I remember a bad day a few years back, I woke up and almost completely deaf and had a pounding headache. My first reaction was shear panic, I had assumed that I was going deaf. However after frantically visiting the doctors I was told that it was simply a fact that my ears were blocked and I probably had a small infection.
The advice the doctor gave was simple:
“Drop a few drops of olive oil into you ear on a daily basis, this should loosen the wax, ease the pressure and the infection should clear itself up in a few days”.
Sadly on this occasion, it did not work, I ended up having to get my ears syringed, which was very painful.
If I had taken action a week or two earlier when I felt my ears blocking, I would have probably avoided that.
So, since then, if I feel blockage building up, I try the olive oil technique and it normally works very well.
Ear blockage can be caused by a number of things including infection, repeated pushing of wax to the back of the ear with Q-tips and irritation of the ear canal.
The inside canal of the ear is very delicate and is actually self cleaning. You should avoid putting objects in there at all costs. There is a saying that you should never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear. It’s a cheesy saying but very true!
Using Olive Oil to flush out ear wax, explained:
My doctor told me that this method is just as good as over the counter ear drops so I would advise always to try this extremely cheap method first.
- You simply need a dropper (pipette), tissue or cotton, olive oil.
- Tilt you head and carefully squeeze a few drops of room temp or slightly warmer olive oil into the ear.
- Keep you head horizontal, laying down is good, and wait for around 5 minutes. Some people may find this uncomfortable but it is not dangerous.
- Put the cotton or tissue to your ear and tilt your head the other way to empty the oil from your ear.
- Repeat the process with the other ear.
Wax may not initially come out but persist and keep doing this daily for a week or so. You may be suprised with the results.
The olive oil has properties which help to soften the wax build up and keep the inner ear protected and smooth. So the soften should loosen it from it’s plugged position and it will come out naturally.
Obviously if symptoms persist then you may have to try other methods and eventually visit your doctor.
Let me know your thoughts on this and please do comment.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Effective, but… yyuk!
Buy a blue bulb ear cleaning kit at the store. Toss the liquid and save the rubber bulb.
Next time you shower, cup your hand to hold the nice warm water, suck it up into the bulb, keep squeezing out the air until it’s full to the nozzle, then lean your head over to the side so your ear faces the floor, then squirt the bulb up into your ear. Repeat with the other ear. Then repeat both ears again.
Unless you have a perforated ear drum or some other malady, this will gently and immediately remove the little brown rodents living in your ears with nothing more than warm water. If you’ve ever had a doctor do this to you, you will know there is absolutely NO WAY you will use more pressure than the doctor uses by doing this yourself. Those guys are MERCILESS!
Save the olive oil for the penne.
Hey Docter Dawg,
Thanks for the great comment. You are also the first to comment on this new blog… so congratulations.
I actually like the Olive Oil method because it gradually releases the wax over the course of a few days and does not damage your inner ear.
I know the doctor told me that syringing too often was bad for the ears. I have no idea if this applies to your siggestion as it seems that it is a lot less violent!!
Do you have a website?
Hydrogen peroxide also works to break down the wax.
Hydrogen Peroxide 2.5% up to 5% (around 3% is best)
This dissolves the wax slowly, use a towel to do a little suction to the ear after it has soaked for a bit of time.
This isn’t suggested as an alternative just another tool, especially once it has gotten to the uncomfortable point.
Ear wax is basically caused by a deficiency of essential fatty acids, so any oil with high omega-3 or better mixed fatty acids will be best to avoid this.
Greetings from StumbleUpon,
I just use the extra suds left in my hands after I scrub my hair with shampoo when I’m in the shower. I just push it in gently with my palm slightly cupped, put my pinky in as far as it will go (I have thick fingers so it doesn’t go far at all- basically not past the part that is visible to someone looking at the side of my ear), move it up and down several times, then I use the shower water to wash the suds back out. I do this daily and I’ve never had a buildup issue.
Good luck with the new blog.
The olive oil makes sense…the warm water makes sense…ear candles don’t. Research has repeatedly shown them to be completely ineffective ( the ear wax like material on the burnt candle is just candle residue). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling
A drug store sells a solution for ear cleaning, containing urea-hydrogen peroxide, that would be the next step if olive oil doesnt work. I find that works well for me.
Syringing the ears is a little scary to me, its sounds like a giant water fall in your ear, real loud and weird when they do it, I dont think its a great thing, and best avoided.
I never bid believe in that one.
Hi! Your Post “ap & easy way to flush out ear wax” is very interesting for me. Unfortunately my written English is not so good so I write in German: Dir, meinem liebsten, geh