TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands In Tortola now. Need suggestion for ear prob pleas

Hi-my husband needs a dr to remove ear wax plug. Sorry. I know its gross but he's in pain. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Sitting by a late night bonfire but I'll chime in... last year I had a terrible ear problem, never had a wax problem before but a medic had me lie on my side and poured peroxide in my ear, let it sit for a couple minutes, then rolled over and let it drain, did the trick <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

Yup - if you can get your hands on some hydrogen peroxide, that's what I would suggest as well - let it sit in the ear until it - literally - starts to bubble when it reacts to the wax.

There are kits to deal with wax and dr.s at pebbles in road town

My husband also uses the hydrogen peroxide. Works great for him!

I've always had better luck with rubbing alcohol than hydrogen peroxide for ear trouble. When I was younger I had to flush out my ears with rubbing alcohol after every swim or I would likely get an ear infection. I carry a dropper bottle full when heading for the BVI.

I would suggest going to the doctor at the hospital. It's not the cost like in the states. When I had a huge problem like that, the doctor's office used a warm solution of something to dissolve the wax plug. There is an ear wax removal kit that they sell here in the US also, with a thing to pump water or liquid into the ear. It is a VERY uncomfortable experience to have an ear plugged with wax, I know. Hope he gets it resolved soon.

Go to hospital or clinic on Virgin Gorda. Wax (cerumen) does not generally cause pain when occluding the external canal. Suspect he has bacterial Otitis.

KF Quinn MD

I've never had a wax problem with my ears but have used alcohol after diving or if I had an ear ache.
I wouldn't know if alcohol would be effective in loosing up organic wax.

Try coconut oil, slightly warmed, put 4 or 5 drops into ear and lay still for 4 to 5 min. Flush with a few drops of warm water. The plug should slid out.

We had a very good experience at the clinic on Virgin Gorda with my daughter's ear problem. The doctor there had seen a lot of divers and the visit was quick. $20 for the office visit. The pharmacy was onsite and the prescription cost about $1.50. Better, faster and cheaper than home.

Cheers, RickG

Actually, since the new Pebbles Hospital opened recently, costs have gone up astronomically as well as a two tier system. Not saying not to go to the hospital just do not believe it is going to be cheap.

Unfortunately the fee schedule for non-belongers at the new Peebles is at US or higher levels.

When my wife had an ear infection last year we ended up at the Eureka Medical clinic in Roadtown. The doctor was first class and the cost very modest. I suggest you give them a call.
Henry

A combination of warm water and some sort of oil is what I use. This could be Canola, Olive or anything else you would deem safe to eat. The oil is slightly warmed for best results and should stay in the ear canal for several minutes to soften the ear wax. Then, warm water is used to flush out the canal. You can use any device that can provide a moderate stream of water such as a hypodermic (needle removed please!), wash bottle, whatever.
Doctors sometimes rush this procedure which can make it painful. So you could try doing it on your own and see how you make out.
Do NOT under any circumstances, try to use Q tips as they will force the wax further into the canal, making things worse.

Eureka is the way to go..great docs..great prices..

Agree on Eureka.

Agree with Frankie2.... Needs to be checked out rather than home remedies here.

Another agree with Eureka in Roadtown and right across the hall from the pharmacy.

In January I had used peroxide in my ears as "prevention" and it actually caused otitis externa (swimmers ear) and it was extremely painful and hurt to chew. Use Advil for pain until you get to the doc. It took about a week to clear and i visited my ENT upon return to US. He said doc had provided the right medication (cipro ear drops). Cost was about $150 for doc and $39ish for Rx at Eureka.

I also agree with poster above that wax isn't painful, it's the infection and it causes the ear to close.

1) agree that Eureka is a pretty good clinic. They actually own Bouganvillea Clinic now, as well, although Robin Tattersall is still slightly involved.
2) for years i put a few drops of a half-and-half alcohol and vinegar in my ears after exiting the water to prevent swimmers ear. A nurse in STT looked in my ears years ago and asked if I was a divermaster. I said I dove a fair amount but was not a divemaster, and did spend a lot of time in the water. She said that I had fungus in my ears, that it did not cause pain, but could lead to deafness. I told her about faithfully using the alcohol/vinegar mix and she told me that while that guarded against bacterial infection, it did not do anything to counteract a fungal infection. She recommended that I change my mix to thirds - alcohol/vinegar/peroxide.

As usual, YMMV.

I would also recommend Eureka Medical Clinic.

My niece's boyfriend was just released from Peebles Hospital Saturday afternoon. He had some sort of unidentified back issues and was in a lot of pain. The doctor thought it was muscular.

In three days, he was never moved out of the emergency ward, never had a shower and there was no TV in that part of the hospital.

My niece had a heck of a time getting him signed out as they were supposed to leave on Friday. They to cancel their flights home and rebooked for Saturday. Still the hospital wouldn't release him in time for their flight. She had to cancel the flights a second time and rebook for Sunday. She finally got him released on Saturday afternoon and they arrived home in Calgary last night. They left for the airport at 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning and arrived home at 12:20 this morning. She had planned the second set of flights so that they would travel over a period of 2 days in order to make it easier on her boyfriend. At least he would have had a full 12 hours to rest and lie flat on his back had they been able to stick to the plan. I'm sure travelling for more than 18 hours straight couldn't have been very easy for him.

Total hospital bill was about $4,500.00 for three days. That was for his stay, pain drugs, a CT scan and 2 or 3 physiotherapy visits. There were no MRI's or X-rays. Oh and they also charged for filling out his insurance paperwork.

