My Love Affair with Q-tips

I have a very special relationship with Q-tips. I use them every day to clean out my ears. After taking off my hearing aids I cannot get to them fast enough. My ears are rather greasy with the hearing aids in, so when I take them off they have a very wet feeling. I can master two Q-tips, one in each ear, at the same time. And they are both cleaning rather fast. It’s a very pleasant and enjoyable experience that keeps me coming back for more.

When I was a teenager I started to have some oozing in my right ear. It was a few years later that I realized that this was due to the Q-tips. Unbeknownst to myself Q-tips are on the list of no-no’s. They hurt the ear and cause issues.

I have spent the past 10 years trying to quit. I fail. Badly. I love my Q-tips. Now after I am done cleaning my ears hurt and they continue to have the oozing problem. But I can’t stop. I may not have many vices but this one is big, and I am addicted.

I managed to quit for a period of about a month. It was just prior to my wedding and I developed an infection from my Q-tip habit. I couldn’t even wear my hearing aids never mind use a Q-tip. I was proud of myself; though it was unpleasant I had finally broken the habit.

At this point I learned that my Q-tip habit caused my ear to swell. Without the habit my hearing aids didn’t fit. My right mold would slide repeatedly out of my ear and emit a high-pitched sound as it did so. I didn’t have enough time to get a new mold before the wedding and none of my old molds fit. My family came up with one simple solution: start using the Q-tips again.

So I went back to my bad habit. It helped but not enough: my wedding video shows me pushing my hearing aid in multiple times. Once I got a new mold I tried to quit again and failed.

In fact, I have tried on and off for the past year to quit. I get a good streak going and then I come home after a long day. I’m tired, I’m stressed, and my ears are very moist. I take off my hearing aids and ignore the Q-tip ritual. A few minutes later my fingers will be in my ears or I will have succumbed to the Q-tip. It’s not attractive but it’s a habit.

I need to join a Q-tip Anonymous group. That is if I can ever find another person who loves it the same as me. It’s very sad that I have to give up something I find so pleasurable. Yet every night my ears are red and inflamed and I know I am in for more trouble the following day.
Just say no to Q-tips if you can. If you can’t come join Q.A. with me, we can discuss which brands work best.