Advice Required

[queenofmean]

Hubby has impacted wax in his ears. He was seen by OoH last night as he can’t hear and his ear hurts. He’s to take regular pain relief and use the spray he was given.

We’ve just arrived in Leicester and he’s been coughing and vomiting and he slept all the way down.

Now, he’s also giving up smoking so I don’t know if the coughing is related to that or if it’s his ears. I don’t know what to do with him.

Help a Queenie out here.

[Sqad]

Who is or what is OoH?

His ear symptoms are nothing to do with his coughing and voniting.

Coughing and vomiting would appear to be viral in nature, Covid needs excluding.

Put him to bed, plenty to drink (water) and Ibuprofen if he can keep it down.
Monitor the situation and report back in the morning.

[anneasquith]

Look for an audiologist near you, telephone for an appointment ASAP. Or return to GP . Have the symptoms started following use of the spray ?

[MargoTester]

Sqad, out of hours??

[anneasquith]

Sqad . Out of Hours .

[Sqad]

anne/margo...thanks.

[Maydup]

Go to the NHS walk-in before 8pm.

[queenofmean]

Out of Hours - my second home haha.

He was checked last night neg.

I assume it would have been due to the stopping of the smoking. He’s gone 5 days without a cigarette.

I’ve just done that (water) and pain relief. I’ll get him settled in due course.

Thanks all xx

[anneasquith]

Queenie let us know how he gets on .

[woofgang]

I seem to remember that one of the effects of stopping smoking is that your lung cilia start working again and cleaning the junk out of your lungs, hence the cough. Some folk can trigger vomiting if they cough a lot but yes covid is also a possiblity of course. I know that ibuprofen is Sqads go to but if he's not keeping food down, I would suggest paracetamol as a better choice as Ibuprofen can be dodgy on an empty stomach.

[Old_Geezer]

Your local pharmacy will have drops to soften ear wax.

[Canary42]

When I gave up smoking I was troubled with a cough for some time, so that could be contributory (as far as I can recall, it was 35 years ago).

[jennyjoan]

My neighbour coughed a lot when he gave up smoking

[anneasquith]

Be difficult to administer * spray’ if his ears are impacted .

[jourdain2]

When I gave up smoking in 1979, I coughed a lot for ages as things cleaned themselves up, so if he's free of Covid it's probably that. Otherwise, good advice has been given.

[douglas9401]

As I long term victim of the wax I'd suggest a few drops of almond or olive oil into the affected ear, lying with the head to one side, affected ear upward for 15-20 minutes giving the oil a chance to act on the wax.
Repeat two or three times a day for up to two weeks or until resolved.
Don't be tempted to help things along with mechanical methods, especially as it's already painful and let things evolve on their own.

It's frustrating and all takes time but should work in the end.

[douglas9401]

Oh, and have a couple of tissues or some kitchen roll to catch the oil when he sits upright again, dabbing gently until absorbed.

[anneasquith]

No Q tips .

[roopower]

Yep, few drops of olive oil as previously recommended, nothing smaller than your elbow to go in your ear. That's what I was told by a nurse.

[queenofmean]

UPDATE

After forking out my last £2 on a notepad to communicate with Hubs…he has half his hearing back.

His left ear is still sore and a wee bit puffy but the hearing comes and goes.

He’s due to speak with his new GP on Tuesday so hopefully will get this moving along and sorted soon enough.

Hopefully the spray is helping as there was wax on the pillow this morning. Not been able to source olive oil but I’ve plenty at home so will sort that out when we get home.

[Sqad]

Thanks for the feedback, but I thought that your concern was for the vomiting and cough?