i remember when i was 18 i kept getting one ear infection after the other and the pain got sooo bad one night i wound up in the er looking for something that would ease the pain. This annoying painwent on for days and i starting to have this black goo in my ears and i kept trying to clean it out. I finally went to an osteopathic doctor my mom knew and she did something different which amazed me that no-one else tried. She took a gigantic syringe and flushed out my ear, and with each ear out came a clump of cotton and instantly the pain was gone <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> She told me sometimes when we clean our ears with a Q-tip some cotton comes off and gets stuck in there and after years i guess my ear collected enough of it to become a problem. She told me to make the Q-tip slightly damp ( water or alcohol) so no cotton will come off of it , and it has worked like a charm since. I know this isnt the same problem as you are experiencing, but reading about yours reminded about my experience with ear problems.