Ears feel blocked after earplug/earphone use?

[Gompo]

Hi,

As the thread title really, after using earplugs or earphones, my ears feel blocked and sometimes 'echoey'. It's only been happening for 6 months or so. It's not always immediate, infact I had earplugs in last Friday for a gig, and the blocked feeling has only been apparent the last day or two (Thurs/Fri).

I know they could be completely un-related, but my ears were doing this a lot around X-mas time, when I used earplugs and also listened to a fair amount of music via earphones. I stopped using my earphones because of it, and the blocking seemed to stop. I hadnt had the blocking feeling for a month or so until this week, and hadnt used plugs/phones for a month or so either. Over the X-mas period I had a bit of a cold so thought it could have been something to do with it, but I am in decent health at the moment.

I doubt it makes any difference, but I suffer from tinnitus.

Anyone know what it could be? I want to be able to use 'phones/plugs without this happening.

..And before anyone says - yes, I have removed the earplugs

Cheers, Greg.

[bikerkeith]

When I was using my bike on a daily basis I was using earplugs all the time. I began to have deafness and a "bunged up ear" feeling, which became worse when I went swimming. What had happened was the earplugs were pushing wax into the ear, and because I was using them every day the wax didn't have the chance to drain out. The final straw was going swimming, which meant water entered my ear canals and became absorbed into the wax, which swelled up and pressed against the ear drum.

Solution was using ear drops for a few days (to soften the wax) followed by getting the excess wax syringed out. After that I used ear drops whenever I felt I was suffering from a build up of wax again.

As a footnote, I use earplugs every time I ride my bike because I have already suffered hearing loss, due to attending too many loud gigs when a youth, now I want to preserve what hearing I still have. Remember, you are never along with tinnitus.

[Mr E Driver]

Don't waste your money on those eardrops, just put some olive oil in when you go to bed and some cotton wool to stop it coming out for a couple of nights.
Make an appointment to get your ears syringed.

[Gompo]

Thanks for the replies, I had come to the conclusion that it was probably just excess earwax. I'm not particularly old (27) and thought it could have been something else as hadnt known people my age have trouble with wax but after research I cant think it could be anything else.

I'll go see a GP or somebody for confirmation.

Cheers, Greg.

[Mr E Driver]

Make an appointment with the Practice nurse, GP's don't deal with blocked ears and make sure you put some oil in both ears a couple of days before you go.