Doctor finds spiders in ear of boy with earache

[snopes]

A 9-year-old boy who complained of an earache was a little surprised when the doctor told him that a pair of spiders had tried to make a home out of him.

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/...rylist=orlocal

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

Delia Darrow had a "favorite quote" in her now deleted, chowed thread.

My favorite quote is from the doctor: "It was the only time I ever pulled out an invertebrate"

Um, hello? You've pulled vertebrate animals out of ears?

[carter108]

I found this link note it is listed under pets.

http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/pets/story/1390023/

I could see myself running in circles screaming to get them out now!!!

Wasn't there also one about someone with a lump on their head, turned out to be spiders?

Originally Posted by Shadow

Was there not another urban legend here that dealt with a spider or other "bug" getting into someone's ear and allegedly eating the person's eardrum (was proven false about the eating)?

I'd probably be freaking out about it too - my head is already messed up enough, so I definitely do not need something living in it.

I believe something similar to this was on an episode of "House" recently. A guy comes into the clinic because his ear feels funny, and then freaks out screaming running around in weird circles. House figures out pretty quickly that a tiny cockroach got into his ear and what set him off was that it bit down on his eardrum.

Shrug. True or not, it's in the public mind.

[Delia Darrow]

I don't mind spiders more than the average person. I try to find ways to let them live, if I possibly can. My DH hates bugs, though, and he's almost to the point of phobia about spiders.

One day last year DH came to me and said his ear itched, and he wanted me to take a look and see what might be the problem. I shone my penlight down his ear canal, and had to chomp down on my lower lip to avoid laughing at what I saw. A little baby green spider was busily stringing webs all over the place inside his ear.

Knowing he would freak if I told him the truth, I said he had a little lint down there, and I fetched the "lint" out with a bobby pin.

When the OP spider story came out, I foolishly related DH's own 'ear spider' story to him. He was so repulsed that he actually did the heebie-jeebie dance usually reserved for when a yellowjacket lands on your face. He's gonna go thru a year's worth of Q-tips by the end of the month, I think.

~Delia

[We'veBeenHad]

I guess no one else saw that episode of...I'm pretty sure it was "Medical Incredible" on one of the Discovery Channels - probably Discovery Health.

A woman was brought into the ER screaming hysterically about "Stop the helicopter! Stop the helicopter!" and clutching, scrabbling at her ear. They were going to send her to the psych ward, but one of the nurses went to an ear/nose/throat Dr. and said "Dr., I really think you should look at this." Well Mr. Dr. wasn't thrilled, he was like, why are they calling me when it's just a psych patient?

At any rate, he came and they just could not get close enough to look into the ear she was clutching, because she was so hysterical and still screaming about the helicopter. He asked the man who came in with her what had happened and he said she'd gone to sleep in his truck outside the restaurant where they both worked, for a nap, and when she woke up she was like that. They gave her some Ativan intravenously to calm her down enough so he could actually look, and it worked.

He was pretty shocked - he could see the head of an insect way down in her ear, peering out. He knew he had to get it out, so he said he had to pour alcohol into her ear canal and thus kill the insect, then pull it out gently. He also said that it would cause the thing to temporarily burrow down deeper, and that it would be even more uncomfortable. Long and short, it took a while to get her to stay calm enough to put up with that (she was certain it was eating into her brain but he told her that wasn't possible) but eventually the thing was dead.

When he finally pulled it out (VERY carefully so as not to leave part of it in there) he was amazed and appalled - it turned out to be a huge Junebug. He said he'd never pulled anything like that out of anyone's ear. It was the beating of the wings or whatever that were making her hear a helicopter sound, of course, and the HUGE BUG that was making her scream and freak the hell out. They showed the thing; I think it was like 2 inches total, and fat. Nasty business.

Anyway, soon as I saw this I thought that if a massive junebug can burrow its way down, maybe spiders can too. I don't know if they would, just that weirder shit has happened.

ETA: Sometimes doctors can be asses, and if they'd just sent her to psych, that would have been really really bad. Good thing some nurses are really on the ball.

[FloridaGirl]

Note: I was not yet born, but this happened to my dad. He's never been one to lie.

My dad was once doing some yard work when a bug flew into his ear. A tablespoon of olive oil killed the thing and it slid out. He said it was the loudest noise he had ever heard. He now carries around a little vile of olive oil in his first aid kit. That part is true - I have seen the little container of it!

[Beastly Despot]

Anyone remember that movie "Mountains of the Moon" when John Speke (?) got a big bug in his ear and had to jam a pen in his ear? That was awesome....

[stacnbake]

I've had both a roach in my ear, and an ant, at different times.
I was only like 9 when I stayed over at my aunt's house and woke up with a lot of pain and noise in one of my ears. I, being a very strange child, was absolutely obsessed with aliens, so my first thought is that I had been kidnapped and had something implanted into my ear. After running up to my aunt's room screaming she looked in and the thing ran out. I never saw it, and did not sleep any more that night.
Last year we had a huge problem with sugar ants. I woke up with some noise in my ear and I knew it had to be a sugar ant. I killed it with a q-tip and extracted it. I didn't even consider alien abduction that time.

[annabohly]

Originally Posted by stacnbake

I've had both a roach in my ear, and an ant, at different times.
I was only like 9 when I stayed over at my aunt's house and woke up with a lot of pain and noise in one of my ears. I, being a very strange child, was absolutely obsessed with aliens, so my first thought is that I had been kidnapped and had something implanted into my ear. After running up to my aunt's room screaming she looked in and the thing ran out. I never saw it, and did not sleep any more that night.
Last year we had a huge problem with sugar ants. I woke up with some noise in my ear and I knew it had to be a sugar ant. I killed it with a q-tip and extracted it. I didn't even consider alien abduction that time.

I had the roach in my ear thing, didn't hurt, but the noise it made was very loud. I just put peroxcide in my ear and it came right out.