I sympathise with Freya Bennett (A moment that changed me: I was planning to be a musician – then I had my ears syringed, 11 March). In 2010, I found that my hearing was being muffled by a buildup of wax in my ears. I had always imagined that having ones ears syringed was a straightforward, risk-free process.
An appointment was made at my local GP practice, and a healthcare assistant, without any explanation as to what to expect or any warning about side-effects, essentially turned the irrigation machine, like a water pistol, up to full and blasted out the wax. The power of the jet was such that I actually jerked my head away in shock.
The next day I woke up with tinnitus and when I phoned the GP, the connection between the two events was dismissed. I had to take time off work as I was so distressed. I looked up the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on such machines and discovered that the pressure should be built up slowly, the patient should be warned of the risks and that in untrained hands these machines can cause permanent hearing damage.
I complained to almost every health-related body about this, put in a freedom of information request about statistics related to complaints about these machines and essentially got nowhere. However, some time later my GP practice stopped using these machines or offering irrigation, and it is now generally left to private clinics to complete these procedures where presumably staff are properly trained. Having had tinnitus now for 16 years I have become used to it, but for some people tinnitus drives them to despair and self-harm.
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