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Dear Tucson Audiologists' Readers,
As usual, it's been an interesting month at TAI and in the blogs, which you can see by clicking in the the next section. Before we get into this month's riviting story, here's some feedback on last month's story about the obnoxiously loud woman ruining restaurant experiences in Tucson: we haven't found her, but a few patients using the newest "automatic" hearing aids report that they really are working to make previously-intoleratable noise more tolerable. Not great, but tolerable. We also received the following helpful note and we've temporarily called off our pursuit of that loud lady:
"Dear Holly and Sharon --Having perused your newsletter several times I have come to a sad conclusion .... the heat has got you both. Cold showers are urgently prescribed ... this too shall pass. Signed -- Concerned Patient."
The big news this month was at Holly's house at 3am several Sundays ago, when her 21 year old son Andrew burst upom her stating that a bug had crawled in his ear and was trying to burrow through the eardrum. He was calm in an hysterical way, saying that it was loud, scary, and hurt a lot. This is when an Audiologist Mom comes in handy (full disclosure: Holly had no previous experience with bugs in kids' ears, especially at 3am). She whipped out her otoscope and confirmed that there was a bug on his eardrum and it really did appear to be burrowing, none of which made Andrew feel better. She then whipped out her trusty ear drops, intending to drown the bug and then fish it out with her trusty instruments, but the mere touch of those drops drove the bug out of Andrew's ear with much loud fanfare. Everyone but the bug applauded (Andrew whacked it righteously) and everyone went back to bed.
This incident got us thinking. Why was that bug in the ear? What did it want? How often does this happen? How many folks keep otoscopes and ear drops in their medicine cabinets? What should one do if a bug is in an ear? The data is thin, but here's what we found:
- Only one article addressed the bug's motivation. It claimed that the bugs don't want to go into ear canals, they just wander in, realize they're lost, and frantically try to turn around and get out. The turning around part is what gives the impression that they are burrowing. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/bugear.asp
- One article -- translated abominably from Portuguese -- found 40% of people who showed up at the hospital with foreign bodies in their ears were male and over 16. Over 50% of the foreign bodies found in guys' ears were bugs. http://www.arquivosdeorl.org.br/conteudo/acervo_eng.asp?Id=665
- No data was available on ear equipment in the average medicine cabinet.
- All sites recommended that one "seek medical treatment," but one site acknowledged that this might not be feasible, and proceeded to recommend poring oil in the ear. http://pohick.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-safely-remove-bug-from-your-ear.html
We can't leave this topic without heartily recommending the snopes.com website sited in item #1. It is a fascinating article, including a history of John Hanning Speke, who got a "horrid little insect" in his ear while out discoverimg the source of the Nile River. Not to be deterred, the fearless adventurer went after the bug with a knife. He got the bug but ended up with a punctured ear drum and months of infection before he got back to civilization. Too bad he didn't have mineral oil in the tent. Be sure to read the full post, them check other items on the site, such as the one about hilarious closed caption errors and that always-funny guy Alan Greenspan (http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/prostate.asp). |
