Olive Oil For Earwax

[mandimoo]

My 3 year old has terrible earache. Saw gp this morning and he prescribed olive oil drops & alternating ibuprofen with paracetamol, giving a dose every 3 hours. He says one ear (the painful one) is completely full of wax and he can't see the drum. The other drum has a slight bulge, but doesn't seem to be bothering her. Poor mite can't last between doses of pain relief and is wailing (intermittently) in pain. On the eardrops it says 2 drops, once a day. Is there any harm in me trying to speed up the clearing out of wax and giving her 2 doses of ear drops today.

[Old_Geezer]

No expert but a) I don't see what harm it would do b) I'm unsure it will work any faster. But hey, give it a shot. Also comforting to see mum trying her best to make things right.

[Sqad]

Agree with O_G.

[retrocop]

I don't know if sqad would agree but would the olive oil have more efficacy if it was slightly warmed as well.?

[Lie-in King]

When I had earache as a child, my mum used to warm the oil then drip it in as often as she thought it was needed

[Old_Geezer]

It's there to soften the earwax so I'd expect slightly warm would help. I thought that was the normal way it was used.

[Cloverjo]

Do you have an appointment for syringing? At my local practise it can be six weeks' wait. I used a syringe from Amazon for a couple of quid after using olive oil to soften the wax.
You can't do any harm by using the oil more often.

[Sammy48]

Poor baby. Have you got a hot water bottle that you could put a tea towel round it and place it on the affected ear. I agree with others, warm the olive oil.
I wonder if the ear is infected behind the wax to cause that much pain.

[Sqad]

All excellent and sensible answers.

Warming the oil would not speed up the wax melting but would give comfort from the pain.

Cloverjo is absolutely correct......do it yourself.

Today, so much a "song and dance" is made of ear syringing........it is not as dangerous as it is made out to be.

[mandimoo]

Thanks all, I will use as needed. She's practically begging me to 'use the drops, pleeeeease mummy' so it must be providing some comfort. I've never seen her in so much pain, it's awful. Will look into DIY syringing. Praying she doesn't wake before 10pm as unable to give more pain relief till then.

[Sqad]

mandimoo...DON'T syringe the painful ear.

[DTCwordfan]

take handwash cloths and soak them in hot water to the point that he can bear it - the heat helps loosen the wax and make it less viscous, especially any in the Eustachian, and hopefully some flows out.....

this was a tip that I got from a KLM stewardess when I flew from Amsterdam to Aberdeen and back the same day with a stinking cold, one ear blocked for ninety minutes after landing, the other nearly four hours - and I had the return flight to undergo.

[Sqad]

\\\\ the heat helps loosen the wax and make it less viscous, especially any in the Eustachian,\\

Didn't know that wax could get into the Eustachian Tube.
One learns something new every day.

[furrypusscat]

As suggested, I would place a warm, not hot, hot water bottle wrapped in a soft towel on the affected ear, it may give some comfort especially if used as a pillow, hence my suggestion warm not hot.

[DTCwordfan]

congealed snot, Sqad.....

[Sqad]

Ah! DTC....right.

[DTCwordfan]

luvverly when it comes out on the fingernail - yum.

[237SJ]

That`s a myth DT

[Hopkirk]

I'm ex cabin crew.

We used to put a load of tissue into a plastic cup, and pour in a bit of boiling water.
We then put another plastic cup in and squeezed the excess water out, then took the second cup out.

You end up with a cup with hot very moist air which you can hold over the ear.

You MUST make sure there is no chance of scalding water running out when it is held up to the ear.

[237SJ]

We used to do that as well Hopkirk (about 15+ years ago). Until the company health services told us not to. Apparently, holding a damp, warm cup full of tissues near to the ear is asking for bacteria to multiply and cause ear infections.

[atalanta]

I used to be able to grow my little fingernail really long and then pull out a whole tube of earwax. Then I went abroad and caught "swimming-pool ear" which meant that my ear wax has been runny instead of solid ever since. Much easier to deal with.
But I can't help wondering if the child has an abscess under all that wax. I have had many, and the pain is excruciating. If mine were not treated with penicillin, the abcesses would burst with even more pain.
Sorry for the "yuck" !!