Thursday, August 16, 2012

It was swimmers' ear!

It took my ENT guy a nano-second to diagnose my recent bout of ear infections.
Swimmers' ear!
Yup.  Without my having been in an infected swimming pool.
Seems it's not all that unusual for someone who wears hearing aids to have the problem in the heat wave conditions we've been experiencing this summer.
Stays hot and muggy for days on end, one sweats a lot.  (And Lord knows I do that!)
Well, so too do the ears sweat.  The hearing aids are actually a plug, preventing the sweat from leaving the ear.  Perfect breeding ground for bacteria.  And before you know it, an infection develops.
Makes perfect sense when you think about it.
How to prevent it in the future?
Find at least an hour in each day to NOT wear the  hearing aids. (Like, when I'm sitting in front of the computer, perhaps looking for my dead people.)  And use a small fan to blow air at the ear (or hold a blow dryer away from the ear) to  help dry it out.  That will go a long way towards helping prevent future infections.
I was with him for less than five minutes and problem solved.  Just like that.  Such a smart man.
Makes perfect sense.  But really, who'da thunk it?????

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