Wall of Sound

For whatever reason, my ears produce excessive wax. (And if that grosses you out, you’d best stop reading now)

On occasion, it gets so severe that it blocks my ear completely. Last time it happened, back in Bracknell, the practice nurse suggested using a product called Otex, which I’ve used on occasion since.

A good while back – I thought it was the start of this year, but it could’ve been longer when I think about it – my right ear got blocked up, and despite my best efforts, it wouldn’t clear out. I wasn’t worried, because I knew it was just wax, and normally it clears itself out in the end. So I’d use the Otex on occasion, but it wasn’t really an issue. (And yes, I’m aware that this post a) contains WAY too much information and b) shows just how slack I am on certain things)

However, last week I was using the Otex on the other ear, and the gunge caused by it sealed up that ear too. Which left me, well, not deaf – but most definitely significantly impaired on the hearing front. I’d estimate it at about a 60-75% hearing loss, all told. Apparently, this is a known issue with Otex – because it dissolves the wax, you end up with this kind of primordial sticky semi-liquid sludge, and that just seals the ear canal completely, and it’s then really hard to get out.

So the hearing loss was just what I needed, knowing that I was going to have a two-day training course at the start of the following week.

Over the weekend, I tried to get in to one of the local NHS Walk-in centres but failed to get seen. (although this is another ranty post for over the weekend, I think) So on Monday I got an appointment with the practice nurse at my normal doctor’s surgery. (It was actually Herself who made the appointment – I was trying to call, but failing, so she called – and it turned out that I got through just after her, so actually had two appointments to get this all sorted)

Anyway, last night after work I went in, and the nurse cleared out both my ears by syringing them. It’s not quite as vile as it sounds – it’s some kind of mechanism for pumping warm water into the ear, and letting it flow out again – and while it’s not a pleasant experience, it’s still less unpleasant than the sensations while using the Otex, where you can hear the bubbles, fizzing, and cracking of the Otex attacking whatever’s in your ear.

But now the world is very very loud. My brain had quite obviously got used to handling the deficiency in my right ear and was doing quite nicely at it, thanks very much. But now that the blockage has gone, all the sound is coming in again, and my brain hasn’t yet reduced the levels – so everything is much louder than it was.

It’s odd, you don’t realise how much you’re missing in a situation like that – because it’s been a gradual process over *cough* months, it’s just not really been something I was aware of losing. The sudden renewal of all noise levels has come as quite a shock – closing my car door when I was leaving the surgery felt like it had blown out my eardrums.

Sometimes that hearing deficiency has helped – this morning the noise of the central heating pump woke me up, for example.

I’m not proud of this post – it goes a long way towards illustrating what a complete slack-arse I truly am when it comes to taking care of my own ailments, for one thing – but it’s still a noteworthy event. If nothing else, I’ll probably refer back to it on occasion, as and when my hearing starts going duff again. (And from now on I’ll be doing what the practice nurse recommended, too – rather than waiting ’til the buildup starts, I’ll be working on controlling it a bit before that)

I know I’m bad at these things – I can’t get past the “it’s not all that relevant” thing, and I particularly have an issue with wasting even a GP or practice nurse’s time with something that is a) my fault in the first place and b) impressively trivial. But once I know I have to go and get it sorted – in this case, because I can’t hear a sodding thing – then I do at least go and get it sorted.