Excessive ear wax

[Average Investor]

I wear over the ear headphones a lot more to prevent build up. I rarely wear the push in kind of ear buds. I wear basic apple pod headphones for 40 mins every other day. 

I am not using any Q-Tips. I do sometimes allow some water in the ear, but I am not doing much about the wax. It seems like I have to have my ears flushed regularly almost to keep the excessive wax out. I bought my own kit and did it myself today and I literally got some wax out that was like a ear plug. A major relief in how I felt getting rid of it. I realize this should be a last resort, but I seem to need to do it. 

I know there is some oils and stuff out there for it? Anything healthy and natural to do? Water doesn't really seem to cut it. Maybe less headphone use? I use the over ear ones a lot, but they are not doing anything to obstruct wax to my knowledge. 

[Michael569]

I occasionally use a sort of empty plastic syringe (without needle) and with warm water flush them through. Last year one of my years got really stuffed after I used earbud that I literally lost 50% hearing for 24 hours. The syringe thingy fixed it and since then I do not own cotton buds. Wish I knew before. Something like this is super helpful. 

It could also be that you are listening to music too loud? That may create a sort of mechanical pressure on the microbiome in the ear forcing the buildup of ear wax? I know this sounds funny but try less earphone time generally and less volume and see if that helps? 

[Member]

2 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Last year one of my years got really stuffed after I used earbud that I literally lost 50% hearing for 24 hours.

Only 24 hours, LOL. I stayed almost a month with one of my ear affected. I think it was more than 60%. It happened during the covid lock-down and at that time I tried an ear spray which didn't work. Almost the entire month I was dizzy AF and my balance was really poor. Fortunately, that spray dissolved the earwax... And yeah, I know it sounds irresponsible but I was locked inside my home and it was the only thing I could find. And I'm also wearing over the ear headphones most of the time and this is a frequent problem for me.

[Average Investor]

3 hours ago, Michael569 said:

The syringe thingy fixed it and since then I do not own cotton buds. Wish I knew before. Something like this is super helpful. 

I think my kit has something similar. If not I will just use my larger bottle to add some water. I was doing a bit of the hydrogen peroxide drops for a little, but it was probably too late since it had build up so strongly. I will more regularly do this. My concern was potential damage from it. 

3 hours ago, Michael569 said:

It could also be that you are listening to music too loud?

I am down 3 volume clicks on my iphone now that I removed the wax. I am going to be more mindful of it. 

Checking on my phone it does tell me the decibel rating for the sound. While I run with the earpods I am almost always listening to educational content. Looks like it could range from 55-91DB. It does not record data for the over the ear headphones. Daily average is 62DB with those. I will try to remove the higher end stuff off for sure. Dropping down those clicks will make a big difference on the over the ear. 

3 hours ago, Michael569 said:

I literally lost 50% hearing for 24 hours

I have had it quite a few times where even up to like 80-90% of the hearing is gone. Feels like the whole side of my head is plugged lol. 

[Average Investor]

@Member This time it drug out for months and months. This one has been going for at least 6 months. I am going to stay on top of this. It seems like it does effect my concentration and my well being enough to want to make some serious change. 

[Member]

1 hour ago, Average Investor said:

I think my kit has something similar. If not I will just use my larger bottle to add some water. I was doing a bit of the hydrogen peroxide drops for a little, but it was probably too late since it had build up so strongly. I will more regularly do this. My concern was potential damage from it.

I would also suggest you to try with a syringe with lukewarm water, just make sure that you push the water gently. This was one of the options for me, but just like you, I was afraid of potentially damaging my eardrum. Btw, the spray that I used is called A-Cerumen although i'm not sure if you can find it in your country. It wasn't so efficient for me but maybe it will work for you.

[Average Investor]

@Member I will do some research on it. I appreciate the share. 

[ThermalTide]

a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide in each ear for about 5 minutes has helped me a ton with excessive wax, but I think the best option would be to get them cleaned in a clinic. Actually I think Walgreens will do it for 60 bucks without insurance. 

[Average Investor]

@ThermalTide I did try the peroxide, but it was too far gone. Probably would be more effective if I did it ever couple weeks or something. I like the home kit a lot, but I can see the benefits of having someone do it for sure. 

[Michael569]

On 28/10/2020 at 6:14 PM, Average Investor said:

I was doing a bit of the hydrogen peroxide drops for a little,

Yeeeah about that.... Try extra virgin olive oil instead. Few drops, give it 10 minutes then turn around and see if anything comes out. Don't worry it won't enter the skull, the eardrum is covering the entire ending of the auditory canal.  If that doesn't cut it,  get one of those syringes and try some warm water, that should do it. HP can be extremely irritating and the more you disturb the inner lining of the ear the more wax you may actually get. Kinda like when mucous is building up inside an irritated throat, I believe the wax is a response to irritation of the auditory canal and also a means of self-cleansing, it's not necessarily a bad thing and there is likely a reason why its being overproduced which may be where the headphones come in. 

[kag101]

Have you ever gone to a doctor to help you with that? 

[Average Investor]

22 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

Yeeeah about that.... Try extra virgin olive oil instead. Few drops, give it 10 minutes then turn around and see if anything comes out. Don't worry it won't enter the skull, the eardrum is covering the entire ending of the auditory canal.  If that doesn't cut it,  get one of those syringes and try some warm water, that should do it. HP can be extremely irritating and the more you disturb the inner lining of the ear the more wax you may actually get. Kinda like when mucous is building up inside an irritated throat, I believe the wax is a response to irritation of the auditory canal and also a means of self-cleansing, it's not necessarily a bad thing and there is likely a reason why its being overproduced which may be where the headphones come in. 

I will give it a shot instead. I have been working with the headphone volume a bit more on the big ones. It helps me get a lot of work done for sure, so hard not to use them. I could try to cut down the use of them a bit though. I have been taking some breaks with them too. 

I notice I do have some ringing still after cleaning. I am guessing that I have some tinnitus. It could be from the amount of flushing I had to do and could be temporary. But based on what came out I assume I unblocked it. This time it is quite a bit more bearable though. I can't really recall if this fully went away from being flushed before or not. I will probably have them check it out next time I get a check up. 

@kag101

I have had them flush it a few times over the years.