Can cleaning your ears make you feel ill?
I can only theorize here, since I'm not 100% sure, but here it goes:The skin in the ear canal is very delicate and sensitive that even a cotton swab is like sandpaper to it. So when you're rubbing that cotton swab in there, the skin got irritated and probably inflamed. You're right in that there is a tube that connects the ear with the throat (technically nose), and that's the Eustachian tube. Since all of these structures are connected, with enough inflammation of the ear canal, you can also have inflammation in the Eustachian tube, sinuses, and everything else downstream. Your immune system went on high-alert for a possible invasion and infection (or maybe you actually did have a brief infection) after disrupting the delicate ear canal. Once you stopped the ear trauma, your body calmed down and that's why you felt better the next day. The theory of bacteria actually traveling from your ear to your throat is not likely since your eardrum is in the way. However, you could have introduced bacteria in the ear canal and that started the chain of events of feeling ill, once again going back to how everything is connected. You could also have had the beginnings of an otitis externa (infection of the ear canal), which could explain the swollen lymph node. Consider this a warning sign your body is trying to give you. If I were you, I'd stop putting cotton buds in my ear canals. Someone has already asked about cleaning ears here: If you aren't supposed to stick a Q-Tip into your ear canal, how can one be expected to keep their ears clean?Also, a bit about why cotton buds are bad for your ears: Are Q-tips bad for your ears? Do they affect one’s hearing?(By the way, semantics, but technically, the ear canal is still the "outer ear." The "inner ear" is the swirly stuff in that first image: cochlea, semilunar canals, etc. and right next to your brain. The eardrum, malleus, incus, and stapes consist of the "middle ear.")
Should I clean my 3-month-old baby’s nostrils inside with cotton buds once a day? He cries a lot whenever I do that.
The “cries a lot” might be a clue. A baby’s body is basically acting in all sorts of ways to protect itself and unless something unusual is going on (e.g. a child is sick or you found him or her building sand castles in KittyKat’s Supersized Litter Box that missed this month’s cleaning) I would generally avoid anything other than light face/hands cleaning.Aside from any physical damage you might do, you might also introduce unusual bacteria etc. from your OWN hands/environment up INTO the nostrils where the natural defenses might not be so effective.Or, conversely, if you were specially assiduous/thorough in your nasal ablations you might end up producing a “Kid In A Bubble” whose natural strengths and immunities never develop properly.If the child has a condition that’s worrying you: ask your doc/pediatrician about it.MJM, not a doc and doesn’t have any infants, but used to be one:
When I clean my left ear with a Q-tip I feel a weird tickling sensation in the back of my throat. The Q-tip isn't even going in that far. Why is this happening?
So, of course, don’t clean your ear with a q-tip. While it has a number of hazards including impacting wax and inadvertently hitting the ear drum, it’s also really unnecessary. The skin in the lower half of the ear canal is always migrating towards the opening as a part of it’s normal life-cycle…and the wax migrates with it. Cleaning only the outer most opening of the ear is sufficient, which doesn’t require going deep into the ear canal with a q-tip.That said, you’re experiencing a stimulation of Arnold’s nerve, part of the facial and cranial nerves that run past the external ear canal. Some people (roughly about 3%) are sensitive to that nerve being touched, and it causes a ‘tickling’ sensation in the throat, which can result in coughing or gagging.The cranial nerves run through various parts of the face, neck and head…and many of them (oddly) run near or through the ear. For example, the chorda tympani nerve passes through the middle ear, and is responsible for passing information of taste for the rear two thirds of the tongue. This is why a middle ear infection can alter taste.See Head and Neck Table of Nerves for a starting point :)
How do you "clean" a dog's ears?
DO NOT stick anything tiny like a q-tip in a dogs ear. thats ridiculous. I groom dogs and what we use is: baby wipes. gentle enough for a baby, gentle enough for a dog A cotton ball with a little hydrogen proxide/water on it. Dont clean deep down in the ear but on the pink-ish parts that you see. My pomeranian is proned to ear infections as well. All dogs have bacteria in their ears. It just depends on how the dogs body handles the bacteria. If it get out of control and starts bothering the dog (i.e. he shakes his head around a lot and is repeatedly licking his paw and sticking it in his ear) I suggest you go to the vet and they give you a soulution to use. How it works with him is we take a cotton ball and rub the outer canal of the ear and then squirt the inside of his ear with the cleaning solution and rub his ear.
What is the inside cotton-type stuff inside of a quilt?
It's called "batting" and you can but it at most fabric stores. It comes in either cotton or synthetic, it will be rolled up almost like a sleeping bag, and it will be in a clear plastic bag. You buy it in sizes like if you were buying bedsheets, and you can buy it in different weights. I often just use an old blanket when I make a quilt, a great way to recycle/reuse and a blanket makes a nice weight. I've also used old table clothes and sheets inside a quilt for a lighter weight quilt when finished.
Cleaning a nose piercing..?
This is THE perfect aftercare sheet for cleaning a nose piercing: http://www.bmezine.com/pierce/articles/ptafter/nose.html Don't twist the jewellery in your nose as it can damage the inside of the wound and make healing time longer. Wipe off any crusts around the piercing with a cotton wool bud carefully when it builds up, and clean the outside and the inside. The article is from Bmezine, a very well trusted piercing website which is renowned for offering the best piercing advice and information online, its guaranteed you'll find like any question you wanna ask, on there. www.bmezine.com. when i got my nose pierced they didn't even offer an aftercare sheet, so I printed this one and it worked fine, my nose is now healed perfectly :]
What are some good ways to clean ears?
Over the years my hearing had reduced to about 60% due to excessive ear wax build up. I also had random ear aches. I went to see an ear doctor who then flushed both ears out but the first try didn't work. She suggested that I go home and use Olive oil(Yes the food oil) and cotton balls for two days and then return. The oil had no strange scent to me So i used it about 3 times a day. There was a tiny bit of an improvement in my hearing and the ear ache went away.I went back to the same walk-in-clinic but I was seen by an older lady who seemed to be in a rushed. As she flushed my right ear I saw a lot of wax fall out. She prepared the warm water and went to flush my left ear. This time the water was hot like hell and she jammed the tool deep in my ear. My clothes were soak and because I pulled away due to the hot water and the pain, she just dropped everything, told me to clean my ears and left. I was all the way in shock. I couldn't believe how she treated me. My left ear started aching because she shoved the tool so deep inside and both my ears were still clogged.I went home really upset, dropped some olive oil in my ears, waited 15 minutes, washed and rinsed a spray bottle and prepared ear flush on my own. As I flushed my right ear I saw EVERYTHING come right out, I was so excited that I could finally hear again, I went on to flush my left ear and by the time as I was done my phone rang. I nearly died of fright because I never knew my phone could ring so loud. Lol.Never insert anything in your ears.So if you have earaches and reduced hearing due to wax then by all means go ahead and use olive oil and then flush your ears simply with warm water alone OR I used warm water with a drop of shower gel. I feel pure