How bad is it that there was blood in my ear this morning?

[kipin]

[ QUOTE ]
It may be nothing. I woke up last year in the middle of the night. I felt around my ear, it felt a bit wet, and I thought it was just sweat (damn you Harvard for no AC in the dorms!).* Turns out I'm bleeding out of my ear, go to the mirror, clean it up, and it was just a bug bit of some sort that i must have done something to overnight and it started bleeding. If it happens again, maybe worry about it, but there are a number of reasons this could have happened. I must say though, waking up bleeding from your ear is one of the scariest things ever. For almost any other body part (nose, mouth, finger) I know what blood means. Blood coming out of the ear, I have no clue.

If nothing else persists, just write it off.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you go to Harvard???

*Note: bold text added for emphasis.

[onthebutton]

I did the same thing to myself recently. I tried to clean that crap out with a Qtip, and would up compacting it in my ear canal. I pretty much couldn't hear anything of that ear, so I went to the Dr. They tried to flush it with a waterpik type thing, but no dice. They recommended that I just go to a drugstore and by an "earwax removal kit". It's just some oil that you drop in your ear. It softens the wax, then you flush it out with warm water using a little rubber bulb. Prepare to be disgusted by what comes out.

[Gunny Highway]

I'm pretty sure it's AIDS.

[Shajen]

OTB:

Your doctor couldn't get it out, so they told you to do it yourself?

Time to get a new doctor man.

[ScottieK]

[ QUOTE ]
I did the same thing to myself recently. I tried to clean that crap out with a Qtip, and would up compacting it in my ear canal. I pretty much couldn't hear anything of that ear, so I went to the Dr. They tried to flush it with a waterpik type thing, but no dice. They recommended that I just go to a drugstore and by an "earwax removal kit". It's just some oil that you drop in your ear. It softens the wax, then you flush it out with warm water using a little rubber bulb. Prepare to be disgusted by what comes out.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like more fun than the home wart freezer kit. I'm gonna try this. I'll also stop using q-tips...thanks for the advice [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

OP - if it's blood, you should go to the doctor.

ScottieK

[Madtown]

For those of you saying not to use Q-tips,

I've heard this a lot, and it makes sense. But what are you supposed to do on a weekly basis? El D said he gets a kit "every few years." What do you do about that pesky waxy buildup normally? Do you just leave it? That sounds gross.

[Shajen]

MT,

According to my ENT doc*, your ears should get rid of the wax on their own. Some wax in your ear is normal. Some people's bodies generate a lot of wax though. In which case, going to a ENT doc every 3-4 months should handle it. If you don't feel like going to an ENT guy and your ears buildup a lot of wax, use one of the wax removers (wax bulb and wax remover) to get rid of the wax.

*I got [censored] up ear canals.

[El Diablo]

Mad,

I just don't get that buildup on any regular basis. It would also be pretty easy to use the kits more regularly. Basically, you just squirt some wax-dissolving stuff into your ear, then squirt some water in to flush it out.

[Madtown]

Shajen,

How, exactly, do your ears get rid of this wax on their own? Is it absorbed back into the body? Does it fall out at random and potentially embarassing intervals? Is it eaten by mystical ear wax fairies?

Entirely too interested in ear wax,
Madtown

[Shajen]

Madtown:

The ear wax fairy eats it.

(It falls out on its own typically)