Sarah's Health Notes: a solution for temporary deafness

‘Well, that’s nice and simple,’ said the practice nurse at my NHS surgery cheerily.  My deafness was due, she said, to a big build up of dry wax in my ears. The solution was syringing - or irrigation as it’s called medically – to clear out the wax.

But actually there was another frustrating problem for me. Owing to NHS cuts and high demand, I couldn't get an appointment for seven weeks – and this was after three weeks of getting increasingly less able to hear, particularly if there was any background noise.

Planet Deafness takes you a long way away from normal living. In some ways, it was rather wonderfully peaceful, with traffic noise hardly impinging on my world at all. But the rest of it was stressful and curiously tiring. The hearing in my left ear, which had always been less acute since a childhood illness, went almost totally. There was a bit in my right ear but that diminished over the weeks.

My husband, who tends to speak softly into his chest (he’s tall), got used to me saying ‘Speak up!’ like some awful old great aunt. Colleagues and work contacts were kind but meetings became a bit of a nightmare. At meals with friends I told the people on either side of me, which elicited much sympathy and often confidences about peoples’ own struggles with hearing loss of different kinds. The prospect of Christmas parties and revelry was frankly a bit scary – especially because I also experienced problems with balance. They weren’t severe but I sometimes felt as if I might fall off the pavement.

So the notion of seven more weeks waiting to be liberated from this relatively minor but profoundly disabling condition was beastly. I didn't really know where to look for help privately – the GP surgery hadn’t suggested anything at all – but then I had a tremendous stroke of luck.

Waiting to go in for a dental hygiene session at RW Perio in Harley Street (fab by the way and I will report on that shortly), I saw a notice saying the Clear Ear Clinic was in the same building, one floor up. Just after 4.30pm I met Dr. Raul Garcia, an audiologist who had worked for the NHS as all the medical staff have.  We talked about the problem, I lay on the couch while he used (painless) microsuction to extract the wax and Abracadabra! about 15 minutes after I went in, I could hear again. The cost was £90 – and worth every penny. Visit clearearclinic.com for details.

The microsuction method is thought to be safer than syringing. The Clear Ear Clinic website says it’s also quicker, neater, generally better tolerated, more effective and doesn't need weeks of waiting for drops to soften the wax. (I had been using olive oil drops diligently twice daily for four days with little effect.)

Earwax is there to protect your ears from dirt and germs and usually falls out naturally. But build up is common, particularly as you get older because wax gets harder with age and it’s more difficult for it to fall out. (You can use an olive oil dropper to help with this; widely available at pharmacies.) However, talking to friends and family, I discovered there are plenty of younger people who suffer too. Some people naturally produce more wax; other causes include having narrow canals from the eardrum to the outer ear (my problem together with the age thing….grrr).

Anything you put in your ears, like earphones (both external and in ear), earplugs, hearing aids and anything else that pushes the wax further in, is a problem too. 

My take home message is this: if you suffer deafness for more than five days, consult a health professional. If the problem is a build up of earwax and you need it resolved quickly, consider private treatment. Do check the clinic is certified by the Care Quality Commission and run by qualified experienced staff that have worked in the NHS.