Here's the situation. I have had some water trapped in my ear for a week or so. Got it from taking a shower I reckon and it's been driving me up the wall. I bought something called "Swim-EAR Ear Drying Aid" to relieve me from this annoyance. The non explicit directions are as follows: "Drop 4 to 5 drops in each affected ear" and that's it. I went on the internet to see if I could find some more application information and ran across this account by some dude named Durban Bud which hilariously describes my experience exactly.
Swimmer's Ear
I went to the beach a couple weekends ago. It was that weekend when I wore my lime green bathing suit. It was also the same weekend that Ira forced me to drink a lot without letting me have dinner. You know, when you go to happy hour at 6pm and then realize at 11pm that you probably should have eaten something because you begin to fall asleep while standing up? Yeah, that weekend. Anyway, while I was frolicking like a little kid in the water I got hit by a surprise wave. My ear got clogged. Most of the water came out but there was still a little left in it. And it's still in there.
It's not so bad that I can't hear out of the ear, it's just annoying cuz when I turn my head a certain way I can feel it. I decided to do something about it. I asked Encyclopedia Tos what the best remedy would be. He told me they have stuff for "Swimmer's Ear" that I can pick up at any CVS. He said it's basically alcohol and then proceeded to give me a demonstration on how alcohol and water interact with one another. Apparently, someone watched a lot of Bill Nye, The Science Guy when he was a wee lad.
I went to CVS and picked up something called Swim-EAR. I was so excited to get rid of this little annoyance. I get home and read the directions. Here they are: "Apply 4 to 5 drops in each affected ear." Okay, then what? Am I supposed to tilt my ear up so it soaks in? Am I supposed to tilt my ear down so it runs out? How long do I leave it in before I should move my head? Do I shake my head? Do I do the hokey-pokey? WTF DO I DO?!? I looked for one of those 800 numbers on the label to call for assistance. No such luck.
I decide to proceed along with their instructions, modified with some of mine. I tilt my head to the side and put 4-5 drops in my ear. I don't know how anyone is supposed to do this because you cannot see inside you ear cavity how many freakin' drops you are putting in. Instead, I start "listening" for 4-5 drops. I think I have put 4 or 5 drops in but I may have put in 7, or 3 or even 12. I don't know because I can't see in there!
I let it soak in. I tilt my head back up and a bunch of the alcohol fluid drips out of my ear. That's not good. I tilt my head back. I let it soak in some more. I tilt my head back up. I can't hear out of the ear anymore. I shake my head about. I tilt my ear down trying to get the fluid to drain out. Still can't hear. I stick my finger in and try to pull out the fluid. Nothing. I can't hear out of my freakin' ear anymore! Now I have salt water AND alcohol stuck in my ear. My problem has been exacerbated. I can't hear and I now speak like Marlee Matlin. Thanks Swim-EAR! If anyone has any other suggestions, do let me know.
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Occasional musings and sometimes rantings on stuff that interests me.
68 comments:
Thanks for the thought, interesting... i agree.
the same exact thing just happened to me today. :(
Yep me too! Slight relief, but not much! I am sure they could have squeezed another sentence into the directions part. I mean really!
The directions are a bit lacking. Here is what I do and I have great success with it every time:
1) Tilt your head to the side.
2) With the ear that is pointing up put drops in that ear until sound is muffled. (The number of drops changes but you will know it when happens)
3) Take one of your hands and gently tug the top of that ear back and forth to help swim ear work its way down.
4) After 30 seconds of gentle tugging tilt your ear to the side and let the ear drops drain out. I put a kleenex over my ear to catch the liquid
Repeat on the other side. The alcohol remaining in your ear helps evaporate the residual water in the ear canal. I do this every time I swim, and it works like a charm for me! I hope that helps!
Best Wishes,
-Brian
LMAO! Yes I am using the product now and I was like WTF wheres the rest of the directions. Am I suppose to use it for two days...three days...for the rest of my life? Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one.
