Oh my goodness…I never knew that having a blocked ear, complete with throbbing pain, could be so debilitating!

Sore-Ear

But let me start from the beginning…I have the unfortunate affliction of getting very itchy ears, and early last week, I made the mistake of scratching in my right ear…which quickly caused the ear canal to swell up.

I wasn’t surprised as I have done this far too many times before, and usually it settles down without issue…but not this time.

My hearing deteriorated and I started to get a throbbing ear ache.

So we had our first trip to the chemist to get some drops…which helped for the first dose, then my ear totally blocked when I put the second dose in…great…now I could hear hardly anything!

Now if we had been at home, this wouldn’t have been a drama, but we were away in Sydney and had to fly home in a couple of days.

I rang a local Newtown clinic, and a kindly doctor saw me despite being booked out….a very big thank you to Church Street Medical Practice and Dr Dhar!

However, he wasn’t able to clear my ear with syringing…I think more water ended up on the floor and on me then in my ear, but I gave him 10 out of 10 for trying!

He advised us to not fly and consider driving home…and to get some wax softening drops from the chemist…so we had trip two to a chemist.

Tried the drops…no luck…ear still completely and utterly blocked.

It was a weird experience being totally deaf on one side…luckily I am able to lip read, but I got a first hand experience on what it is like to have little hearing.

And I have to say, I hated missing out on what people were saying…I drove my husband mad as I had to get him to repeat everything, and he said I was talking too soft so he couldn’t hear what I was saying…a great pair we were!

Anyway, back to the saga…we checked up on how much it would cost to drive the hire car home…it was sky high!

Then we checked if we could change our flights…also ran into extra costs because of the fare we were on.

To cut a long story short….I wrote about our journey home a couple of days ago…I braved the flight and made it with no further issues.

However yesterday, I was in a whole world of miserable and hurt…we tried everything…a third trip to a chemist meant drops, olive oil, hydrogen peroxide, syringing…nothing cleared it.

I felt like I had a marble stuck in my ear, and although not life threatening by any means, I have to say it was the most uncomfortable I have ever felt…nothing relieved it.

In desperation, I got onto the internet and found Crystal Clear Ear Clinics ( a totally random find so not sponsored in any way!)…and online booking service showed that there was an appointment for this morning available.

So I booked it…and counted down the minutes till 11.30am…it was a very long night.

I arrived at the clinic 15 mins before my appointment as requested, and I have to say it was the friendliest clinic I have ever been to!

I was made welcome from the moment I walked in, and was then seen promptly by Tanya, who explained the process to me.

This clinic doesn’t use the water method…they use suction to get rid of the wax.

She first checked my good ear and gave that a quick clean out which was fine, then she got to work on my blocked ear…and it sure did need a bit of work!

I won’t say it was a pleasant experience as it took quite a bit of prodding and suction to get it all out, but the relief was amazing when it finally cleared!

And no wonder it wasn’t coming out with all our effects yesterday…it was packed in hard, and apparently I also have a crooked ear canal which wasn’t helping!

I now still have a rather sore ear as the ear canal is quite inflamed, but I can hear!! And I don’t feel like I have a marble stuck in my ear!

It is likely I might get an infection, but hopefully I can avoid any further issue by making sure my ear is dried out…and no more scratching!

So the moral of the story is look after your ears people!

If you find your hearing isn’t quite what is should be, get your ears checked BEFORE it gets to the stage I was at…it is very annoying for everyone around you to have to keep repeating what they say because you can’t hear…I was annoyed for having to keep asking!

And if you do need your ears cleaned out, I can highly recommend the Crystal Clear Ear Clinic…I can’t thank Tanya enough for restoring my sanity today!

For more information on the Crystal Clear Ear Clinics…click here!

Please note: this is not a sponsored post! My opinions are, as always, totally my own!