Tonsils, meth, and wax

FYI: We've been yapping about tonsils over at Balls and Walnuts. Come see.

It never ceases to amaze me how many different questions I can get on ear wax. Here's another:

Q: I have a friend (and no it is not me that I'm referring to...since most of those statements tend to elude to such...) he is an addict and smokes methamphetamine regularly. For quite some time (at least a year) he has had a lot of ear discharge/wax buildup, etc., and is starting to have hearing probs. He regularly can be seen twisting a q-tip around his ear and is often taking his pinky finger, inserting and wriggling it around/up and down while tilting his head. He's also used peroxide wash and tried candling in the past. Where is he headed with this problem is what I'm wondering as I encourage him to visit my ENT but he has yet to do that. It is concerning me that he'll have permanent damage if he does not have matter looked at. As I know that the smoke inhalation of this drug tends to clog the ear air passage and creates an inverse suction of sorts.

I don't know what to say to facilitate a doc visit and was hoping to have some info to back potential damage he has/may have already incurred from letting it slide this long.

A: As much as I'd like to give you ammunition to get him off meth, I don't think ear wax, ear problems, or hearing loss is where it's at. For the last eight years, I have worked in a BIG methamphetamine area (the Pacific Northwest), and I haven't seen a single ear, nose, or throat patient with complications due to meth. Sorry!

He plainly has ear wax from hell, however, and would benefit from having an ENT clean out his ears. He can try using the over-the-counter wax removal products, but when it gets as bad as you describe, these kits can make matters worse.

D.