What to do if a bug flies in your ear

It wasn’t funny, even though most people laugh outright or at least chuckle when you first tell the story.

In this case it was a bug that crawled into my ear while camped on the Starcke Track, about a five-hour drive north of Cooktown.

I’m prompted to tell this yarn as bugs in ears have been hitting the headlines of late, and in every case it’s anything but funny and the first aid, especially out in the bush, seems to be little known. And from what I’ve read in recent days, camping, especially in summer or up north when it's pleasantly warm, is the peak time for bugs to crawl into ears.

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In my case it was the middle of the night when I woke with a bit of a start and the quick realisation that something had crawled in my ear. Within a few seconds it felt like a herd of Genghis Khan’s mounted warriors were charging around my eardrum, creating a hell of a lot of noise that was impossible to ignore, and the sharp little feet of whatever was in my ear was a little painful. Still, it was the noise and pressure on my eardrum that was quickly driving me insane.

Waking my son Trent up (we were on one of his Moon Tours up the Cape) we tried the old torchlight-at-the-end-of-the tunnel trick to try and lure said bug out of my ear. By this stage I was prepared to drive back to Cooktown in the dark to seek some help.

We didn’t have any tweezers, which in hindsight was a good thing as every expert and website on such matters strongly suggests you don’t use them as they can easily hole the eardrum – and then you are in more strife than a cat in a dog kennel.

If it happens to you, use some oil. Do not use tweezers to try and remove the bug

While I walked in circles shaking my head, Trent got on the satphone and in touch with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The doc on call knew what to do, “Just pour some oil into his ear – the bug, whatever it is, won't like it and it’ll go even crazier for a while, but the oil will kill it!”

Baby oil or similar is the preferred oil, but we didn’t have any with us so olive oil or cooking oil will do, we were told. At this stage I would have tried engine oil.

With a good dose of oil poured in my ear, the bug, as the doc had indicated, went a little crazy but then the noise subsided and stopped. Unless you’ve experienced it, you couldn’t believe the relief I felt.

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Then it’s a matter of tilting the head to the affected side and letting the oil and hopefully the bug fall out. When it did, I was surprised how small it was. If such a little insect can cause so much angst I really felt for the people in the recent news stories that had a 2cm-long cockroach crawl in their ears; now that would feel very noisy and disconcerting. But maybe I’m just a wimp!

The moral of the story is, if it happens to you, use some oil; do not use tweezers or the like to try and remove the bug.

How to stop them crawling in your ear? Keep your tent, swag or camper closed up to keep bugs out; if there are any around, give the enclosure a spray with some insect killer. Apart from that and short of wearing ear plugs, you are at their mercy. Just keep some baby oil or cooking oil handy!

For more information, see: www.healthline.com/health/bug-in-ear