I have suffered for most of my life from this. I used to get my ears syringed at the GP surgery every 18 months or so. But now they tell me that they have stopped doing that - micro-suction is the NICE approved solution, but that's not available on the NHS. Now you have to go private, it's about £60 for one ear or £90 for both.
NHS: health care, free at the point of delivery - Ha!
I was about to mention micro-suction and thought I better check first to see if anyone else has mentioned it.
I need a wax-out maybe every three years or so . It's more than that now and I haven't had them done so far. One year, quite a long time ago, I went to the nurse at the surgery and she'd been told I was just coming for a check but I told her the appointment was for an ear syringe. and that I'd oiled my ears for the last couple of days in preparation. So, she did them but two days later I had awful ear ache in one of them which lasted quite a while. To cut a long story short ...ish....I saw a doctor about it. Nothing could be seen and I was given some oil prescription,I can't recall what. A couple of weeks later I was back to see the doctor. I was then sent to an ENT consultant. He checked and said he coudn't see anything. He sent me to an audiologist who said my hearing was fine but also said..and this bothered me... 'I think I know what's happened here but I'll leave it to Mr.....to tell you " He never did. I was then sent to see a consultant who specialises in the immune system. Can you believe it ??
I had blood tests. She couldn't find anything amiss. I then told her about how the nurse thought she was just going to take a look and if my ears needed doing I was to make another appointment so her time schedule was thrown off course and she sighed and I got the distinct impression, as she went about syringing my ears, that she was rushing and is it possible that bruising of the inner ear or more likely, the drum, had taken place. The consultant immediately said "Oh, yes" and that she de-waxes her father's ears and has to be careful that the syringe is at the correct angle otherwise damage to the inner ear can be caused. She was right when she said it would, over time, be ok.
The parting words of the ENT consultant was that putting water into the ear at pressure is not a good thing and next time have them done using micro-suction which I'd never heard of. So ,I did that the next time they needed doing and ,as you say, not on the NHS, I paid £160 at a private hospital to have both ears done. What annoyed me was that the Dr said one ear needed doing but the other wasn't too bad.
Could have saved myself £80.
Not really, best to get both done, whatever. You did well at £90 for both ears.
