Beethoven was not deaf...he just had too much ear wax

I have been having trouble hearing during the past week. It started last weekend, and it got worse on Monday when my ears started hurting for no reason, and I couldn't hear properly. Needless to say, I was quite scared. I even thought I had an ear infection, and was going deaf. Things got worse when the ear drops the doctor recommended for removing earwax didn't work. As I was panicking, I started to remember stories of how Beethoven lost his hearing, and how he was not able to hear a lot of his own masterpieces.

So I visited the doctor again today. When he heard that the ear drops hasn't be working, he immediately declared that he is going to perform a ear cleaning. So he brought back what looks like a giant syringe without the needle, a bucket, and a towel. He then use the syringe to squirt jets of water in my ear. After that, a few large chucks of earwax fell out of my ear, and I was amazed at how well I can hear after that.

What if Beethoven was in the same situation as me? Hey, you never know. Maybe Beethoven wasn't actually deaf. He just had too much earwax!

All kidding aside, the thing I realized over this week is that you never know how important your hearing is...until you lost it. So here are a few simple tips to maintaining simple hearing.

1: Clean your ears regularly: tilt your head when you're in the shower, and just quickly rinse your ear. Even if water gets in it, it will run out.

2. Avoid q-tips: If you think there is something in your ear, the worst thing you can do is shove something in there to try to work it out. Buy a ear cleaning kit from your local pharmacy. It really is worth it.

3. Party once in a while is great, but blasting loud music down your ears 24/7 is not. Turn your music down. Unless you have trouble hearing, trust me, it will still sound just as good.

4. Visit your doctor if you start getting ear pains, or if your ear cleaning kits aren't helping you. Chances are, diagnosing yourself will just do more harm than good.

Good luck everyone!

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