The staff (at all levels) were all very nice and very helpful, but it took a looong time for paperwork to be processed. He is seeing his doctor in Calgary today as there was ultimately no understandable diagnosis and he is still in pain, though it is more bearable than when he was first admitted.

They were very lucky as their health insurance plan will cover most of the costs, including the 2 extra days at the hotel for my niece and 2 extra days for the car rental.

Without a really good insurance plan, you are pretty much in a bad situation cost wise. I can't imagine what all the extra costs would have totalled had it been something serious, requiring lots of tests and a longer stay. I can see how people could be financially ruined by something more serious while abroad.

My niece was smart enough to insure her flights as well. It cost her an extra $100.00 but saved them thousands in the end.

Something as simple as a muscular back strain could well have cost them over $10,000.00 just because they weren't at home. It's really pretty frightening.

I urge all visitors to make certain you have good insurance coverage when visiting. Hospital care isn't inexpensive in the BVI.

Oh and one more thing. Despite the fact that their health insurance company said they would guarantee the hospital would receive payment, the hospital wouldn't sign him out or complete the paperwork until his bill was paid. So my niece and her boyfriend had to come up with the funds and will be refunded by their insurer when they finally get their luggage back from the airline … because of course, that has gone missing. So perhaps it would be best to pay the hospital to provide copies of all your receipts and carry a copy in your purse or wallet.

You should also be aware that there are no wheel chairs at the airport.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Agree. Do not go to Peebles..

A local would never get a bill that high.
I think they know the cost of healthcare in the US and have raised their prices for tourist.
In 2002 I cut my foot they gave me a Tetanus shot about 8 stitches pain killers and extra bandages. The cost flipped me out I couldn't believe it
Total $14.00, just fourteen dollars.

There's been a number of good suggestions for ear wax removal (in the states any drug store has "Debrox" or equivalent). However if he's in pain and he's been doing a lot of swimming/snorkeling it's likely he's got an ear infection which will require an antibiotic. My ENT has prescribed the antibiotic ofloxacin when I've suffered from this. Btw, I also have a prescription for mometasone which is used daily and keeps wax build up under control.

Hospital has instituted a new rate system. Local pricing and a special "out of town rate" (3x-5x the locals rate) <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />.
That's why I don't travel there without AirEvac/Medical insurance. I think it cost me $130 for 2 weeks, worth it for the peace of mind and also because your insurance (US) will probably only pay "out of network" rates. My insurance broker also mentioned that if you ever get treatment out of the country, be sure the hospital/provider designates it as "emergency treatment" or you'll have a long row to hoe trying to get reimbursed(at in or out of network rates) these days.

I hope the original posters self diagnosis of ear wax plug was correct. But I really hope they got a doctors diagnosis and treatment.

Thank you all so much for the info and suggestions!! Sadly he gets this about once a year and knew exactly what it was. There was peroxide at the villa and I have a bobby pin with me for some odd reason. I know you aren't supposed to use anything in your ears but it helped grab a few of the chunks. Ewwww. Thankfully a few of you mentioned cipro and I happen to have some with me bc my son had an ear ache last month and I threw it in just in case. Hadn't thought about that with wax but it seemed to melt the wax. With the hospital being so craxy expensive he's just using the drops and will go to our ent when we get home. Thanks again for all the suggestions. The warm coconut oil was a no go. Bet it would work though.

As an update, I received the following message from my niece:


So it would appear the muscular diagnosis is in question and apparently, no reflex test was done on his knee while he was in the hospital. Had that simple test been done at the hospital, perhaps a disc injury may have been suspected.

On the flip side, had either of the two doctors who treated him done the reflex test, he would probably still be at the hospital waiting for an MRI and paying way more than they could have managed to scrape up to get him out of there. The hospital wouldn't release him or sign his insurance forms until the bill was paid. Being able to board the flight was conditional upon having the hospital release form.

Had the hospital bill gone much higher, they would have been between a rock and a hard place. They just bought a house so are pretty cash strapped. Their vacation was carefully planned well in advance and they did everything on an economical basis.

All in all, it was not a great way to end their vacation.

The good news is that at least he is home, being taken care of and they don't have to fork out any more cash for his treatments. His insurance thankfully covers all of it.

Holy cow, seriously? This was a commercial flight, not some kind of medical evacuation, right? So does this mean that the hospital contacted the airport or airline, and arranged to deny boarding?

Dan

exactly, how would airline know?

I'm guessing it's an airline condition of allowing you to re-book a flight for medical emergency.

You could always hop on a ferry to the USVI and get a flight

Actually, because the insurance company booked the flights (as they were paying to have the original flights changed - TWICE) … the insurance company made it conditional upon the doctor signing one of their forms saying that he was fit to travel and this was noted on the ticket.

They couldn't have taken the ferry, he was not able to withstand that kind of jostling.

The whole situation was taken out of their hands. Had they opted to simply rebook flights themselves, the cost of the new flights as well as the cancellation fees would have put them in a position of not being able to pay at all. They were cash strapped having already paid the hospital bill. The new flights were more than double what they paid last May when the flights were booked. Plus the airline charged $600.00 for each change.

All I am saying is that I believe travellers should make it a priority and be absolutely certain you are well covered (insurance wise) in the event of a medical emergency. If you can avoid using the hospital facilities, I would strongly recommend using alternatives such as the clinics first and make it clear to the doctors there that you want to avoid using the hospital unless absolutely necessary.

In my niece's boyfriend's case, I am certain he could have stayed at the hotel and received comparable care from private doctors and physiotherapists for way less money. He certainly would have had a proper shower one way or the other. Even if he had to lie/sit on an air mattress in the shower. He didn't even get a shave in all that time.

I still don't understand much of it or why he was never moved to a room.