Have you ever blown your nose and experienced crackling and popping in your ears, followed by the glorious sounds of the outside world coming in crystal clear? If you hadn’t noticed before, this is when you realize that your ears are plugged.
If you’re lucky, your Dolby digital-like surround sound hearing stays. If you’re like me and really congested, the crackling happens again almost instantaneously and it’s like you pushed the mute button on your ear drums.
So after two weeks of this and wanting to try an alternative method to the walk-in clinic’s ear flushing with warm, salt water, I decided to try ear candling (a.k.a. ear coning). But what is ear candling?
Ear candling is a highly debatable alternative therapy where ear candles are used to draw wax and impurities from the ear, sinuses, and some even believe, from the brain itself.
Proponents for ear candling suggest that it has many health benefits, including hearing improvement, curing earaches and swimmer’s ear, purifying the mind, stabilizing emotions and reducing stress and tension. Check out this QuackWatch.com article for a list on more purported health benefits.
However, research and respectable sources (like Health Canada in this article) say that ear candling fails to provide any health benefits and is dangerous in that it poses a risk of fire, burns, blocked ears (with the candle wax) and punctured ear drums.
Despite these warnings and feeling the need to experiment, I booked an appointment with my trusted neighbourhood health spa. The procedure went well and was actually quite relaxing. While she held the burning candle to an exposed ear, my ear candler massaged that side of my neck, shoulder and head.
After the candle had burnt close to the bottom, she removed it from my ear, cut off the still burning piece and cut it again closer to the end where it was placed in my ear. In each candle, I saw about an half an inch of what was obviously ear wax!
She then finished the treatment with a full face, head, neck and shoulder massage. It was heaven.
Unfortunately, my ears are still blocked and crackle when I blow my nose. I feel the only health benefits I recieved for my $40 was stress and tension relief… from the massage, of course!
Have you any experience with ear candling or coning? Please share it with us in the comment section below.
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September 2nd, 2009 at 11:58 am
Emmanuel
Motivatorman
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
However, if I could venture to suggest one other thing you might try to clear sinuses as well as pressure from the ears & nose since these cavities are all interconnected. This advice comes from several sources ~ the most recent being from Dr. Oz of Oprah fame, soon to have his own show beginning Sept 14th. In consultation with an ENT (Ear/Nose/Throad doctor)& alternative practitioners, he suggests trying a NETI POT used to pour salt water thru one nostril whilst tilting the head, so that it follows the canal thru-out the sinuses, then out the opposite nostril into a sink or container for disposal afterward. If one does this every day for a week, there are many benefits to be had from the cleansing, including relief from allergies & sinus headaches, even migraines and tinnitus!
Some people swear by this, but I haven’t tried this one personally either. So maybe you can give us a report on this next! Worth a try?
September 4th, 2009 at 11:02 am
@Dee Thank you SO much for your helpful comment. I love Doc Oz (I’ve read “YOU: Staying Young”) and this is the first I’ve heard that he’s getting his own show. Good for him!
As for the NETI POT, I’m open to trying it, though it’ll be a challenge. I’ve never liked putting anything up my nose, whether it’s water or that awful liquid sinus decongestants that you squirt up your nostrils. I can imagine how queer it will feel with the water running through passages in my head! lol
September 4th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I even got my 16 year old to try it when he was congested!
Hope you feel better soon!
September 9th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Where can I find one?
September 10th, 2009 at 8:58 am
September 10th, 2009 at 10:09 am
My “expert” friends tell me that the water must be WARM and the breathing exercises afterwards make a big difference. I think the 5 minutes it takes to do this (naturally) even for a few days to get RELIEF, far outweighs the cost of medication (only
treating the symptoms) and not the real cause. Hope you’ll try it & let us know, either way!
September 10th, 2009 at 10:10 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8sDIbRAXlg
Good Luck!!
September 10th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
My congestion is DEEP within my cavities. My ears are blocked! From the YouTube video, I don’t see how the neti pot will do a deep cleaning or unblock the ears.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:32 am
October 6th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
If I ever get it done again, I’ll touch it and see what it feels like! There should be a difference, right? If it’s sticky, it’ll be ear wax and if smooth, candle wax.
I want another ear candling just to find out!
Steph
January 15th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
http://www.earcandleblog.com
http://www.wallysnatural.com/ear-candling-faq
January 16th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
February 1st, 2010 at 12:52 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjCLoaqxIOU
February 4th, 2010 at 10:42 pm