all those sorts of sensical things. Actually it feels quite a bit better today, thank heavens. I was worried there for a while.
And the other good news? Zofran rocks.
I'll keep trying to do something blog worthy, I am totally stumped though. I am confined to my house since it is about the billionth day of temperatures over a hundred degrees. I am stuck in the confines of my air conditioned cozy house :) I'll emerge once the mercury dips below eighty!
See you in November!
7 comments:
Ya, I have definitely put alcohol in my ear before in an attempt to get the water out. It was driving me insane and doing funky things to my balance so I decided to give it a try.
And ya, with the burning. I was like, stupid stupid stupid. But then I did it in the other ear because I clearly didn't learn my lesson the first time, and it didn't burn at all. So...who knows.
So on the hydrogen peroxide front, Scott's pediatrician recommended I use a 1/2 water 1/2 HP solution and drip it into his ears and let it fizz awhile to help clean them. Scott went through a phase where his ears stank really bad... So I'm thinking it must not be too dangerous.
I put alcohol in my ears all the time after swimming. Only thing that gets the water out sometimes. True, I occasionally feel a sting, but not much. Maybe it only hurt so bad because you were getting over an ear infection. I turn my head and have it trickle out so quickly that it doesn't get much chance to even sting. I always thought the goal of using alcohol was to create enough liquid that it pours out easily. It's when there's a tiny bit that it won't come out. By using alcohol, you ensure that it's fairly sterile and that any liquid that does remain will evaporate much more quickly. But if it hurts, then I guess it's all a moot point.
I'm glad you're feeling a little better! Perhaps we could go swimming sometime (the only activity outside an air conditioned house I'm willing to do!). Or we could just hide together in one of our houses...
It's true...the HP idea came from a lot of reliable websites, so I know it must be safe, it just seems so scary! I bet it sounds weird to have it in there, like pop rocks on your brain or something. I am glad that Scott has survived the process :) I guess I just need to grasp what hydrogen peroxide really is, I guess it's not really like acid (some people use it as mouthwash too, yikes!)
Kristi,
I'm glad you're back! But sorry about the ear problems. HP sounds like the least scary of all the things you listed. I can tell you there's NO WAY I'm putting olive oil in my ear. Alcohol stings when you put it on a cut, but HP not nearly as bad. It probably hurt so much because your ears are still raw inside, even if the pain from the infection has subsided. I'd try the HP/water mixture Gretchen mentioned. Have you talked to your doctor or called Ask-A-Nurse?
I have no input on the ear problem, except to wish you good luck. We've been blessedly free of many ear infections at our house. Cancer, yes. Ear infections, not so much. :)
Oh, and YES, Zofran does rock. I'm glad you've come over to the light.
I am definitely not a doctor (maybe I should ask my husband before I blog this), but I've had my fair share of ear problems--including around 5 broken eardrums. Once when I was in high school, I had a bad ear infection and was rubbing my ear when I felt a sharp pain. The pain quickly went away and it felt like the ear infection was gone--no more pain--except I couldn't hear out of that ear. Turns out that the pressure on my eardrum was so high, it perforated a little hole in it. Without the pressure, the pain was gone, but my hearing was messed up for a few days. Not saying you broke your eardrum or anything, just saying our stories are suspiciously similar. :)
UMmmm...Hydrogen Peroxide is AWESOME! It feels very very cool! It bubbles all up, and ...yeah, I would go with that. My hubby has to do it, or he would not be able to hear much. So, every three or four months we pull it out. It works like a charm. Just have a wash cloth or some tissue there with you! and some Q-tips.
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