Posted: 7/19/2006 4:24:52 PM EDT
| I took my little guy swimming today and got water in both ears. Its driving me crazy. Anyone know how to get it out of my ears?? |
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I woke up sunday night and had a bunch of wax in my left ear. Well, I tried to dig it out with my pinkie. My plan for digging it out didn't work and my ear got plugged up and I still today (Wednesday) can't hear out of my left ear. I have tried using Q-tips and flushing it with water, but neither work.....any suggestions? I can still hear out of it, however, everything is very muffled, as if I had an earplug stuck in there (I already checked and I didn't leave an ear plug in there) PS, sorry Patty for hijacking your thread |
Ding Ding Ding we have a winner! I was so miserable - this is what I did and it worked well! 
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alcohol swab and hair dryer Alcohol, rubbing Rubbing alcohol not only kills germs but causes water trapped in the ear to evaporate. See the remedies below under vinegar. Apple cider vinegar If you notice water stopping up your ears, put three or four drops, diluted in equal parts with water or alcohol, in your ear after showering or swimming. This is a good preventive measure against future infection. Hair dryer Use the warm (never hot!) setting of your hair dryer and place it about an arm's length from the ear and slowly move it back and forth. Test it on your wrist after it has been running a while before using it on the ear. The warm air will evaporate any trapped water. Vinegar (distilled white) Put 2-3 drops of full strength white vinegar into the ear every two hours. This will be effective against any bacterial or fungal infection. • Another similar remedy is to make a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and warm water and apply four drops in the ear three times a day for three days. However, the water can harbor bacteria and fungus. One of the other two vinegar remedies is preferred. Pull on the earlobe to straighten out the ear canal. This will get the drops to their destination. The alcohol may sting, but this needs to be done. • A third vinegar remedy is to make a 50/50 mixture using equal parts of rubbing alcohol and distilled white vinegar. Put the mixture in a clean eyedropper bottle. The alcohol will kill germs and evaporate any water that's trapped in the ear. Use several drops after swimming. Tilt your head and pull your earlobe to get the mixture into the ear canal. This will help cure swimmer's ear or prevent it from happening in the first place. See the caution warning below. These remedies can be mixed up in a clean eye dropper bottle. CAUTION: Consult with your doctor before using these remedies if you have ever punctured your eardrum or had ear surgery (including having tubes inserted). |
There is some stuff and I don't know what it's called, that dissolves ear wax so it can be flushed out. I remember it was some kind of kit with a squeeze bulb to flush out the gunk |
This is the best one. As a diver who is prone to these damn infections I can tell you that nothing works better. It also works best as a preventive measure, just rinse his ears out with this solution after he's done swimming and it will keep him from getting them in the first place. |
Murine ear wax removal. 
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If you are often having problems with this kind of stuff, you could always go crazy and buy this thing: www.diversdirect.com/item/Dry%20Ear%20-%20Sahara%20Ear%20Dryer_ID44702 |
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tip your head and shake a lot btw, i always thought swimmers ear was when it got infected. and for that, screw the doctor visit for their drops (unless it gets reallllly bad). i let it go once and it got kinda painful (lifeguard for 4 years) tip head to the side......drop in some hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and it dissolves everything, including earwax i believe. there were times i could push on my ear and it would just start to hurt.....i'd use the peroxide and kill it before it came a bigger problem. |
You're probably right that true swimmers ear is when you actually get a painful infection. My ears were just clogged with water/wax. I can't really shake my head because I have severe neck injury!  My husband kept trying to get me to do it too! Not going to take that risk but the alcohol worked perfectly, thankyou!
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| Rubbing alcohol will work, but they make a product ironically enough called Swim Ear that is better. Swim Ear is 95% isopropyl alcohol and 5% anhydrous glycerin. Alcohol by itself dries out your ears to much (unless you like scabs in your ears), but for a one time use is fine. I used to whitewater kayak every weekend and had problems with water getting trapped in my ears. Problem went away when I started using swim-ear immediately after getting out of the water each day. |