Judy, what kind of recliner do you have? I hate mine!! Once I get in it and recline, it's fine, but it's so difficult to get in and out of. It sits to high and is a manuel (I should have gotten an electronic one..)

Help!!:hug:

Me, too. :( It's just like the MRI machine.....my nose starts to itch the moment I know I can't scratch it! :rolleyes:

Since I don't have to be on any certain schedule for work or otherwise I've just tried to quit focusing on "bedtime" and just sleep whenever I feel the need to. If it's 3 AM or 3 PM....,.if I'm sleepy I go to bed. If I happen to wake up during the wee hours of the morning and can't go back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time I get up. It seems the more I move around the less I ache....so there has to be something to the "in one position for numerous hours" theory. I've been known to do laundry or make my grocery list at midnight or later.

If you still work this probably won't work for you but it's working for me.....for the moment!

Dejibo - I just noticed in here that you said your ears itch - do you mean inside your ear canal or on the outside. Along with many of the other things that are happening to me (I haven't been dx'd yet) I have had itchy ear canals for years - probably 12. Started right after my son was born. I was told it was swimmer's ear (even though I don't swim) and given antibiotic drops but it never went away. The latest thing is for me to not use hairspray because the dr says that is irritating the inside of my ear. I don't use hairspray - still there.

oh, dont get me started on my ears! :mad: I struggled for so long before I finally got someone to listen to me about my inner ears. THEY ITCH! it was orgasmic to stick a bobby pin in there, and scratch! (please dont lecture me, I know its wrong) i was at my wits end with how itchy they were. I would get occasional ear infections, but nothing big enough for the MD to flag it. Once I was dx with sjogrens syndrome, I went to see an ENT about a sinus issue. She looked in my ears and said AHA! I see you have very itchy ear canals. She said I had microscopic cuts in my canal due to how dry my canals were. I bathe, and when i dunk my head to wash my hair, water gets in the canals. All the chlorine in the water didnt help. She gave me a steroid drop to use in my ears once a week, and demanded that I use ear plugs in the tub/shower.

It was well worth the money for this ENT to use the high power scope to peek in my ears to see the paper cut like breaks in the skin from the dryness. She said the itch must be maddening. Since starting on the prescription steroid drops once a week. WOO! I can sleep through the night without waking up digging in my ears. Like a dog with a bone, I couldnt leave them alone, it was horrible.

It may be worth a trip to the ENT to have them checked out. Dry skin conditions are pretty common on most of the drugs we take, and then throw in muscle relaxers, our lack of hydration, and chlorine in the city water, and whammo, itchy ears.

you can use a couple of drops of a hydrating oil like olive or coconut oil in your ears to see if that helps. Mine were so bad they needed the steroids to keep them from re inflamming. They make lots of products now for itchy ears, but most contain alcohol, or drying agents. Plug your ears when you shower, and get some moisture in there. it made my world more liveable.

Thank you for the advice! I will start plugging my ears when I shower and trying some moisture drops for my ears. That was never suggested to me by any doctor. Makes sense though. It wakes me up at night and you are right about the orgasmic feeling...such a relief when scratching sometimes. I don't use anything but my finger and fingernail, but sometimes I am scratching so hard and long I am sure I am doing some damage.

All interesting topics. Sorry Friend2U for changing topic.

My ENT said to put a little plain Baby Oil in the ears. Dip a Q-tip or a small tissue in the oil, or put in with a dropper.

He said it coats the ear, keeps it moist so no drying out and loosens wax build up. It softens wax, and it will run out when ready, leaving your ears clean and wax free.

Don't remove the oil, let it slowly run out. Most likely when sleeping or during the day. Avoid soap and shampoo in the ears too. Shampoo is a detergent. I clean my bathtub with shampoo on a scrubbing pad sometimes. :rolleyes:

He said Baby oil keeps from getting a wax build-up, that could get infected from not letting inner fluids drain out. It also prevents loss of hearing from wax plugging.

When I spray my hair, I put a piece of soft tissue or soft toilet tissue in the ear that covers the outer ear too. I also close my eyes just before pushing the spray button. Who needs that sticky stuff in our ears and eyes. But I spike my hair and must spray a bit. :D

I don't think I would like Olive oil or coconut oil in my ears. They are food products and I feel they may draw bugs. I fear a spider or fly will enter my ears. I once dug a spider out of my ear, in pieces. It made me paranoid after that. Yikes!

They have vitamin E oils and other massage oils on the market that are safe to use. I used olive oil (which is now a popular additive to many beauty products.) and it worked just fine. it was something I had on hand anyway. My MD didnt like the baby oil because its a petroleum product, and I have an old rupture on an ear drum from a previous infection. She was worried that some might slip into the middle ear. Droppers are better much easier to use. blink blink. go to sleep. Or blink blink, plug your ears and shower, or bathe. That way the cotton or ear plugs keeps the product in there for a min.

***bugs in the ear*** now I will be thinking about that all day! :eek: eww.


I have found the more PRO active I can be about my sleep, the better off I am. I make sure the room is DARK! no light from the TV box or alarm clocks. No nightlights. QUIET! or if you must chose some white noise. a fan or an AC or I guess a sound machine would work, but I am cheap. excuse me frugal. It still doesnt always work. There are some days that I lay awake and count my blessings and others that I lay awake and count my body aches. I hate those days.

I have been sleeping with a fan running since I was in college. I started using it to drown out the noise in the dorm. It does help. I also helps to drown out the ringing in my ears. Although the ringing is getting so loud that even a fan doesn't completely drown it out. I'm not sure what is up with that. I haven't really asked the dr about it. So many things I've just learned to live with.:o

I've been doing the same thing with a ceiling fan since I was about 9 years old. I've had tinnitus since I was very small.

I can remember my grandmother showing me a conch shell she had, and told me to listen to the "ocean" in it. I couldnt hear it because I had tinnitus and it overpowered the sound of the "ocean". Took me awhile till I learned in science class what the "ocean" was supposed to sound like. (sounds kinda like my tinnitus apparently)

Things generally hurt more at night because you are horizontal, not vertical. When flat, or flatter, the heart doesn't have to work as hard to get blood to the vital organs and brain and can be more efficient at just getting blood around to peripheral circulation. There is a better circulation to limbs giving nutrients and energy to tissue and muscle. This increased/better circulation to peripheries gives these bits more energy as it were, and they tingle and hurt more as their blood supply is increased. Same thing happens post surgery but patients tend to be lying down already.
That's what I was taught to tell my patients anyway... might be a crock of ***** though. Dunno :)