Blocked ears

[Redchic12]

Gem…..” it matters because a case study is the lowest form of evidence, and 'worked for me' doesn't imply 'it works'.

Case studies obviously matter to you and that’s fine but they are NOT important to me personally. If I’m in pain I will give anything a go.

In my case and my neighbours, it has worked extremely well so we don’t really give a damn about case studies. Dr McCarrey did his “case study” on his patients and felt that was sufficient proof for him. So good on him! If he’s getting positive results, then that’s all that matters isn’t it.

Obviously there will be many people that it doesn’t work for, but that’s generally the case with a lot of medicines.

Strange tho that no scientists have done a study of castor oil. I wonder why?

[FairyCrystal]

Big Pharma doesn't do research into natural remedies, incl Castor oil, as these are natural substances.
They don't and can't make money out of it so they don't spend money on researching it.

Meaning that if you make science your 'god' you will always miss out on what else is out there as science doesn't cover anything else.
Then you end up as narrow-minded as they are.
They won't mind, they'll love you for it, as you will then only buy their stuff. Meaning you're a milk cow for them.
That's why they're so desperately trying to get rid of anything natural like alternative therapies, oils, herbs, etc.
They don't make money out of it and they don't like losing too many milk cows to it.

There are, however, more and more scientists who are awakening and looking into other things. That's why occasionally you do see (small scale) research come up.
It is happening more and more though.
People like Dr Joe Dispenza and Bruce Lipton add a lot to this.
And it's about time that science and alternative get back together again as they once were.
They should go hand in hand so we, the people, can have the best of both worlds.
The alternative doesn't mind, is willing to cooperate, it's the scientific world that objects and resists.
But it's coming!

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

Gem…..” it matters because a case study is the lowest form of evidence, and 'worked for me' doesn't imply 'it works'.
Case studies obviously matter to you and that’s fine but they are NOT important to me personally.

First of all, if a doctor is accepting case studies as confirming evidence, that's not good practice. Case studies are the lowest form of scientific evidence, so we might say - huh, that's interesting - but we need to do randomized trials to see if it's actually thing. Those trials will be contradictory because poor quality studies and studies with different methodologies will create noise, but once we have say a dozen trials, we can eliminate the worst ones and collate all the best quality findings to see where different trials all agree on things. Then we start saying 'this stuff works'. Snake oil doesn't pass muster because it's eliminated at the controlled trials stage.

Still, if patients self-report positive results, there's no risk, so might as well carry on.

Realistically, McCarry is probably including the cases that were successful and omitting the cases that weren't, because he's not bound to report on the entire sample group, so even though my own bias is that castor oil is the greatest, I have no reason to take McCarrey's reporting as evidence. On the contrary, I have every reason to suspect it's wildly overstated.

Same as in sports science, which is the type I'm familiar with. In the past everyone thought weird things like knees past toes while squatting will ruin your knees. Then we found out that knees past toes was much safer and more effective, so everyone dropped the nonsense and went with what was demonstrated to work.

The problem with naturopathy is there might be no science behind their potions, or the science might have already disproven it, but because bias and magical thinking over-rules testing, they don't change. It's not to say none of it works. It's just to say a lot of it doesn't produce the promised results when actually tested, and some of it has tested negatively. That doesn't stop people from saying worked wonders for them in the comments section, but we know it doesn't and prove it again and again. It gets pretty subtle, though, because sometimes it doesn't work directly, but a knock on effect makes whole different reason we see success. Then we can remove the thing that doesn't work and get the results by using the things that do.

Don't take it personally. It's the same in my industry with fitness supplements, nutrition and exercise gimmicks. I feel offended not because all that stuff is proven false and that underminines my sensitive biases, but because the industry is actually provably corrupt.

If we didn't care about that, any snakeoil with a few positive testimonials on TicTok passes muster and people would still believe that knees passing toes is dangerous, and be doing the actually dangerous squat and saying it did wonders for their quads.

The scientific study into castor oil continues, there's tons of it, but so far I've only seen qualitative results, like arthritis patients self-report improvements in pain, and thereby quality of life, but I haven't seen any quantitative studies that show actual remission or anything like that yet. They are probably out there, though.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by FairyCrystal

...Meaning that if you make science your 'god' you will always miss out on what else is out
there as science doesn't cover anything else.

This is a great sentence, imo.
..........................

**2-3 sentences when quoting others, people!**
.
.

[Redchic12]

FairyC: '' Meaning that if you make science your 'god' you will always miss out on what else is
out there as science doesn't cover anything else.''

Ah yes I agree Miss H. That is well worth printing again!

[sky]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

Gem
Case studies obviously matter to you and that’s fine but they are NOT important to me personally. If I’m in pain I will give anything a go.

Castor Oil has been used as a Medicine for over 6,000 years, it obviously must be of benefit to some. If it works for you Red then that's what's important. You and you alone know your own body....

[FairyCrystal]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

This is a great sentence, imo.
..........................

I've been saying that for years, maybe I should get it printed on T-shirt, haha.
Too many people cling onto science as if that has the answer to all questions in life.
Yet science typically lags years behind, sometimes decades.
And it's not just the ancient alternative medicine, also 'granny's wisdom' that's under their scrutiny.

