Parasites in ears

[queencleo]

My sister keeps complaining of a sensation of bugs in her ears.  A few months ago she had an infestation of fleas at her home.  She thinks that the fleas may have gotten into her ears.  She came to stay with me after about a month of suffering and by then she had lesions all over her body from scratching and excessive bathing.  Over the course of 3 months, I took her to several doctors.
First ENT said there was nothing in her ears and told her to stop putting q-tips or anything in them.  He refused to believe there was anything wrong, so I took her to an internist after she developed an ear infection and suffered a perforated eardrum.
The internist put her on an antibiotic and referred her to and infectious disease doctor and another ENT.
The ID doc treated her for scabies.  We don’t believe she actually had scabies, but the lesions on her skin cleared up.
The ENT gave her Cresylate which seemed to help with the feeling of bugs . . . for a while.  He also told her that she has an inflamed TMJ and put her on an anti-inflammatory to reduce the inflammation.
It’s been 3 months since she came to stay with me and the feeling of bugs in her ears has not gotten any better.  She says that the bugs are getting into her eyes, so for the last 2 months she’s been in bed with her eyes taped over with adhesive bandages.  She has tried treating her ears with apple cider vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, Oil of Oregano, Tea Tree oil, Lavender oil, Eucalyptus oil, Lemongrass oil, an enzymatic cleaner, and Cedar oil.  I am concerned that she will eventually do irreparable damage to both her ear and her hearing.  Any idea what is going on and where she should go for an accurate diagnosis?  None of the doctors see any bugs, and we are totally at a loss.



This discussion is related to feels like microscopic bugs crawling in ear canal.

[Julianf]

Morgellons...

[Skat11]

I am feeling the exact same sensation as your sister. The first time I had the feeling your sister had I went to the ER to go check it out and the couldn't find anything. I felt the exact same way as youe sister, but after doing a lot of research I realized that this is actually a medical problem that is not related to a bug in the ear, but an infection in the blood. The crawling in the ear sensations are the throbbing of thin vessels in your ears. I also feel that it extremely aggravates my excema. This condition is extremely mentally taking and should be taken with care.

[Reika15009]

I too suffer from time to time with the crawling in my ear.  My doctor said that my medicine has that side effect .   So check your meds .
Ps.  It will drive you crazy.......

[Concerned_Boyfriend2012]

* 3 months - but my comment still stands.

[Concerned_Boyfriend2012]

Do not go pouring bleach into anyone's eyes or ears, for goodness sake. Gio77italy, that's really irresponsible...

I suspected from the start of the post but once you mentioned your sister sleeping with adhesive bandages on her eyes it's pretty likely she has a obsessive paranoia about it. It does seem to be all in her head as apart from the damage she's caused to herself there doesn't seem to be any physical evidence. This is over five years. Five years and no-one's ever found a bug or egg? It's in her head. Mentally, I mean... Get her to seek professional psychiatric help.

[Gio77Italy]

what did he use to treat Scabies? the fact that it worked doesn't necessarily mean it was Scabies, it could have been effective for other types of infestations too.

She could try Malathion gel it's a pretty strong pesticide product. here they sell it as Aftir Gel I can't find an equivalent in America, ask a pharmacy. read the instructions carefully.

I'm not sure but I found that bleach also disturbs bugs, it worked on my cats. theoretically it should only be effective against mold and bacteria.

[maatson]

Parasitophobia. Can be treated well if diagnosis is right. ok?