I had the cold water procedure done at a GP to flush out an earwax obstruction. It was absolutely horrible, and I don’t recommend it for self-testing.
The flushing took a minute or two. Then there was a minute of starting to feel more and more strange, while everyone asked, “Are you all right?” Then, for the next five or ten minutes....
Notice the reference to REM. If you’ve ever been so drunk as to see the room spin… you have a slight idea of what my eyes were doing. Closing them didn’t help. The staff made me lie down, which made no difference—I was still clinging desperately to the wall, disoriented and frightened out of my wits.
Eventually the vertigo went away, but I still felt wonky for the next few minutes. Best analogy: being woken from deep sleep and asked to do calculus. Only awake.
Life-changing realizations: none. Perhaps you have to be on-topic at the time. I’m not going back to find out.
Writing to confirm. My own experience was very similar but the extreme disorientation lasted only about two minutes with minor disorientation for another five or so. Not recommended.
If it had happened for as long as you can remember then imagine your hearing is pretty poor. If it just showed up at some point in time, I think you’d notice it.
It’s happened to me several times, and doctors flushed it out a couple of times though I’ve since learned to do it myself with a rubber bulb type syringe (and warm, not cold water). This is not a recommendation as I’m not a doctor and have no idea likely someone would be to do some damage, but if there is a risk, I either have the right touch or am just lucky.
When it happens, the ear with the problem hears pretty poorly and I feel something like I’m under water. Usually it comes and goes a few time, the experience being like your ears popping on a plane or when driving over a mountain. Then at some point it doesn’t go away and I have to deal with it.
I had the cold water procedure done at a GP to flush out an earwax obstruction. It was absolutely horrible, and I don’t recommend it for self-testing.
The flushing took a minute or two. Then there was a minute of starting to feel more and more strange, while everyone asked, “Are you all right?” Then, for the next five or ten minutes....
Notice the reference to REM. If you’ve ever been so drunk as to see the room spin… you have a slight idea of what my eyes were doing. Closing them didn’t help. The staff made me lie down, which made no difference—I was still clinging desperately to the wall, disoriented and frightened out of my wits.
Eventually the vertigo went away, but I still felt wonky for the next few minutes. Best analogy: being woken from deep sleep and asked to do calculus. Only awake.
Life-changing realizations: none. Perhaps you have to be on-topic at the time. I’m not going back to find out.
Hope this at least slows people down a bit.
[Also, blindsight is an interesting tangent.]
Writing to confirm. My own experience was very similar but the extreme disorientation lasted only about two minutes with minor disorientation for another five or so. Not recommended.
Could that be because of impairment of cochlea functioning, which is the physical apparatus for proprioception?
I would say almost certainly.
I’ve also had this done, but my GP used warm water. No ill effects whatsoever. Obviously my hearing improved.
And more importantly, you admit it!
Is there anything specific about your case, or is the same procedure likely to help a lot of people to improve their hearing?
This should only help people who currently have earwax obstructions.
How many percent of the population have earwax obstructions? How do I know whether I have one?
If it had happened for as long as you can remember then imagine your hearing is pretty poor. If it just showed up at some point in time, I think you’d notice it.
It’s happened to me several times, and doctors flushed it out a couple of times though I’ve since learned to do it myself with a rubber bulb type syringe (and warm, not cold water). This is not a recommendation as I’m not a doctor and have no idea likely someone would be to do some damage, but if there is a risk, I either have the right touch or am just lucky.
When it happens, the ear with the problem hears pretty poorly and I feel something like I’m under water. Usually it comes and goes a few time, the experience being like your ears popping on a plane or when driving over a mountain. Then at some point it doesn’t go away and I have to deal with it.