mooncobra
Well-known member
So, I woke this morning, and the hearing in my left ear was way off, everything sounded muffled and I could barely hear. So, as a musician, I start to freak out. I waited until my doctors office opened, called and scheduled an emergency appointment. I went in at 830, and told this physicians assistant what is happening, that for some awful reason, I am going deaf!! Will I get used to playing guitar with one ear, will the good ear go bad soon also??
So she tells me to lean over. She starts to look in my ear. I am asking her if she can see anything, did some sort of insect crawl into my ear over night?!?!?(I remember hearing EVH woke with a beatle lodged in his ear in south America!!) She informs me that there is no insect. So now, I realize there is no blockage, and I am FUCKED!!! She tells me to wait, and comes back with a terrifying contraption. She hooks it up to the sink in the room, and then hits a switch and the motor came humming to life. It appeared to be some sort of drill, with water to wash away what is being drilled.
She tells me something, but between my hearing loss and the roar of this machines engine, I cant hear her. She said something else, until finally she came around to my good ear and told me, "lean over and stop screaming, you don't realize it, but you are shouting!" "Ahhh, ok, but what is that thing?" It can be used as a high pressure water blaster, she said. Then informed that it is probably going to be uncomfortable and painful. So, she hits another switch, and the force of the water shooting out of this thing is so strong, it threw her arms back and she could barely hold on to it, let alone AIM IT INTO MY EAR!!!!! I said, "wait, wait, hold off, you are not using that on me, NO WAY!!! So, I go out and start wandering searching for my doctor. I find him, and tell him I need his help. He said, "Mike, what's going on, I am in the middle of seeing a patient?" I told him what is happening, and he said, "hey, you have to stop screaming." So he comes in the room, looks down and says, "why is the pressure washer in here?" I told him she was going to blast my ear with it. he laughed and said, "no way, that was probably left in here for something, that would tear skin from your body." I said, "ask her!!!" She said she thought it was something called maybe an ear irrigator? The doctor comes back with something that looks like a turkey baster hooked up to a pump. He said this is what you were looking for. I couldn't believe it, she would have torn my head apart.
So, he makes her go see the other patient and apologizes. He starts this thing up, and its pretty quiet compared to the other. I lean over and he starts blasting away, and it was a really strange feeling. So after a couple minutes, my hearing comes back, and even better than before, and the clarity was just incredible. Now I realize that my left ear has much better hearing than my right ear. I told him this, and he says, "turn around, lets see your other ear." He turns the machine on once again, and this time after only a minute, my hearing is much better, and the clarity was incredible. I am sitting there, and my hearing was so good, I felt as if I was hearing properly for the first time.
Anyhow, he tells me when people get older (I am 41 now,, getting pretty old), earwax starts to build up slowly, and when you use q-tips, sometimes you push microscopic amounts deeper in your ear canal. Apparently, as you get older your body produces more ear wax than it used to. So, over the last 6 months, I started thinking there might be something wrong with my amp, I have been turning the volume up, sitting right in front of a 4 x 12, and messing with the eq thinking, "man, my amp must have something wrong with it, it used to sound so good???" It turns out my ears has been slowly building up earwax over years at this point, very slowly, and sometime during the night, maybe due to gravity or something, in my left ear, the ear wax bridged the tiny gap that was left and blocked my ear canal completely. It was like I had an ear plug in. I felt so much better about my hearing, and especially my amp. I fired it up when I got home and it sounded great. I was so thankful to have good hearing again. People had been telling me to pay attention, I was always saying, "what," or ,"huh, what did you say?" I just chalked it up to old age.
So, if things sound dull, or even off, that could be it. he told me many of his patients go in there two or three times a year to have the ear wax blasted out of their ears. The difference in hearing was night and day. When I went into the office, I thought my right ear was fine, hearing was good, no problems. but man, what a difference. I know, ear wax is kind of gross, but I thought I would mention it because I started thinking my amp was not working properly. Guitar sounds so good to me now. It crazy, I actually feel like I have enhanced hearing because my ears have probably been close to being clogged for a long time, he said this takes years to happen. It like a whole new world of sound, audio, and magnificent music. Glorious!! Plus, I am very happy the physicians assistant didn't blast me with the pressure washer. who knows what that would have done.
get your ears checked if you are experiencing anything off at all!! I have been experiencing this for months at this point and just wrote it off as old age!! I use q tips every day like everyone else, you have to be careful how you use them. Turns out I have always gone too deep with q tips. And I was pushing in a tiny bit every time, and that mixed with men making more ear wax as they get older clogged them up. So, I figure I will go in once in a while for the ear blast to make sure. I have got to say, having crystal clear hearing back is nothing short of magnificent.
