Re: Re: Ear wax

[Guest guest]

I am visiting my doc today to have my ears cleaned out as I've become completely deaf in the left. I've had wax problems since infancy (according to my mother). I've had congestion for the past week, wheezing and such, and the ear problem has escalated. I hope it doesn't do more damage. I, too, had a nasty removal at the pediatrician's long ago, but my sensitivity to sounds was occuring long before that event.

Re: Ear wax

Ear wax forms in the outer one third of the ear canal as a way to remove debris with its outward trekking and also to keep insects and things out of the ear with its sticky bad tasting qualities.The cilia in your hearing organ, the cochlea, as really deep inside your head and all the way across the middle ear space which is an air filled cavity just behind the ear drum. So if someone were to clean out ear wax, the only areas they could really get to are the ear canal and the ear drum area, not the inner ear or even the middle ear, unless they are incredibly incompetent and shove something right thru the eardrum which is highly unlikely and would also cause some very instant and serious conductive hearing loss and terrific pain.So.Here is what can happen, though. A big plug of ear wax acts just like an ear plug and causes the hearing to be diminished and then the brain attempts to over come this obstacle and cranks up the inner volume control. This is often how people get hyperacusis. When the earwax plug is removed, all of sudden everything sounds extremely loud and extremely sharp and tinny and annoying. In most people, the vast majority, this goes away very quickly as the brain turns down the inner volume control. In others, it does not. These people often develop hyperacusis. In this group, it might be possible that in this situation, a person who was on the verge or susceptible to 4S, had heightened hearing after such an event and then went on to full blown 4S.We don't really know yet.Hope this makes sense.Dr. >> I had a nasty ear wax removal procedure done when I was a kid. I suspect it was around that time that my hearing sensitivity started, but I can't be sure. I started a poll a little while ago to see if wax problems were common to us, but the poll got deleted for some reason. It seems that a lot of us do have wax problems, and ear wax removal can damage cilia, making sound sensitivity worse. I don't have wax problems now, however.> > I would be very careful about doing anything to our delicate ears.> > >