Smelly ear wax, YUK!!!

[cheza]

Ok, so all ear wax smells slightly, but over the last few days I have had wax running out of my AN ear mainly at night,  (i find patches on my pillow in the morning) and OH MY GOD it smells awful, like a really mature stilton (blue cheese) I have never had anything like this before even after the op, I have to keep putting cotton wool in my ear because its just leaking all the time, I don't mean like a tap its not that much! I suppose the best way to describe it is that my ear always feels wet, not only that but over the last 2 weeks I've been having headaches, nausea and dizzyness that seems to have subsided a little but I wonder if it was because my ear was blocked???

Even before the AN I have never had an ear or ear wax problem, Any thoughts???

Thanks cheryl XxX 

[Boppie]

I would tell my doctor the same thing you are saying here.  Ear wax is a natural thing.  Infection has an "off" smell.  It is better to investigate and check for infection.

[Jim Scott]

Cheryl:

I second Boppie's suggestion:  Call your doctor.  That kind of discharge is not normal and could indicate a problem.  Check it out asap.

Jim

[Nicole222]

I'd be on the phone to the dr, too.  Usually, foul odors indicate some type of infection or other issue.  Good luck and let us know what he says

[Kaybo]

That doesn't suond right AT ALL!!  Please call the Dr.!!  I rather us all be wrong than it turn into something worse b/c it was left untreated!
 
K

[Gloriann]

I hope you have called your doctor about this by now because it sounds to me like it could be spinal fluid leaking, which I have been told by my doctors is the most common complication they see following acoustic neuroma surgery. Don't ignore this and believe it will go away on its own.
 I had similar symptoms this year, 7 years after my surgery, and it was eczema inside the ear canal. This turned into a terrible infection before I went to the doctor about it.
Let us hear from you.

[cheza]

hey there,

Just to let you know how the ear is, well it was an infection or I should say still is after weeks of antibiotics and ear drops, my consultant decided enough was enough and had a good old rumage inside, his words were quite medical and went along the lines of euw, thats not nice at all, your ear is full of gunk!!! he then procceded to suck out the gunk with a tiny vacume thingy ( not very pleasent)  then said "oh whats that" by this time I was feeling rather light headed, this didn't sound good, "Hmmmm" said the consultant "lets get you in the other room, I'll put some local anasetic in there and we'll have a good look". oncce in the other room, ear numb, stomache swooshing and a lot of ear proding later, my consultant said "well I've never seen that before, it sems your ear drum has been sucked back inside your head and a small bone is sticking out inside your ear and its that which has caused the infection" with that he squiged some super dooper anti bac cream in my ear said " come back in 3 weeks and I'll suck it all out again, we'll have another look at that bone, we may have to put you to sleep and remove it" oh the joy, I thought, more surgery, will I ever be normal again?

so there you have it, something I thought was nothing is actually .....well ..... something, oh well best to of found it now and get it sorted whilst i'm used to toing and froing from thye hospital.

aanyhoo thats my update hope you guys are all well,
Take care XxX cheryl 

[Kaybo]

Oh my goodness - I am so glad you got it checked out!!

K

[cmp]

Wow, what an unbelievable and unpleasant turn of events! I really hope that at least knowing what is going on will mean you can get relief fast and get this sorted out for once and for all...

[leapyrtwins]

Cheryl -

I've never heard of such a thing 

As K said, I'm glad you got it checked out!

Hope it gets better soon.

Jan

[sgerrard]

Wow, Cheryl, when you decide to get an ear infection, you really go all out! How exactly does an ear drum get "sucked back inside," I wonder? 

Hopefully the infection will get cleared up by antibiotics, and if you have the mysterious "small bone" removed, it will be a relatively simple procedure. After that, I think you should decide to stop getting new things, and focus on recovering from the AN surgery.

Best wishes and take care,

Steve

[Gloriann]

I am sure happy that you saw your doctor and found out what is going on. I must say that I have never heard of anything like what you have described. I wonder if this happened during your surgery somehow?

I had a problem with ear wax building up before my acoustic neuroma was removed and had to have it cleaned out by doctors from time to time.  I had fluid coming out of my ear from time to time last year and wondered what it was. It even itched inside sometimes. I went to an ear doctor who cleaned out the wax and told him about the fluid and itching, but he did said he could not see any problem other than the wax build-up, so I thought things would be okay, but after a couple of months went by I started running fever and the side of my face turned red. My ear lobe was also swelled up, so I went to my family doctor who started treating me right away.
 
The diagnosis was called cellulitis. I finally had to be put in the hospital for 2 days with an IV of some strong medication to clear it up. It came on suddenly, but went away slowly.

I have found out since then ( from a different ear doctor) that I had eczema in that ear. This was my "good" ear, not the one I had surgery in. The inside of the ear canal was swelled shut for awhile, so I found out what it is like to not be able to hear out of either ear. That was very difficult when I went to the doctor's office. My husband was right with me, so he could talk for me at times, since he knew what all was going on.

I hope all goes well for you with this infection and it gets cleared up soon.  Please get back to us when you can and let us know what is going on.

[wendysig]

Cheryl,
I think "Yuk!" almost covers it.  I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through -- I've never heard anything like this eiither!  I hope this resolves in the next three weeks and you  arefeeling better.

Wendy

[cheza]

wow Gloriann, that sounded quite serious for a while there, glad your fighting fit now though.

Sometimes it feels like your never away from hospital for 1 thing or another, if its not physio its a scan, if its not eye hospital then its BAHA and if its none of those its just  a routine check up, in the lst 2 months I've visited the hospital and my gp about 14 times thats nearly twice a week!!! and i'm back again 2 weks today infact, not only that I visited my GP today I've now got a tummy bug  woohoo, oh the joy!!!

someone put me in a bag and shake me up  does my body just hand out invites to any bug on the block, (come on guys jump in here its a great place to party and the owner doesn't complain to much) did I upset my body so badly somewhere along the lines that it is now out for revenge  I'm going away next week for a short break, lord knows I need it,  hopefully I won't bring back any forign bodys with me HAHAHA!!!  and I will feel fully refreshed and revitalized when I get home.

Thats my winge over with for today, take care all,

Cheza XxX 

[Gloriann]

I found out that cellulitis can be quite serious. I had never even heard of that before. It can occur anywhere on a person's body, from just a scratch or even from swimmer's ear. I did a lot of reading about it on the internet after being diagnosed. I could tell by the look on my doctors face the first day he saw me that it must be something serious, especially after he told me if I was not better the following day that I would need to have an IV in my arm at the hospitail.
I had a reaction from the medication in the IV (Leviquin) the second night. I woke up with severe buring in my throat and chest and had some difficulty breathing. I was having one of the most serious complications, so had to take Benadryl to stop it. I was at home when all this happened.
It was an experience I will never forget!