I was searching the web for more directions for this product and came across your hilarious blog post. Thanks for making me laugh - I have been through all that today as well!
Yep. You guessed it. I, too, am looking for elusive directions to this seemingly popular product and stumbled on your blog. I'm glad I'm not alone... but now I have the same problem you've encountered!
This is exactly what happened me, except i got an excessive pain when i put it in... any ideas?
This is too funny..my husband and I just bought this product got home and got my head bit off when I put the drops in his ear(which caused him pain as well). When he asked me what he was supposed to do after the drops were in I reread the "detailed" directions. He asked me to google some directions and we came across this blog. Needless to say he went from annoyed to laughing after reading this. THANKS!
Unfortunately I am a victim of this annoying fate. Maybe, I should write to the makers of Swim-Ear with my complaint and just title it "My Complaint", then at the bottom put I demand an answer and have them try an figure out what my complaint is. This way they'll know how it feels....Although, this blog made me laugh (thank you) I am still sitting here deaf in one ear...However, there is a one upside....What's that honey? I can't hear you...LOL!
This is too perfect! I am sitting here deaf in my left ear reading this - thank goodness before I tried putting these things in my right ear - too funny..I decided to google some directions prior to trying the other ear and came across this blog. Hopefully the suggestion above works, I'm going to try. Someone should probably write CVS. THANKS!
This makes me laugh. I am having the same problem! This item sucks!
Sitting here with a clogged ear too....just put the drops in and nothing happened......this box definitely needs more directions...the article made me crack up though. So true.
Sitting here debating about whether the loss of hearing is worth getting rid of this stupid swimmers ear grrrrrrr laughing at this while making our decision.................
LOL, we all have this problem if only SWIM EAR could read this :)
I'm looking too!!!!!!! Lol.
Wow.. spot on.
I just dropped a few drops in and my left ear is deaf. Ridiculous.
Let me try the method posted above and hopefully that should work.
Very nice to know Im not the only one
f-ing hilarious!! reading this with a deaf left ear as well. thanks for a good laugh
tried the above instructions and still deaf best of luck to all of u this is terrible and i feel ur pain about to take one of those wierd ball baster things wiht some luke warm water and "douche" my ear maybe i wont lose hearing all together.... ffffffuuuuuu water
ROTFLMAO.....
Please someone put the link to this blog on Swim Ear packaging.
This post is great!! Good to know im not retarded trying to use this product!
This is the funniest thing I've read in a while! ROFL..My ears have been plugged for a month, seriously. I kept flipping the freaking box over and over looking for more directions and checking inside to see if there was a pamphlet. hope the rest of you have better luck fixing your ears. Great laugh for tonight, thanks!
My ear too has been blocked ! Have had exactly same problem ! Now the drops are in , my ear feels funny and not hearing as well . I too looked for more instructions and came across this .
Great post!
Unfortunately I too applied Swim-ear on my clogged ear just to find out it burns and makes it worst!
I don't want to be deaf from my right ear for the rest of my life :(
Check out this fantastic FAQ from the company that makes Swin-EAR. Very informative :-|...
http://www.co-pharma.co.uk/faq_SE.html
**Swim-EAR
Sitting here on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii with a plugged left ear. I have to say I woke up pissed off with this water in the ear thing going on and not sleeping that well last night. Went to the local Swim-Ear store and had to look for some help as well. Long and the short of it is...my ear is no better but had a great laugh and am in a better mood. I guess it's true....misery loves company.
Great post. Yet another person here who was searching for more information and came across this.
My ears have been taking on water in the shower recently and I've been having trouble getting it out. It's worse in my left ear, so I try to sleep on that side, but most of the time, it seems almost none of it comes out after a whole night of sleep. Occasionally I'll start to feel a little bit of it seeping back out, but it never seems to dry out completely. I have no problems hearing most of the time, so it's not a lot of water, but I can definitely feel it and it's annoying and sometimes uncomfortable. My ear had been rather bothersome earlier today so I broke down and bought some Rite Aid brand drops. I intended to buy a vacuum but they didn't have any.
