So, does ear candling really work?

My Dad had a deafness in one ear. He got knocked around in the War and he reckoned that’s what caused it. He was 14 at the time, he put his age up so he could go overseas. Anyway, he had a bit of a selective hearing loss. If I said to him “Dad, can you lend me ten bucks?” he wouldn’t hear a thing. But if I said “Dad, do you fancy coming down to the Pub for a beer?” he’d say “Yes, don’t mind if I do!”

Anyway as I got a bit older myself I developed a similar hearing loss. It was handy too, when my partner Susan would suggest it might be time to mow the lawn, I’d look at my watch and say “It’s half past three!” Of course it never fooled her, but it was a good try.

I had noticed that my hearing was worse when there was background noise. I had done a lot of scuba diving in my younger days, I’d had a couple of emergencies when I had to surface in a hurry, and one time I had bleeding ears after such an assent. Once I had to bring up a diver who had passed out at some depth, and another time I got chased out of the water by a very big shark. Things we do when we are young and bullet proof!

So recently I decided to get my ears candled, to see if my hearing would improve.

Although an unskilled person can do this, I went to a naturapath. She explained to me the importance of using high quality candles, the ones she used had a one way valve in them to prevent candle wax getting down the tube. She candled each ear three times, and I have to say the difference was amazing. Each candle took about 10 minutes, and was quite painless. The amount of wax that came out was incredible. My bad ear, the one I had been having trouble hearing with, was full of wax, no wonder I was half deaf!

My hearing has now improved out of sight, and because I’m of Irish decent, I sing a lot, not professionally, I'm nowhere near good enough, but because I enjoy it. My tone definition has improved, and I can sing with notes that I knew I could never have handled before.

Although there has been some medical criticism of ear candling, one can only speak of ones own experience, and as far as I am concerned, it was the best thing I’ve ever done!

And I’m going back soon for another once only treatment to clean out any wax that may have been left. If you are having hearing problems, I strongly suggest that you get your ears candled by an expert before you go down the expensive and possible unnecessary route of a hearing aid. The key is though, to go to an expert.

Cheers, Patrick

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