So she tells me to lean over. She starts to look in my ear. I am asking her if she can see anything, did some sort of insect crawl into my ear over night?!?!?(I remember hearing EVH woke with a beatle lodged in his ear in south America!!) She informs me that there is no insect. So now, I realize there is no blockage, and I am FUCKED!!! She tells me to wait, and comes back with a terrifying contraption. She hooks it up to the sink in the room, and then hits a switch and the motor came humming to life. It appeared to be some sort of drill, with water to wash away what is being drilled.
She tells me something, but between my hearing loss and the roar of this machines engine, I cant hear her. She said something else, until finally she came around to my good ear and told me, "lean over and stop screaming, you don't realize it, but you are shouting!" "Ahhh, ok, but what is that thing?" It can be used as a high pressure water blaster, she said. Then informed that it is probably going to be uncomfortable and painful. So, she hits another switch, and the force of the water shooting out of this thing is so strong, it threw her arms back and she could barely hold on to it, let alone AIM IT INTO MY EAR!!!!! I said, "wait, wait, hold off, you are not using that on me, NO WAY!!! So, I go out and start wandering searching for my doctor. I find him, and tell him I need his help. He said, "Mike, what's going on, I am in the middle of seeing a patient?" I told him what is happening, and he said, "hey, you have to stop screaming." So he comes in the room, looks down and says, "why is the pressure washer in here?" I told him she was going to blast my ear with it. he laughed and said, "no way, that was probably left in here for something, that would tear skin from your body." I said, "ask her!!!" She said she thought it was something called maybe an ear irrigator? The doctor comes back with something that looks like a turkey baster hooked up to a pump. He said this is what you were looking for. I couldn't believe it, she would have torn my head apart.
So, he makes her go see the other patient and apologizes. He starts this thing up, and its pretty quiet compared to the other. I lean over and he starts blasting away, and it was a really strange feeling. So after a couple minutes, my hearing comes back, and even better than before, and the clarity was just incredible. Now I realize that my left ear has much better hearing than my right ear. I told him this, and he says, "turn around, lets see your other ear." He turns the machine on once again, and this time after only a minute, my hearing is much better, and the clarity was incredible. I am sitting there, and my hearing was so good, I felt as if I was hearing properly for the first time.
Anyhow, he tells me when people get older (I am 41 now,, getting pretty old), earwax starts to build up slowly, and when you use q-tips, sometimes you push microscopic amounts deeper in your ear canal. Apparently, as you get older your body produces more ear wax than it used to. So, over the last 6 months, I started thinking there might be something wrong with my amp, I have been turning the volume up, sitting right in front of a 4 x 12, and messing with the eq thinking, "man, my amp must have something wrong with it, it used to sound so good???" It turns out my ears has been slowly building up earwax over years at this point, very slowly, and sometime during the night, maybe due to gravity or something, in my left ear, the ear wax bridged the tiny gap that was left and blocked my ear canal completely. It was like I had an ear plug in. I felt so much better about my hearing, and especially my amp. I fired it up when I got home and it sounded great. I was so thankful to have good hearing again. People had been telling me to pay attention, I was always saying, "what," or ,"huh, what did you say?" I just chalked it up to old age.
So, if things sound dull, or even off, that could be it. he told me many of his patients go in there two or three times a year to have the ear wax blasted out of their ears. The difference in hearing was night and day. When I went into the office, I thought my right ear was fine, hearing was good, no problems. but man, what a difference. I know, ear wax is kind of gross, but I thought I would mention it because I started thinking my amp was not working properly. Guitar sounds so good to me now. It crazy, I actually feel like I have enhanced hearing because my ears have probably been close to being clogged for a long time, he said this takes years to happen. It like a whole new world of sound, audio, and magnificent music. Glorious!! Plus, I am very happy the physicians assistant didn't blast me with the pressure washer. who knows what that would have done.
get your ears checked if you are experiencing anything off at all!! I have been experiencing this for months at this point and just wrote it off as old age!! I use q tips every day like everyone else, you have to be careful how you use them. Turns out I have always gone too deep with q tips. And I was pushing in a tiny bit every time, and that mixed with men making more ear wax as they get older clogged them up. So, I figure I will go in once in a while for the ear blast to make sure. I have got to say, having crystal clear hearing back is nothing short of magnificent.