I sort of filled my ear up with the stuff as I couldn't count the drops and laid for a few minutes, massaging my ear to try to get the liquid to soak in. I couldn't feel any of it enter my ear the way that water seems to. After a while, I got up and started to straighten my head and could feel it coming back out. Standing up, there was a good amount dripping out of my ear; I'm thinking I used more than 5 drops, but whatever.
I then had the idea to grab a hair dryer and try to dry my ear with it facing the ground. After several minutes, my ear felt dry! However, I think the heat of the dryer was masking the liquid, because as my ear cooled off, the liquid sensation definitely returned. This stuff doesn't seem to evaporate as easily as I thought it would.
I can't tell for sure, but sitting here about 15 minutes later, it sure feels like there's still drying agent in my ear, but maybe less water. One part of the very limited instructions definitely stands out: it says to use the product after the ears have been exposed to water. I know I've had more success shaking water out of my ear when my ear was wet than when it was dry. I had applied these drops to a dry ear, so I'm thinking that might make it less effective. I'm going to give these drops a shot as soon as I get out of the shower tomorrow morning to see if that makes a difference.
If it doesn't help, then I'm going to buy a wax removal kit. I'm a habitual Q-tip user so I think it's quite possible my water problem is caused by impacted wax inside my ear canal.
Okay, follow-up:
Wow, about an hour later, my ear feels dry! Perhaps it actually worked!
I still think I'm getting a kit though.
You are hilarious!!!! Stole the words right out of my mouth!!!! Your blog post is the only place with any info. Thanks everyone, you just saved me a lot of trouble!!! I'm still laughing.....
Used this product and the same thing happened, like everyone else and I'm practically deaf from my left ear. Thanks swim-ear, I'm just hoping this will come out so i could hear again, it's so uncomfortable
how often do u do it?
First of all this is a hysterical post. Thanks for the laughs!!
I too have a plugged left ear. How strange we're all "lefties". I also was cruising the internet looking for better instructions on usage. I just want to know how often to use it. My dr confirmed today I have an ear infection, but since I don't have insurance he recommended this product. On my way to work I picked them up and put them in, in the parking lot of CVS. It tingled and burned a little and did make me "more deaf" for an hour or 2 BUT then...things started to improve. Now 6 hours later it's definitely improving. The pressure is nearly gone and my hearing is improving. I'd guess I'm half plugged now. Guesstimating ur amount of being plugged is as tough as counting 5 drops going in by urself!!
amazing that three years after that very funny blog, cvs has still not added anything to the instructions. And i still don't know if I'm supposed to put the stuff in more than once and how do you count the drops?
I have encountered the same problem and to no luck this product has failed me! Only reason I purchased swim ear is because i am at a resort and have no other alternatives. HOWEVER when this has happened to me, Sudafed Decongestant (the extra strength Pseudoephedrine HCI 240 mg) work
I get swimmers ear a lot and this always works for me! After a day of taking it loosens up the clogged ear, i stick a qtip in and it becomes clear!!
Not sure if other people use decongestants but its worth a try
Lol omg..I even rip the box open..laid it out flat and read it from left to right to make sure I was not missing some instructions. .wft is right..ok so 4 or 5 drops ..every hour? Every day ? . And if this product dont work within x amount of days seek medical attention? Hello..any body home?
I too have the same problem. . Let's start a club lol
Wow so i read the article then the comments and some one said wait a hour and it should be better the clogged part i mean ive been waiting and a houre later it is still clogged it fills better but still clogged
P.s its 4am so im extreamly tired but i cant go to sleep because it hurts so bad
Swimmer's ear can be very painful especially for children. We should have to take proper corrective measure before it will get worse. One more thing you can do is to use diving earplugs to prevent swimmer's ear. After all "Prevention is better than cure".
