Qigong Gorilla important ear maintenance tips:
(see 2 previous blog articles on my painful video documented experience with extreme ear wax built up over decades, for reason why you need to follow these maintenance tips)
1. otoscope is 30$, a great investment. You can look in your ear or any other hard to reach/see body part and see what's going on once a month, or at least a few times a year and monitor the situation.
2. debrox ear drops work well in breaking down wax. A tip from a pro that I used: instead of 15 min in ear, go for 30min, lie down on your side with a towel under head to catch spillover, and massage your ear area and make chewing motions with your mouth to really squeeze and work the ear canal from many angles, to make a little space for the ear drop to drip down the canal in serious cases where the wax is completely blocking the canal.
3. the reason the debrox drops say to stop using after 4 days, is because ear wax is a good thing that protects you, you want to keep a layer. The body naturally pushes out ear wax. If you meditate, you can feel it pushing, feels like any other bodily pushing like burping, farting, extreting feces, etc. I've had big chunks of earwax pop out during meditation before, or even just walking around shopping.
4. The reason you want to keep on top of the situation with wax buildup, the reason that I had to see a doctor, was because it was so clogged with ancient hard wax, thaat when I applied ear drops, the old dry wax absorbed the drops, expanding in size, and causing serious ear pain pushing on the canal due to the expansion.
5. Never use qtips, they just pack in the wax deeper where you can't get it out easily. You want to use qtips because you're ears itch and you think the wax is causing it. It's not from the wax. after removing all the wax, the ears still itch. Instead of using qtips and scopps, just using a towel or tissue to wipe down only as deep as your finger goes into your ear.
6. Don't use ear wax candles, they don't work. I've tried a few times over the years, and although it produces something that looks like ear wax, it didn't improve my hearing. I distrust western medical practices as much as anyone, but in this area with ear wax, debrox ear wax drops and water flushing has been working for decades very well. And for more serious cases, ear and nose specialists have special equipment for wax removal painlessly. Unlike my first experience as a child with serious ear wax buildup, the doctor used a metal scooping device that hurt like hell, scratched up my ear and needed antibiotics, and traumatized me and scared me off from dealing with ear wax buildup.
Summary:
1. use otoscope regularly to check situation
2. no qtips and scoops, just clean ear with towel or tissue and fingers. let ear push things out - it will if the wax is not too hard and dry.
3. if you tend to make hard dry wax, then occasionally add 1 or 2 drops of mineral oil to keep things soft and excretable by the ear. Debrox ear drops only if buildup is severe.
4. if you follow first 3 steps, then you should never get to this step. Seeing a doctor. The doctor, nurse, or medical assistant should not do anything to cause you pain. If they do, they're not doing their job properly. Ask for referral to ear and nose specialist or get a different doctor. If they know what they're doing, debrox ear drops and water flushing will fix most people.
