Ear Wax!

(Rob) #1

A weird one here.

I’ve been doing Keto for 5 weeks. Stepped carbs down by week - 60, 50, 40 now 25-35 for a couple of weeks (from a pre-LC baseline of ~200). Lost weight the first 3 weeks, then stalled. Now beginning to lose again but lots of other benefits… mild eczema clearing up, minor foot pain, headaches from reading iPad all declining/disappeared… and a huge reduction in ear wax production.

Anyone else experienced this particular thing? Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy not having to dig around in there any more but I didn’t expect it.

(VLC.MD) #2

How do you know ?

#3

I haven’t noticed this but something weird happened with me as well. I had a knot or cyst on a tendon in my hand that had been there for at least 2 years, wasn’t painful or anything so I left it alone as I was the only person who seemed to notice it. I’ve been at this for maybe a month and a half. It started going away and it’s pretty much gone. Weird, but good weird.

Maybe we should have a “Weird Stuff I Noticed on Keto” thread around here somewhere! :laughing:

(Sondra Rose) #4

This happened for me pre-Keto, but when I eliminated wheat from my diet.

(Rob) #5

I used to have to dig around in there as it built up and would get a reasonable amount out twice a day. Now (if I dig) I get nothing.

Since I posted, I found a post and comments on a paleo website where others, with more extreme ear leakage etc. also found this. Sounds like ear wax can be an ‘allergic’ reaction to diet, though people are variously blaming dairy, wheat/gluten, carbs, etc.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

My ears itch from my respiratory allergies, but you’re right; they’re producing noticeably less wax.

The other weird keto thing is that a sore or scar on my elbow seems suddenly to have disappeared. It was originally a scrape from an accident I had last year, aggravated seriously by friction from the sling my arm was in for three months. The doctor’s best guess was that it was a keloid, but then it seemed to get infected, etc. I just noticed this afternoon that I can’t feel it anymore. Doo-doo doo-doo, doo-doo doo-doo!

(Tom Griffin) #7

Yes. For 30 years, I had to get my ears cleaned out every 6 months for excess ear wax (blockage). Since Keto… my wax hasn’t been building up. I can think of no other explanation

(Matthew Montoya) #8

I feel like I need to comment on this, as I have been dealing with many health issues related to inflammation my entire life. I will point out a few conditions which I find to be interrelated here; I have mild ichthyosis vulgaris, I have degenerative disks in my back, I have always suffered from fatigue and exhaustion, my muscles and tendons are very “tight” and I do not have much flexibility. I seem to have always been very ‘dry’ in terms of my skin, my eyes, and my mouth. I have always had very dark ear wax that builds up tremendously. My bones often ache, and specifically, my heels would experience tremendous ache and pain throughout the day, with seemingly no explanation. And I would go through phases where these things get worse and not-so-worse. I am also mildly allergic to some legumes (peanuts, edamame), most tree nuts (except for almonds), and many metals such as lead. I have also suffered with moderate acute anxiety. I have experienced this my entire life, and suspected some deeper health issue and immune disorder.

But since I started Keto 3 weeks ago, much of these things have magically subsided or diminished. My energy level daily is at about an 8 when it used to be a 4 (out of 10), as mentioned in the main post my ear wax has vanished (when it used to be unbearable and constant and brown), my heel pain is almost non-existent, (though I still have pain from the degenerative disks) my back pain is diminished, my moisture level seems drastically improved, my muscles and tendons seem more flexible, and my anxiety has diminished significantly.

It has only been a week or so since I completed the detox from carbs, and I hit the Keto flu pretty hard. I went from consuming maybe 250 grams of carbs to < 20 starting the first day. But good lord this has been the best decision I have ever made in my entire life, and it has only been a few weeks. I am posting this in hopes that other people with similar issues my read it and find hope that the Keto diet might help them with such issues. I find people with a similar list of problems as I had all the time. And trying Keto has help me determine that there is obviously something that I was eating in carbs (exactly what, I have not found but intend to find) that was causing this body wide and debilitating allergic reaction and mass inflammation. And the Keto diet is what helped me find it.

I am excited to see the progress, and if I get responses I will continue to engage.

(Laurie) #9

Actually, yes. I used to have lots of ear wax, but now I don’t.

(Hebrew Rising) #10

Yes definitely less ear wax but the consequence to this seems to be ear itching. Is anyone else dealing with itchy ears?