Wtf. Pepper in my ear this stuff burns so bad. It might help tho. Not sure if it will happen b4 or after I pass out from the burning pain. Horrible product direction. Also wtf is up with all our left ears getting this? Lmao.
Just used this product for the first time. Didn't do much 4 hours later. Let me uncomplicate the real difficult "number of drops" situation. Lay on your side, put the bottle 1/2" from your ear and use a mirror to watch/count the drops. Complicated.
the alocohol drops could cause earwax in your ear to swell up and make it clogged. Go to the doctor and get your wax removed, and your ear should be feeling a lot better
Thank you for the laugh. You expressed my thoughts and what happened to me exactly!!!! After a while i was able to hear again and im hoping a few more doses will help. Of course i have no idea when i am supposed to use it again. Lol
Here we are 7 yrs later and the product still has the same crap-tastic instructions. And it is really odd everyone is having this issue with their left ear, which i am also here wi th. This is still the only thing that came up with any kind of information.....wow
how many times a day do I use this?
Add another left ear to the account.
Here we are several years later and I am saying the same thing, how many times can I repeat the drops, when do I seek medical attention if I do not get relief, am I even using them correctly... Ooohhh well.. good to know we can laugh together in this ridiculous world;)
Just Googled swimmers ear for my left ear of course. I'm running away from CVS as fast as possible. Thanks for the email address sales@stridesshasun.co.uk. I'm adding to what is apparently 7 years of feedback on deaf ears. They must be using their product!
Thanks for the laugh! I did a search because I'm using this for my teens ears after swimming several days in a row. The lack of full instructions is frustrating at best. FYI though, I purchased it at Wal-Mart so this is not a CVS exclusive product. It's made by E. FOUGERA & CO so maybe they will catch these posts and someday update the directions. I think we are going with applying drops, leaving the head tilted for 10 minutes and using three times a day for 48 hours. If she doesn't get relief by then, we will check out other treatments. Thanks again for the good laugh!!!
This website is exactly what I needed. LEFT EAR has been jammed up for going on 2 days now and I'm growing tired of it! I went to Wal-Mart to try these bad boys out and experienced the same thing most of you did. Where the hell are the instructions?!?! It looked as if you could peel back the bottle's label for more specified instructions but no, that would actually make sense. I put 5 drops in about 45 minutes ago and other than some initial popping I haven't noticed any relief. On the bright side I do feel better about myself after stumbling upon this site realizing I am not the only one wondering WTH do I do with this stuff other than toss a few drops in your ear and...
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Hilarious...as I read with one deaf ear! At the link below are the best set of instructions Ive read so far. Not sure how effective they are but they seem sound and logical, so I'm going to give it a try. Hope it helps all of you one-eared water lovers!
https://www.verywell.com/how-to-use-ear-drops-correctly-1192039
Thanks for the post. it will be great for water lovers
Ear Plugs for Swimming
Dunked my head underwater. Felt like Frustrated after trying every home remedy found online for 2 days, then after using Swim-Ear what I thought was bad became worse. My ER nurse practitioner sister said it had not likely become an infection bc the pain was not instant on the tragus (Google it). She didn't see signs of irritation after looking into my ear canal She recommended vigorously irrigating my ear canal. The thought of more water being shoved in my ear was scary however, i was desperate. After several syringes full- an astonishing large chunk of hard wax popped out. Gross yet very satisfying! Turns out, water was trapped behind the wax. Not sure if this product made it worse. But when I submerged my ear under water it dislodged the wax, then it settled back in against the tympanic membrane which caused some pain.
