Monday, June 12, 2006
There Was a Moth. In My Ear.
Last night I was sitting in an internet cafe on Second Avenue and Seventh Street. I was about to leave when a moth started buzzing around me. I shooshed it away a few times, which seemed to make it very angry. The next thing I knew it zoomed right into my ear.
I've been around for almost 29 years now and I've never heard of this happening. But when a moth flies into your head, not only do you hear it buzzing around in there, but you feel its wings fluttering in your ear canal. It's absolutely freakish. I started twitching and freaking out, so much so that the guy at the computer next to me got up and left.
I walked home thinking that if I hopped in the shower I could drown the thing out with water. After ten minutes of constant water in my ear, the moth was still in there. I had no choice but to go to the emergency room.
It wasn't very busy at Beth Israel, so I was taken rght away. I was assigned to a doc who I'll call Dr. David who couldn't have been much older than me. He poured some chemical in my ear that would kill the moth and then he planned to flush it out with water. Let me tell you: There is nothing more uncomfortable than feeling a moth die in your ear. If I was freaking out, I can't imagine how that moth felt.
Dr. David came back into the room and flushed the bugger out. I was expecting some huge, Silence of the Lambs creature, but it was tiny! Like, pinky finger nail tiny. Dr. David also told me that he's taken cockroaches out of people's ear before. So maybe my moth wasn't so bad.
Here's the rub: Dr. David told me that if I hadn't come in to have the moth removed, it would likely have died in my ear and maybe gotten infected. Crazy.
Thanks, Dr. David! And everyone at Beth Israel for taking that moth out of my head.
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16 comments:
This actually happened to me in Guatemala. I freaked out and started hitting my ear and poking at it. I went to my chaperone's cabin and told her that a moth was in my ear. She didn't believe me. I poured water in my ear to kill it. She didn't believe me so she didn't let me see a doctor. TWO WEEKS later when I got back to the US I went to my doctor who told me I had a dead moth lodged next to my ear drum. He said he couldn't reach it so I had to go to a ENT Specialist to get it removed.
this is really strange. that happened to me last night and, although i am usually not one to panic or freak with stuff like that, i was, to say the least, extremely uneasy. i could not for the life of me get the thing to come out. finally, after what felt like an eternity, i made myself keep my hands away from my ear when i felt it fluttering and it flew out--i hope. has anyone ever seen that movie about earwigs? that's what i keep thinking about. creepy!!!
Im from England and this happened to me last night, it was horrible. they used a suction machine to get the bugger out, i took pics too, again it was small but horrid . . . this was 24 hrs ago . . if u think the odds of that are great how about this . . ive just turned on the TV and on BBC1 (main line british channel) . . the movie The Mothman Prophecies is on . . .how strange . no joke !!
This happened to me when I was 17. I'm 34 now but I have never forgotten it, as it was one of the weirdest experiences of my life and to this day I am terrified of moths.
I was walking down the street at night and a moth flew out of the streetlight and made a beeline (or mothline as it were) straight for my ear. It got stuck and buzzed in my head for what seemed like hours but was really only the 15 minutes or so that it took to walk to the nearby emergency ward. I was freaking out, crying, screaming, extremely agitated. The nurse asked me how it got in there and I screamed at her "IT FLEW IN!!! DO YOU THINK I PUT MOTHS IN MY EARS FOR FUN????"
Then the doctor came along and dripped some kind of oil, like baby oil or something, into my ear with a dropper until the moth drowned then removed it with a pair of tweezers. It was actually tiny too. I'm gratified to know that this has happened to other people.
This happened to me on 4/18/10. The Urgent care centers sent me away because they did not have the suction, and the emergency wanted at least $500.
First, I let a few drops of mineral oil kill the moth, and then I used Debrox earwax removal kit. Pointing my affected ear down, I squirted a solution of hot water and hydrogen peroxide after using Debrox and after 30 flushes the moth washed out. You don't stick the rubber squirter ball directly into your ear so the stuck object can wash out. Fill the ball (s) completely for good pressure or use a water pick.
Now I wear cotton in my ears if I work under a bright light at night.
