A spider was discovered crawling inside a woman’s ear, according to a new report.
Now, this is the stuff nightmares are made of.
A report published by the New England Journal of Medicine detailed how one woman couldn't sleep for several nights after experiencing the feeling of movement in her ear, along with a rustling and clicking noise.
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The 64-year-old woman in Taiwan visited an ears, nose and throat clinic when doctors found a small object inside her ear.
"She didn't feel pain because the spider was very small. It's just about two to three millimeters," said Dr Tengchin Wang, the report's co-author and the director of the otolaryngology department at Tainan Municipal Hospital.
Wang noted the case was highly unusual, as while she had found ants and cockroaches in patients’ ears before, she had never stumbled across a spider.
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She urged people who experience similar symptoms to see a doctor immediately.
According to Sky News, Dr David Kasle, a physician at ENT Sinus and Allergy of South Florida, said the image of the insect from Dr Wang's report was ‘unusual and disturbing’.
However, he added the average ear, nose and throat specialist would find ‘tens, if not more, of bugs or some sort of arthropod in patients' ears over their career’.
Triple yikes.
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Similarly, in 2018, a woman described to Self how doctors found a live cockroach in her ear when she was admitted to the ER.
Katie Holley recalled how her ear just ‘didn’t feel right’ one night, prompting her to clean it with a cotton swab.
“When I pulled the cotton swab out, there were two dark brown, skinny pieces stuck to the tip. Moments later, I came to the realisation that they were legs. LEGS. Legs that could only belong to an adventurous palmetto bug exploring my ear canal,” she said.
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She then recalled how a doctor administered Lidocaine in her ear, and she could feel the bug react.
“Feeling a roach in the throes of death, lodged in a very sensitive part of your body, is unlike anything I can adequately explain,” she continued.
Holley said it took about two minutes for the roach to die before the doctor removed the remains with tweezers.
Nancy Troyano, Ph.D., a board-certified entomologist and director of technical education and training for Rentokil North America, told the outlet she sees a few cases like this a year.
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“Cockroaches are active at night, and are always looking to squeeze themselves into tight spaces,” she said.
Full-body shivers.
Featured Image Credit: New England Journal of Medicine. UPN/CWTopics: News, Science, Animals, Health