It is now 2017, and I too sat with the box and bottle reading and rereading, pealing labels, and tearing apart a box looking for more than put"4-5 drops in the ear..." AND THEN...NOTHING. So...I used directions from a home remedy concoction I had put together and as of yet, I have had no relief. But I'm going to wait a bit and pray that in a few hours things will improve, like a few others have said. Although it is my right ear causing my issues, I thank you all for making me feel less intelligent than I did after reading,then re-reading all 4 words,peeling blank labels, ripping boxes to shreds after snacking n searching the inside for a directions pamphlet...only to find out I should apparently just "know" what to do next...like the next step after dropping 4,5 or 23 drops into my ear,and should I keep them in, n for how long, how many times and for how long b4 giving up and going to doctor or maybe a psychic with a crystal ball could point me in the correct direction. Anyway thanks for lighting this yucky situation for a bit, cause as others have said, this is a really annoying, painful, irritating and this being my first experience with anything like this, it's frustrating and kinda scary,dealing with an unknown. I'll post back if anything changes today or soon, thanks
After reading all these comments and having gone through trying to help my wife with "water in the ear" I thought I would mention her case. While swimming in the ocean last December, she got water in her ear and had the same plugged & deaf sensation many reported. The was no pain and eventually it seemed to clear up. Then a month later (3000 miles and 40 degrees away from swimming) she suddenly noticed the deafness again. Went to the doctor and had a ton of wax removed.
The water can make the wax expand a bit and make a plug, trapping the water in along with its cesspool of bacteria. The Swim-Ear might help dry up the water around the wax, but it can't do anything about the stuff behind the wax plug. Trying to remove the wax plug is just as likely to shove it in farther and make a better seal.
The alcohol in the drops should mix with the water very quickly. You can help by "mixing" it a bit - I find a chewing and sideways jaw movement helps). Then let the drops drain out. If you still have a plugged sensation, then you may have a wax plug or an infection, both of which will need a doctor's attention.
I am putting the ear drops in my ear letting it soak in for 3-5 minutes as directed as inserting a piece of toilet by the ear so the ear drops don't run out ..now afterwards this is done do I lay on the bad ear n let everything drain out ? Or do I lay on the good ear... I'm nervous n theres no directions
I also suffer from left-ear syndrome...
I grew up on the beach an have used swimmers ear all my life. What I do is lay on my side, fill the bad ear up, wait 4 minutes, then sit up with a tissue over the ear. No need to lay on the opposite side, the alcohol should already be doing it's job. I wouldn't recommend doing it more than once a day, and if it doesn't clear up in a few days, it may call for a doctors visit to see if anything else is going on.
Okay so, today I just got swimmers ear in my left ear and took this ear drop, only to make it worse. Ugh. It's throbbing and the pain is definetly increasing. It's clogged now and I can't hear as well… any suggestions?? Thanks
So now is 2018... I'm here laughing with my husband and also really annoyed by this damn product and ear lol
I just put the damn drops in, waited a little and got up. Some of the liquid came out but now it feels weird in there and I just want the water and liquid out. It doesn't hurt but it sure is annoying. Is this going to get better soon? I don't want to pay $1000 just to get a damn check up
this stuff is useless
I'm so glad I'm not the only my one! Ear pain, left ear, liquid in ear, can't hEAR! Haha!
It has been said, but I just gotta say thanks. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. TFF.
Too G&@*< Funny. Really too funny. I laughed so hard the water in my ear squirted out and hit the Mrror;)
Thank you.
Jim
This is so funny!! I'm in the same sitation, with 4? 5? 12? drops in my left ear, waiting for something to happen and for the sting to go away. Thought maybe the box was a misprint and the detailed directions had been left off, but apparently not! Good luck everyone!
I'm another one. Directions are TERRIBLE. A friend recommended the drops and said she uses them after swimming. I also know you should not use them if you have an eas infection (swimmers ear). I'm waiting for the little sweat ball to leave my ear. Tickle, slosh. Kind of like a pie recipe that says make the pie and put it in the oven.
*ear
Yep you guessed it.. another guy looking for instructions on this damn product... we should start a class action because of the lack of directions i now am partially deaf and am frightened to take any otc medicine ever again... lmk
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