A woman found out that her headaches were caused by a spider living in her ear. A video shows the spider leaving the woman’s ear at the bottom of the article
The incident was reported in 2017, but it has since gone viral again after disturbing images of the spider in the woman’s ear were shared on Facebook en masse on several websites.
The woman in the incident was identified only as “Lekshmi L.,” who had fallen asleep in the afternoon. When she woke up hours later, she had a headache, reported the Indian Express.
Also, she felt a tingling sensation but couldn’t figure out the reason why.
After trying to see if something was stuck in her ear, she couldn’t find it and even asked her daughter to examine her ear. Nothing was discovered, according to the report.
Lekshmi’s symptoms got worse, and her husband took her to Columbia Asia Hospital in Hebbal, Bengaluru.
Doctors spotted a spider moving out of her ear after they shined a light in the area, the report said.
The India Times reported that doctors poured liquid medicine into her ear, which also aided in forcing the spider out.
Dr. Santosh Shivaswamy, who helped treat the woman, said it’s common to see people in the emergency room with something stuck in their ear. But, he added, that “it’s rare to see a live spider moving inside someone’s ear canal.”
Not the First Time?
In 2012, a Chinese woman checked into a hospital due to an itchy ear, learning that it was caused by a spider, CBS News reported, citing local news outlets.“There are a few different ways that the bug can get into the ear. It could crawl in overnight while a person is asleep, or fly into their ear when they are spending time outside,” the website says.
Typically, it adds, a bug in one’s ear will not create “any significant problems, but it can occasionally lead to complications.”
According to the website, symptoms of a bug in one’s ear include:
- Swelling
- Bleeding or pus
- Hearing loss
- A feeling of fullness in the ear canal
The U.S. National Institutes of Health says that people who believe they have a bug in their ear shouldn’t try to reach in, as it might cause it to bite or sting, according to CBS.
The agency recommends turning the affected person’s head to the side facing up to see it if crawls out.
“If that doesn’t work, have someone pour mineral, olive or baby oil into the ear while gently pulling the earlobe backward and upward (downward for a child); that should suffocate the insect which hopefully will float out with the oil,” says CBS.
The video can be viewed below.
