Ear syringing should become a routine requirement after diagnosis of AD

Lynnpin

Registered User
Aug 11, 2011
32
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Tyneside
I know this sounds daft but my mother is deaf and refuses to wear her hearing aids but I consider she is doubly deaf because she suffers from excessive ear wax.

She has noticeably deteriorated in the last 12 months since I tried to get her ears syringed by the nurse at her local surgery. They are totally against ear syringing there and do their utmost to put people off by making them use oil drops for 3 or 4 weeks before they will entertain doing anything. This is bad enough for ordinary folk but they don't seem to understand the implications of getting someone with AD to go through that 2 or 3 times a day for 3 or 4 weeks!

My mother only lasts a few days before getting annoyed with it all, and of course it makes you deafer when you start putting oil in, then of course she forgets she's deaf anyway and can't understand why she needs it done!

I'm convinced this is why she's started talking to herself and arguing with her imaginary scenarios all the time since then as the only person she can really hear is herself.
 

Raggedrobin

Registered User
Jan 20, 2014
1,425
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Very tricky. i think there is a danger of damaging the ear if the wax isn't softened first, that's the problem. But usually a few days oiling should be sufficient?

I think getting ears checked for wax needs to be a regular thing for dementia patients who tend to get ear trouble. My mum only knew she had hearing trouble from wax when she went in with a faulty hearing aid and there was nothing wrong with it, it was her ears that were bunged up. sadly one of the reasons I didn't pick up on her dementia earlier was that when I last visited, she said she was waiting to have her ears syringed, so I thought a lot of her inability to converse sensibly was due to ear wax, when in fact a lot of her misunderstanding was dementia.:(
 

sistermillicent

Registered User
Jan 30, 2009
2,949
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The less you mess about with ears the better, it is easy to introduce infection. I have heard it say you should never put anything smaller than your elbow into your ear and I adhere to that having had my eardrum perforated as a child when having my ears syringed "routinely". It has left me almost completely deaf in one ear.
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,443
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Kent
There are a lot of misconceptions about hearing loss and I don`t believe any assumption should be made. Even experts can get it wrong.

My husband`s hearing was sharper than mine until the day before he died. How he gradually lost his ability to process spoken and understood language is a different story altogether.
 

Hair Twiddler

Registered User
Aug 14, 2012
891
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Middle England
Lynnpin,
This is a topic I have a little experience with. Stick with the drops - but IMO (with mum) you really only need to get the drops in mum's ears for a week or so before the appointment for syringing. My mum is currently (and not for the first time) awaitingher appointment. It can't come around soon enough - one of her ears is full of a vile brown substance which smells to high heaven. This is the worst her ears have ever been - I dread to think what will happen if an infection sets in.
Stick with it.
-Twiddler
 

Rageddy Anne

Registered User
Feb 21, 2013
5,984
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Cotswolds
My father had slightly impaired hearing until an unheeding nurse at his GPs surgery syringed both his ears and he was profoundly deaf afterwards. Later a specialist spent ages, over three appointments, carefully removing the wax, but the damage was done.
 

ohno!

Registered User
Nov 16, 2013
102
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Wax removal is an art and I think should be done by well trained nurses, I do not like the water syringe type removal as ear drums are not always as robust as the ear syringe manufactures would have us believe.
When my mum finally got her ears done this last time the nurse just very carefully used a thing that looked like a crochet hook no syringe at all worked well and did not freak mum out!
 

Lynnpin

Registered User
Aug 11, 2011
32
0
Tyneside
I am so with you on this one Lynnpin, studies have shown social isolation to be a factor in the development of dementia.
This is interesting re hearing and dementia:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...a-cognitive-decline-in-elderly_n_2527597.html

This is very interesting and I'm convinced it is avoidable by regular syringing. I know not everyone agrees but my mother is 90 and having her ears syringed is something she's done for decades so it's not as if it's new to her. Nobody worried then about infections or damaging the ear, you just went to the doctor and they did it - no preparation, no drops. Now they even have a proper little water pik machine that is probably a lot more gentle than what they used to use.

It doesn't help our situation either because my mother is very quiet and never speaks unless spoken to and I'm the same so there is very little conversation anyway between us but even if I do say something it's maddening to have to repeat it six times before she can register it.
 

Rageddy Anne

Registered User
Feb 21, 2013
5,984
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Cotswolds
So no water was used at all? I've never heard of that type before.

That's how the specialist removed my father's wax after the disastrous syringing that left him profoundly deaf. First the wax was softened with drops, and it took three appointments. But for all the specialists care, he said the damage had been done. My father was cut off from all verbal communication, and not many people had the patience to write things down for him, using pads and special pens that we supplied ....he could read and have a good conversation using this method, but few people had time to spare. So my father lost contact with other people, and developed the symptoms of Dementia.
 

Lynnpin

Registered User
Aug 11, 2011
32
0
Tyneside
I stand to be corrected but I don't really see how rinsing out the ears with warm water can damage them. Or is it that the person doing it is actually pushing the syringe too far into the ear and it is that which causes the damage?
 

Rageddy Anne

Registered User
Feb 21, 2013
5,984
0
Cotswolds
I stand to be corrected but I don't really see how rinsing out the ears with warm water can damage them. Or is it that the person doing it is actually pushing the syringe too far into the ear and it is that which causes the damage?

This happened a good few years ago, and as I understood it, the water pressure was controlled manually, rather like running a tap.. I'm sure it couldn't happen now. And there was no softening beforehand with drops.
 
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sistermillicent

Registered User
Jan 30, 2009
2,949
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it's the pressure of the water which causes the damage, I can assure you from experience that it can cause a perforated eardrum. It is one of the known complications of ear syringing, albeit rare these days because machines are used which control the pressure of the water better. However it does still happen. It was excruciating, I fainted, and it was done by a doctor.
 

Nebiroth

Registered User
Aug 20, 2006
3,510
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Syringing really isn;t as simple and harmless as people think. It's not the heat of the water that can damage, it's the pressure. Moreover the risk is higher if the person can;t remain still, the experienc eisn;t particularly pleasant and someone would dementia could easily move. Generally doctors now are reluctant to interfere with the ears and generally drops with oil do work very well. Even though the old-fashioned syringe has been replaced with a machine that delivers the water at variable pressures. The risk is that you will perforate the eardrum, which can be painful and is generally unplesant (I managed to burst one of mine after a particularly violent sneeze!) and can have complications if you get an infection.

In many cases they will ask you to use oil as a pre-treatment so that the syringing is easier. "Syringing" as a regular and routine procedure has generally fallen into disuse, they only do it when you have a genuine blockage that can't be shifted using drops.

The instrument referred to is called a Jobson Horne probe and is used by an otologist (ear specialist) to "scoop" the wax out. It is commonly referred to as a wax hook, ring currette or ear currette. It is designed to be able to safely remove wax from the ear canal.

I've also heard that using over the counter drops is generally not advised, unless they are prescribed. They contain urea hydrogen peroxide which penetrates and softens wax but which is also an irritant. The inside ofyour ear is delicate and doesn;t take kindly to being probed or harsh chemicals.