(Edith) #11

I get itchy ears from allergies and eating dairy. Maybe it’s not the decrease in earwax but something new added to your diet?

(Laurie) #12

Or it could be external things. Do not let tea tree oil get near your ears (ototoxic). I spray a bit of vinegar into my ears after showering, to create a slightly acid environment (alcohol also works). For years, windy days would cause earaches, and I had to keep my ears covered. The doctor said the wind couldn’t cause earaches, but it did.

Your problem could be completely different. I’m sharing my experience just in case it might help. Good luck sorting it out.

(UsedToBeT2D) #13

Dry eyes gone. A small recurring sore on my ear, gone. Chronic Indigestion, gone. 50 lbs of fat, gone. Lethargy, gone. Medications, gone. Carbs, sugar, gone. KCKO.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #14

If he said wind couldn’t cause ear infections, I’d be with him. But ear aches? Absolutely.

#15

I personally don’t get ear aches per se, but can definitely tell ya constant winds whilst Hunting, can & will give me headaches. Always has, and it’s the one element I hate hunting in for this reason alone.

Plus, being one who has earpods in my ears all day, most days (Listening to Music and while on the Computer) I’m not sure if it’s the vibration caused by the direct sounds that does it, but I find my ears can itch and require cleaning more often when I do use them, opposed to when I’m not. But I will also run the hot water in my shower into my ears a few times too, which allows the wax to run out as well.

#16

doesn’t everyone getting older have ear wax and accumulation and not so much in life as ‘a thing’ when younger? Might be just me LOL
in that getting a flush out as we age is a good thing?

I mean, age gives us crap, like more ear wax as we shove Q tips down there and compact it and we also thinking our hearing is less than cause ‘age’ when it is just not that?

Who makes a ‘yearly ear wax’ wash out in life at the Doc’s for professional care? Not me HAHA

How does one even know their ear wax production? This is all elusive to me on an eating plan change but hey if you get good results as a personal thing in your life than super cool!!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #17

My ear wax has been worse and better over time. At one point in my forties, I was putting hydrogen peroxide in my ears to dissolve it. These days it doesn’t seem to be that kind of problem. I can’t say it’s any better or worse on keto than it was before.

#18

WHA’…didn’t hear you good on that response? :clown_face: Say again? Let me cup my ear and hear ya :astonished::crazy_face:
just joking cause I know all med issues for each of us is never a joke truly! but I find this ear wax funny, might be just me obviously

yea it is that thing one would notice ‘as a thing’ or something one would’ never even truly address maybe?

but if it is a focus and a real deal then it is cool changing menu does effect it but for me personally, I just don’t hit on it, but more power to those who require this info for sure!

#19

I myself only mention it, since I use AirPods so much, I have noticed Wax more often with them. But I can’t say it’s just from all the time I do spend using them. … Yes, I do love listening to my Music, and when not ‘in my ear’ I still have something playing in the background, TV, Radio, etc. Especially at night. I can’t sleep at night without some sort of distraction. - But yes, there is a back-story as to why this is so, why I do listen to Music and such so much, or should I say, why it’s a daily requirement for me.

I had an accident about 35+ years ago, where a big section of brush smacked across the side of my face on a cold bristling day, and one of the branches slammed into my ear, putting a hole the size of a pencil in my eardrum. … I was told that it might heal on it’s own, if I didn’t get it wet for 3 or 4 months, but if it didn’t I would require surgery. - Well, I didn’t get it wet for those months, and it appeared it did indeed heal. But unfortunately not all the way, or properly. Apparently there is still a tiny pin-hole in my eardrum that causes me to have a constant ‘tone’ or ‘ringing’ in my ear. (That never stops) And I don’t mind saying, it’s more than just aggravating. At times its on the verge of just insanity. So If I don’t have Music, or TV, or something distracting me, it will literally drive me crazy over time. And getting to sleep can be the worst, since sometimes I listen to the Music too much, and don’t sleep. So…

Anyway, just wanted to mention it. So along with the constant ringing I have, I also lost the high & low tones in my ear, since the ‘healing’ of my eardrum, ‘which is basically scar tissue’ is now thicker than what the eardrum is supposed to be, so it no longer vibrates as good as it should. And I was also told that surgery was not guaranteed to repair it if they tried, and could even cause other issues…

(Butter Withaspoon) #20

Oh Dave that is truly awful :cry: The sleeping between a rock and a hard place especially.