I remember my GP saying that science 'discovered' that wearing a scarf in winter time won't do anything for you.
Really?
Go outside when it's freezing cold and see how that works out for you!

Science is nothing other than fumbling in the dark until their equipment can measure it.
Trusting machines.
I rather rely on something more organic & visceral.

[FairyCrystal]

I put Castor oil in my ear last night before bed.
This time it didn't feel as awkward as last time :)
Tonight not doing it. It's too late, I want to go to bed, not sod around with oil anymore.

[Gem]

It's inconvenient to beliefs when scientific testing debunks unfounded assumptions. Hence the hyperbole about science becoming God.

No one worships science, but spiritual believers have always found it irksome. For example, when Copernicus found planets go round the sun, that was true, but it upset everyone, when geologists found the world was very old, when Darwin found evolution in species, it all undermined the unsupported claims of the Church, and Galileo was convicted of heresy for 'believing' that Earth went round the sun. Actually Copernicus already proved it, but he died too soon after he published to be persecuted for it, so they nailed Galileo and banned all the books.

On this thread olive oil is a popular thing, and one reason given was ENTs recommend it. Who's got a science god then? In science we would ask the ENT what evidence for your claim exists in the literature? Has it been tested? How was it tested? What were the outcomes compared to a control? Was anything else tested? How did other substances compare? I'm sure the literature exists.

Then I found a you-tube video that tested different compounds in test tubes, and olive oil was the worst performer. Surprisingly, steam distilled water was among the best. Whoda thought? It's not proof. It's not high quality evidence. It's not a controlled human trial. It's very low quality evidence. But it either makes you wonder or it makes you raise the drawbridge and mount the defenses. Maybe in humans olive oil works better, but unless it's tested, how do you know? Only trouble is, the test might prove you wrong as Copernicus, geologists and Darwin did to the church. So I ask you, is it not you that is behaving religiously and then projecting that mind set upon a science-like God? And before you take offense, was it not you that initially cast that very aspersion?

This is the actual problem. If the low quality evidence from the you tube video is all you have to go on, you assess the risk, and since it's safe, use steam distilled water instead of olive oil. If human trials demonstrate olive oil is more effective in actual human ears, then you change your mind. The alternative is seeing the low quality outcomes of the test, and rather than going with the available evidence, just dismiss it and behave according to the dogma. Again we see which approach is analogous to religion and which is not.

Spiritual believers find it hard because they believe what they believe and if they are wrong there's a domino effect that disrupts trust. If they were wrong about this, then what else are they wrong about? Copernicus; Darwin et.al. showed some of the Church's dogma was hokum, but instead of being steadfast with their own beliefs as devout Christians, they said the evidence undeniably proves my religion is wrong in at least some respects.

The difference is, science has no divine knowledge. If we are wrong, we change our minds. We continuously prove things wrong in our own institution and go, 'Huh, that's interesting. Whoda thought?' If trials were done comparing olive oil to distilled water in human ears, and distilled water was superior, then that'd be a thing, but is it better? IDK. Maybe oil is better or maybe they are more or less the same.

The ploy of hyperbole is just the fear that scientific testing could force you to change your mind. I arrive hearing claims, but I don't know, so every day I do a 5 minute search and start finding out. That is threatening to beliefs that have no founding, so discrediting hyperbole is directed at the threat.

Hence I resent the implication that science has become my god. The assertion is made as generalisation, but since I alone have raised scientific inquiry, I know it's directed at me and discrediting science generally serves to discredit my input in particular. It's done in a round about way so that others can amp it up, but you know I get the message, and we all know what that message is.

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Hemera

Well three days on and my ears are more blocked than ever! I literally can't hear out of my left, which is the worst one. The thought of another 2 weeks like this is difficult to say the least. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I'm hoping it'll be worth it when they're syringed!

Most doctors I’ve been too, never mention olive oil. ( not that I go much) I’m hearing impaired and wear aids, so I too suffer at times with wax build up. I’m very alternative regarding my health but the best and fastest solution I get is from waxol or something similar. If there is pain ( you haven’t mentioned this) then a few drops of onion oil tends to blast away that pain factor after two or three times of use, I’ve found. You can’t syringe until it’s soft, ( it’s too hard and painful otherwise) so opt for faster softening so you can at least get them syringed sooner. If the wax is very hard, you’ll need to be using something like waxol three to four times a day, plugging with a piece of cotton wool to let it sink through and not out of your ear. If you leave the wool in for an hr or so that should be fine.



Forgot to mention this..
I have tried olive oil but I warm it up. I find it more effective warm.

(Just as a little more info for you seeing you mentioned left ear. I am a holistic practitioner and intuitive, so as I’m listening to your post I just wanted to share this. The left side of the body is all about ‘receptivity’. Receiving (taking in to your body) and listening to that receiving. Are you listening to yourself and what your body needs before it gets this way? If the olive oil isn’t working for you, listen and research if you have too and see if something resonates more closely to you and your choice)

Good luck..or I probably should ask since time has elapsed. How are your ears now and how and what did you end up doing for yourself?