Wow! I haven't laughed this hard in awhile. I suddenly remembered the time this happened to me... 8 years ago at a summer camp. I went crazy! Flipping out! It took them forever to kill it...they tried squirting it out, but that just made it worse...a wet moth, flapping wildly on and off... absolute torture! and then i guess they called someone who told them about the baby oil drowning method! I highly recommend it! And they wouldn't let me go to an emergency room so I had to sleep with it in my ear til the next day, when the specialist got it out with a mini vacuum suction thingy. And he wasn't nice at all... And I kept if for awhile in the plastic container they put it in, but someone threw it away. Oh well. Anyway, I don't know if I'm gratified that others went through it, but it sure made me laugh. Only someone who's had a moth in their ear can understand how horrible it is. We're bonded you guys!
Glad to know I'm not alone. I had a similar experience this morning. My wife asked me to hold her cigarette,, I had it held up in the air, leaning over to read something and next thing I knew I was under attack from some unknown entity determined to get into my brain. Maybe I've been watching too much Stargate but kinda freaked me out a little. 5 hours and 2 doctors later, it's now out and both myself and the moth are still alive and well. Now I'm the joke of the office. Being a web developer by trade, they're all wondering why I can't manage to debug myself... ah fun and frolics. Thank God it's over :)
As a child, I read an adventure story from Enid Blyton's story?that on a camping trip that a bug flew into someoneone's ear. A flash light was used outside the person's ear and the light attracted the bug. I had the opportunity to try it as a camp nurse when one of the Church counsellors had a moth in his ear came looking for me.I was quite nervous & unsure if this would work.I could hear the moth fluttering its wings. And it worked! :o)
As a child, I read an adventure story from Enid Blyton's story?that on a camping trip that a bug flew into someoneone's ear. A flash light was used outside the person's ear and the light attracted the bug. I had the opportunity to try it as a camp nurse when one of the Church counsellors had a moth in his ear came looking for me.I was quite nervous & unsure if this would work.I could hear the moth fluttering its wings. And it worked! :o)
I cant believe how many people this has actually happened to. Last night 07/26/11 I was leaving a friend's house and about to get into my car. I opened the door to my car and WHACK!!! It felt like someone shot that moth into my ear from a gun. I could feel it clawing and fluttering in my ear canal, and I began to panic as I could not get it out by myself. Thankfully some of my friends were also leaving at the same time saw me freaking out and came over to see what was wrong. I normally don't panic in stressful situations, but this was different. With each series of flutters, I began to think all the worst thoughts possible. My friends first tried to drown it with water by squirting it in my ear. That didn't work. It just caused more pain, as the wings and legs were cutting my ear. Then they tried to pry it out with q-tip sticks. Again, that hurt badly! Finally, somehow I was able to remain calm and still enough for one of my friends to reach into my ear canal with tweezers and pull the moth out. It was actually bigger than we all thought. That sucker was almost the size of a quarter! I will never forget that night as long as I live, and I will never look at moths the same again! P.S. Yes we are all bonded by this!
This is ridiculous, I just drowned the stupid thing In my ear and now it's stopped fluttering, but it's still in there just dead and stuff :(
I loved reading everyone's stories about this. I don't feel so bad for freaking out now. I, too, had a tiny moth fly into my ear at night when I was standing next to a porch light. I couldn't believe it actually went into my ear. I dropped everything and I just freaked out. I called my mom on the phone hysterically crying. All she could make out was that a dog bit my ear. We went to the hospital and I ended up yelling at one of the nurses when she asked me how I knew it was a bug in my ear. I replied with WHAT ELSE IS IT SUPPOSED TO BE?!! IT'S FLYING AROUND IN MY EAR! I SAW IT FLY IN THERE! The poor nurse. I apologized but I don't think she heard me. Anyway, the doctor got the moth out of my ear by using a syringe filled with water and peroxide. It took two tries I think. It was the most uncomfortable and freaky experience of my life.
This just happened to me!! I used ear cleaner to try and wash it out, but it only succeeded in killing the moth, I,m now on my way to the doctor to get it out. Hopefully I didn't damage anything inside my ear in the struggle to get it.
got one stuck in mine now, can only say the moth flapping about is one very strange feeling, i feel violated haha, think its dead now though, i'm going to A&E in the morning to get it out
9/11/2012 This happened to me tonight. You are right about it freaking you out!! It's the craziest thing that ever happened to me. The ER doc thought that I was nuts because he couldn't SEE the moth, but boy howdy could I feel it. Took about 40 minutes to finally die. And yes, it DID feel huge, but in fact was pretty small.
It really hurts with it moving and such and I havent tried anything hoping it comes out
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