

I was partially deaf for the last couple of years - comet
http://bycomet.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/ear-wax-i-was-partially-deaf-for-the-last-couple-of-years/

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sambeau
A taxi driver once told me great story about an old man in his local bar. *
_pushes light gently to provide suitable on-boat ambiance_ *

'Gunner' McIntosh _(or similar: this was Glasgow, Scotland)_ had been deaf
since he operated a big anti-aircraft in the Second World War. He would sit in
the corner of the bar and the regulars would have to shout at him to be
understood.

According to the taxi driver, the night before giving me a lift, he had walked
into his local bar and bellowed a greeting at the old man, as usual, and in
response the old man had jumped out of his skin.

It transpired that earlier in the day, during a medical check-up, a doctor had
discovered both his ears had been blocked by a massive build-up of earwax and
behind that there was ancient cotton wool that had most-likely been placed
there by a young Gunner McIntosh during the war.

Once removed, he said, he had the hearing of a healthy 21-year-old man.

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byuu
I lost hearing in my left ear for the same reason. Ear kept blocking up more
and more frequently until it stayed permanently shut. Tried the store peroxide
kits, they didn't work at all for me. It's such an unnerving experience
because you really fear it's something permanent.

Finally got it cleaned out by a doctor, and just wow. It really is as if you
have bionic hearing. Everything sounded enhanced, and had a lot of extra
treble. Very much like you've turned up the volume by 50% or so. Things like
the garage door opening became too loud to bear, and I had to cover my ears
for it.

For a few days, I had wondered if this was how we were supposed to hear, and
that my hearing was just impaired for a long time. But it quickly fades back
to what you're used to as your ear builds up a normal, healthy amount of wax
again. Still, for those brief few days, it's quite the experience.

~~~
masklinn
> But it quickly fades back to what you're used to as your ear builds up a
> normal, healthy amount of wax again.

No, it fades back because your brain re-adapts. It's somewhat similar to
day/night vision, during blockage the ear/brain complex cranks up sensibility
to try and hear things, once the ear's clean it dials back sensibility because
there's no need for it.

There's no such thing as "heatlhy amount of wax" because it's not supposed to
build up (let alone build up so much it block out the ear canal or presses
against the eardrum, which is how it lowers hearing). Normally, earwax is
secreted in the outer third of the ear and slowly travels outwards before
flaking out.

(I say that being a frequent sufferer of accumulating and impacted earwax,
earwax buildup is one of the banes of my existence)

~~~
outworlder
Yeah, me too.

Once my ear got clogged,as happened with the original poster. However, the
auditory impairment was nowhere that much. It seems that, as long as there is
a path to the outside, you can hear almost as well.

Once it happened, I now have to go to the doctor 2 - 4 times per year to get
it cleaned. If I don't let it build up that much, then the cleaning is easy.
And, as the doctor is a specialist, he will not use the syringe, unless as a
last resort.

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shanselman
It always strikes me how often we hear that folks either won't go to the
doctor to get something looked at, or they go to the doc and get the answer
and then simply aren't compliant. If it's broken, fix it. I've never
understood the logic behind avoiding the doc.

~~~
reeses
The best are people who lie to the doctor. Unless you're hoping to defraud
someone (get meds, insurance, whatever) it's not only pointless, it's so
counterproductive.

"I haven't pooped in a week." "Hmm, how many servings of roughage do you eat
per day?" "All of them. I eat ten apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and
I eat the solids left in the juicer after making my all-organic smoothies."
"OK, I guess we'll have to do a DRE. Do you mind if my interns help?"

"How often do you floss." "Ten times a day." "That's curious, because your
gums started bleeding like a Tarantino movie when my hygienist waved the box
of floss in your general direction."

I learned the hard way when I faked appendicitis and ended up in surgery when
I was 12. :-)

~~~
WalterBright
I tried lying to the dentist when I was a kid about how often I brushed my
teeth. He just laughed at me.

~~~
taeric
I always had the opposite as a child. They would commend me on how I must have
done a decent job since the last checkup. Reality is I probably only
brushed/flossed 3 or 4 times in that interval.

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brazzy
As a kid I once lost a tooth and wanted to keep it, but since I had nowhere to
put it at the moment, I shoved it into my ear. Then I forgot about it.

So of course a couple of weeks later I was at the doctor with a blocked ear.
When it came out, he was rather surprised - said that he'd removed all kinds
of things from kids' ears, but never before a tooth...

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jleyank
Glad it was just wax and that your hearing's ok. As somebody who is quite deaf
I heartily recommend that people pay attention to their hearing. Get a test to
establish a baseline and then check every 5-10 years if no problems or
ringing, shorter otherwise. And if you find yourself losing soft consonant
sounds, or piss off people with your tv volume, get it checked ASAP.

Hearing loss sucks as even with modern aids, hearing in crowds tends to be
difficult at best. Oh, watch your meds for things that can cause sudden loss
(aspirin?).

I'll admit that's its nice to feel music, though, rather than just hear it...

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bobowzki
Haha I'm an MD and I like doing that because of the immediate results :-)

~~~
reeses
The pop is awesome. Also, the sheer grossness of a really good extraction is a
thing to be respected.

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Cthulhu_
I had it for a couple days, fun times having a cold while in an airplane, :p.
Turning my head sideways and shaking fixed it.

As for the unease with noises, I guess it's understandable; one, the people
that don't mind are probably used to it. Two, if you haven't been able to hear
for a while, your hearing will get sharper and it'll have much more of an
impact.

Three, I too get uneasy when having to listen to busy train stations and the
like. I usually wear earbuds (with music) for that reason. And get stressed /
uneasy whenever those don't work.

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hudibras
James Altucher had the same thing happen to him. He even had the same reaction
once it was over: "I'm a superhero!"

[http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/03/about-the-time-i-
went-d...](http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/03/about-the-time-i-went-deaf/)

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makmanalp
Awesome story! I always wonder how safe for your eardrums it is when they
rapidly inject water into your ear like that. Also, if you have mild tinnitus
from going to concerts and such, not having your ears blocked helps a ton with
not hearing it.

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ilanco
Car horns are meant to be used in emergencies only, mostly to prevent
accidents. Unfortunately in some countries like Israel (where I live) it has
become more of a device for expressing anger or frustration.

~~~
Brajeshwar
Similar happenings here in India. Everyone honks for every 10th breath they
take while driving.

~~~
brazzy
True story: I've worked on a QA workflow system for a large car maker. One of
the tickets I saw said something like this:

Problem: Cars delivered to India come in for warranty repairs of the horns
unusually often.

Root cause analysis: The horns are designed for 50k activation cycles. Due to
the more intensive use in India, this is insufficient.

They were still debating whether to build in a sturdier horn everywhere or
just for the Indian market...

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bitJericho
500 rs?? Good thing you don't live in the states, would have been a 5000
dollar operation!

~~~
Forplax
Normally I'm happy to jump into a "bash US healthcare" conversation, but as
someone who recently experienced exactly this issue off-insurance, I can tell
you that office visit + procedure runs anywhere from $200-$400 out of pocket.
Since it's a 5 minute in-office thing, most of that cost would be hidden
behind a copay to those with decent insurance.

Nothing like 500Rs, to be sure. But not quite four figures yet.

~~~
bitJericho
As most people don't have 500 dollars to pay the clinic up front, this would
have been an ER visit for the majority of Americans.

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jhprks
wow, this happened to me too, the deafness came to me really quick, one ear
and the other one. I was very nervous, I thought some thing serious was
happening to my hearing. I had a doctor check out my ears, it turned out to be
a small pea sized earwax in both of my ears...

