Try pushing Q-tips in your ear.

Stop pushing when you meet resistance. ;-)

In the drug store, there is a product called Swim Ear. There are other similar products by various names. 98% alcohol with some glycerine. The alcohol breaks the surface tension on the water in your ear, letting it run out. The alcohol then evaporates.

I use it all the time. A lifetime of swimming in the ocean has made the ear canal close a bit.

Don't wait. Go now and get it. You can get an ear infection.

Shaking my head sharply to the side (on the side that's affected) has worked for me since the lifeguarding days.

Go with the Swim Ear or a drop or two of alcohol (rubbing, not drinking!) Also gently rub the soft spot behind your ear (between the tip of the jaw and your skull). That will also help break the surface tension.

I'm sure Pej was kidding, but NEVER put a Q-Tip in your ear. Sure, you'll get some stuff out, but what you don't will be impacted against your eardrum. Do it enough and you'll have to get the stuff flushed out with high-pressure water or picked out with dentist's tools. Not fun either way (I speak from experience).

Aloha!

Also, hydrogen peroxide is great for cleaning out the ear canals. Just don't let it sit in there or it will eat the skin while it is at it - use one of those ear flushing bulbs with warm water after your hydrogen peroxide the ear.

For a real cleaning, bordering (no, crossing the border) on gross, have the doc clean your ears out. They'll pull out dark black gunk you haven't seen since the summer of '82. No lie.

OK, it sound weird, but put more water in your ear. Really. You know those water-drop shaped rubber things that they sell for sucking the snot out of baby's noses? just put some warm (not hot) water in that, squirt it in your ear, and it should bread the seal, letting all the other water out. You really can't spray it hard enough to hurt yourself even if you try. It feels wierd, but it should work right away.

A couple weeks ago, I thought I had some water in my ear. It sure felt like it, I couldn't get it to come out. Would have been handy to know the rubbing alcohol trick.

Anyway, I did end up with an ear infection. 4 drops 4x a day for a week took care of the problem, but what a drag having to do that.

Hope things are better for you now.

Pejman's got it, Q-tips all the way!

Go with the swim ear. I had the same problem about a year ago. It sounded like I had an ocean replicator in my head because I couldn't get the water out. The Swim Ear (or various products) works wonders and it helped prevent an infection.

Tilt your head to the side and hop up and down on one leg. No, seriously.

Shove a mouse is your ear. The mouse will drink the water.
Then shove in a cat to catch the mouse...
Shove in a dog to catch the cat...

tipping over onto a couch or bed with the clogged side down works for me when head shaking won't work.

An old axiom properly states "Don't put anything in your ear but your knees and your elbows! "

Drinker Andy had it right. Use peroxide right out of the (plastic) bottle (3%). add a few drops in the troubled ear while reclining your head horizontally so as to avoid spilling the peroxide. Let it work on the wax that is preventing the water from escaping. After about 10 minutes, take a rubber syringe bulb; fill it with warm to hot water and flush it into the troubled ear. The flush must be somewhat violent in order to increase the chance for dislodging the ball of wax. I have routinely performed this technique for many years.

Good luck! And keep up your postings, I really enjoy them.

George

some scuba-junkies i know use a home made mixture of vinegar and mild alcohol. Very useful after a scuba dive if you get water in your ear. Swim ear works well too.

Now, if you have a tendency to get water in your ears a lot, sucba-diving is GOING TO BE HELL. Courtney almost quit diving because of ear infections. Sea and Lake waters are not as clean as chlorinated pools. I suggest getting a mask called ProEar 2000. It looks goofy, has a set of ear coverings connected to the maks face so you can equalize. It costs a bit, around $150, but if you are going to be diving a lot, it's a great invention.

This used to happen a lot to me when I was a kid. It's one of the most maddening sensations I can think of. The cure my mother used was to gently warm a teaspoon of olive oil and use an eye dropper to put a couple of drops in the affected ear. The oil displaces the water and then gently soaks into the skin. It also loosens a lot of earwax, so be prepared for some interesting things to emerge froim your ear canal.

yeah, after a point, tipping to the side doesn't help. you've got to lay down on that side. i think it has something to do with the surface tension of the water and the angle of your ear canal. *shrug*