Ear Infection?

Last year I got an ear infection from a Q-Tip!! Clearly I didn't learn my lesson, because after the Dr told me not to use Q-tips anymore, I chose to ignore him. I don't understand how anyone DOESN'T use them.. but I'm a bit anal.

Anyway, this morning my q-tip slipped in a bit to far.. and now my ear feels funny. You know when it's windy out and you hear the wind against your ear? Well that's whats going on in my right ear... and I'm inside Every now and then I get that swooshing sound of wind in my ear. It doesn't hurt, but it's SUPER annoying!

How do I fix this? "poping" my ears isn't working..

Re: Ear Infection?

You can't really fix it, though it may go away on it's own. Did any of the q-tip come off in your ear possibly? That happened to my mother once, she had to go to the ER to get it removed. You may have just put too much pressure on your eardrum or even damaged it slightly if the q-tip went in too far.

You know how you feel, I'd probably wait a day myself and get it looked at by an ENT. You could make an appt. now and cancel it if you don't need it assuming it's a few days away.

Yes, q-tips are bad for your ears. I am prone to ear infections, and various eNTs I've seen over the years all say the same thing. In fact, when I threw them out and stopped using them, I noticed the number of infections I got went down. A washcloth on your finger is really all you should use. If you feel compelled to use them, throw them out.

Re: Ear Infection?

Thanks for your reply!

Nothing came off the Q-tip.. i think I just pushed a little to far.. I'll wait it out... uck, this is SOOO annoying!!

When the ENT told me not to use Q-tips, he told me to go into the office once a year and have my ears cleaned.. That's so gross to me!! I use a Q-tip like 2 times a day.. once in the morning after the shower, then at night after I wash my face and I get water in my ear...

Re: Ear Infection?

Posted by Shopaholic921

Thanks for your reply!

Nothing came off the Q-tip.. i think I just pushed a little to far.. I'll wait it out... uck, this is SOOO annoying!!

When the ENT told me not to use Q-tips, he told me to go into the office once a year and have my ears cleaned.. That's so gross to me!! I use a Q-tip like 2 times a day.. once in the morning after the shower, then at night after I wash my face and I get water in my ear...

Re: Ear Infection?

Posted by krwm

Posted by Shopaholic921

Thanks for your reply!

Nothing came off the Q-tip.. i think I just pushed a little to far.. I'll wait it out... uck, this is SOOO annoying!!

When the ENT told me not to use Q-tips, he told me to go into the office once a year and have my ears cleaned.. That's so gross to me!! I use a Q-tip like 2 times a day.. once in the morning after the shower, then at night after I wash my face and I get water in my ear...

Q-tip actually pushes wax and whatever further into your ear thats why drs tell you not to use them. You should get the kids Q-Tips, you can't push those ones too far in because of the shape.

If it doesn't get better go to the dr, sounds like you may have done something to your ear drum maybe.

Re: Ear Infection?

My ears are always having problems and recently I've been tempted by q-tips myself even though I know better so I hear you
If it doesn't feel better or feels worse tomorrow, I would go to the dr. Not to be a nerd , but I just wanted to point out another potential problem with using q-tips (that I was never aware of), which is they can irritate your skin and if they cause any kind of abrasion that's one way that bacteria can get in there...

Re: Ear Infection?

I still hear that wind noise today.. but it's not as frequent as yesterday...

and I used q-tips this morning

Re: Ear Infection?

Posted by Shopaholic921

I still hear that wind noise today.. but it's not as frequent as yesterday...

and I used q-tips this morning

Message edited 3/12/2009 2:18:32 PM.

Re: Ear Infection?

okay, two things...

1. could you have punctured your eardrum? i did this to Dave on accident when we were fooling around one day with a lollypop stick. I held it up to his ear to scare him and his head twitched and in it went. we went to the ER because he was in pain and they said we punctured his eardrum. There was NOTHING they could do for him....it will heal. They said to think of your eardrum as a snare drum....the lining on top can get punctured but will heal itself. He did follow up with the doc a few days later and it's a good thing he did - because he needed antibiotics to clear up an infection (the doc was surprised the ER didn't give us anything).

2. this may sound HORRIBLE - but i don't use q-tips. I use a pen cap from a bic pen. I KNOW you're grossed out....but what that does is allows me to i guess, in some way DIG into my ear and get the crap out. I kinda use it like a shovel and i have to be honest - i haven't had an ear infection in more than a year since i started going that (i used to get them badly).

Re: Ear Infection?

Posted by krwm

Posted by Shopaholic921

I still hear that wind noise today.. but it's not as frequent as yesterday...

and I used q-tips this morning

see how it feels if doesn't get better, go to dr.

Stop using them until you find out!!you're a dope!

Re: Ear Infection?

Posted by davenjess

2. this may sound HORRIBLE - but i don't use q-tips. I use a pen cap from a bic pen. I KNOW you're grossed out....but what that does is allows me to i guess, in some way DIG into my ear and get the crap out. I kinda use it like a shovel and i have to be honest - i haven't had an ear infection in more than a year since i started going that (i used to get them badly).