A post from Kelli–Possibly gross picture below!
I’ve always had issues with my ears. Â As a little kid, I would regularly get ear infections during a time when tubes weren’t the thing to do. Â Mom says that between Kayla and I, one of us always seemed to have ear infection! Â A bit TMI here, but my ear wax is weird too in the fact that it gets really hard and clumps together and you can’t usually get it out with a q-tip (even though you aren’t supposed to use them on your ears). Â When I was little, I would go to the doctor where they would use a syringe to spray water into my ear canal in an attempt to clean them out. Â Most kids woudl freak out because of this, but I would hop up on the table and lay perfectly still cause I knew it would feel better when I was done. Â As an adult, I still do this regularly…on my own of course! Â As I got a bit older and could sit still, mom would clean them out with some special tools and I still have her do this too.
It seems like since I’ve graduated, I’ve had an almost cold. Â What’s an almost cold? Â Feeling like you almost have a cold or if you woke up the next day feeling terrible, you wouldn’t be surprised. Â I think that a lack of sleep, different schedules, working different shifts, and being exposed to a ton of new germs has just done me in. Â Â Last week, I had a full week of work (From Tuesday to Wednesday, I worked 66 hours) and when I finally had some time off on Friday, I knew that the next few days were definitely going to be tough! Â This wasn’t going to be an almost cold!
I woke up Saturday with a horrible sore throat, ended up finding someone to cover part of one of my shifts, and ran to Urgent Care. Â I had them swab me for strep (which was negative) and ended up with Augmentin for a sinus infection that I’d been wondering if I had for about 2 weeks, but hadn’t had time to go in. Â I ended up going back into work to finish my shift. Â I told Jason he was on his own for supper (he ended up bringing home Chinese) and went to bed. Â When I woke up Sunday, it wasn’t too much better….and neither was Monday. Â I finally called in on Tuesday and decided to take a day to rest…which I definitely did. Â It seems that the cold part of things has worked it’s way down into my throat/lungs, so I’m now coughing up tons of junk and went through a hole box of Kleenexes yesterday. Â After some Vick’s advice from Connie, I woke up feeling a bit better today.
When I was in the bathroom looking for another box of Kleenexes, I found a set of ear candling sticks, which I’ve been wanting to try for some time. Â It involves strips of muslin soaked in beeswax and rolled into a cylander. Â You then light one end on fire, and place the other end (very important to use the other end ;)) in your ear. Â The negative pressure is supposed to pull impurities from your ear canal. Â With my cold, I’ve had lots of popping and crackling in my ears too, so I thought they might help!
Note to others–This is best done with another person, but I had no one at the time and really wanted to do them! Â I took a picture of myself doing it and about died when I saw it, so I found one online for you to enjoy!
Since I was doing this myself, I was using my phone to check to see how far down it had burned and was hoping I didn’t burn myself, so I wasn’t able to look quite this relaxed and beautiful–But it was definitely close! Â Because I was checking it regularly and it was my first time, I wasn’t sure it was going to work quite right.
After I was done, I was really excited to cut them open to see what they pulled out–
And that’s what I found! Â As you can see, I got lots out. Â I have two more sets at home, so I’ll probably try doing it again in the next few days when Jason is in and can tell me when to take them out. Â I’m also dying for him to let me do it to him. Â For how dirty he gets working, there has got to be some horribleness in those ears of his!
And the verdict? Â I didn’t really have a problem with my hearing, but it does seem that my ears feel “clearer?” Â I don’t quite know how to explain it, but they feel better.
I’m hoping to Vicks myself up again really good tonight and keep working on kicking this cold in the rear!
I’m curious, what do the ear candles look like inside if you cut one open before using it?
We’ve used hydrogen peroxide combined with an equal amount of warm water squirted into the ear canal after an application of ear wax softening drops to remove hard wax in the ears.
Interesting, I don’t have ear problems but I found this very informative and I will google this for more info. Thanks for sharing.
My oldest daughter would get frequent rapid ear infections. No fever at 7p to 104 degrees at 9p with gold pusie fluid draining out of them. And she was allergic to all antibiotics. I had to find something to knock down infection without the use of antibiotics.
On the advice of my midwife, I infused olive oil with fresh garlic and put 3 drops in each ear and gently massaged. She never had another ear infection. If I had been nursing, she said I could have used breastmilk.
Kelli,
I hate to burst your bubble, but ear candling is pure bull hockey. I’m a retired audiologist of 41 years, and I worked for Ear, Nose, & Throat Specialists for over 30 years in several different cities in Nebraska. Every once in awhile, someone would show up in our hearing aid department, and try to sell us on ear candling. What you see inside the candle, isn’t really “ear debris.” It’s the burned portion of the ear candle itself. Now, you probably think I’m prejudiced, and I am. However, one of my esteemed professional colleagues looked into ear candling from a professional viewpoint and did quite a bit of research. Her conclusion: ear candling really has no specific medical benefit, and does not effectively remove ear wax that is built up in ears. Hydrogen peroxide or Debrox (OTC product) followed by warm water syringed in the ear will remove just as much wax from ears, and you can actually SEE those results when you flush the ear. Be sure to use WARM water, not cold, as cold or ice water will make you extremely dizzy for a bit. And HOT water will just plain hurt. Just my professional opinion. Other opinions may vary:)
I’m going to agree with Ms. Westerhold. I have a pretty severe hearing loss and have worn hearing aids since I was 40. Someone suggested that ear candling might help me and yes, the first time a LOT of wax came to the surface and it was suggested to me that I had a huge yeast problem because the inside of the candle looked like your photo. Since I’m a “doubting Thomas” type, I burned one candle stuck unto a squash and the inside of the candle looked exactly like your photo too so I guess that squash have a yeast problem also!!
Hope you feel much better tomorrow!
I have candled our ears for years. I think that if you believe it is helping you, it is!
I hope you’re feeling better soon. I worked in a hospital for a few years (although not in direct contact with patients). For the first six months, I met every germ that had ever entered that place, but once I was over that I really never got sick. Ever. I didn’t get a cold until 5 years AFTER I left that job. Hang in there, once you get over the worst of that phase, I think you’ll be surprised at how little you are ill.
Have to agree with Rosie. Google ear candling and quackery. You’ll find plenty of reputable websites that debunk this unscientific practice.
I hope you feel better soon!
I’ve used Debrox with good luck…and my Doc said NO q-tips. Packs the wax in harder.
There’s no scientific evidence that ear candling works – please save your money for more productive uses!