If you ask any ER nurse what is the most disturbing thing they’ve ever seen in an emergency room, they definitely have some stories. When asked this same question, ER nurse Natalie Beeson in Florida has one specific instance that causes her great distress, and it happened twice in one week at one point in her life. Oh, and did I mention that it also involves cockroaches crawling out of orifices? Yes, you heard that right.
Natalie spilled her least favorite ER experience in a TikTok video. She explained, “I can handle cardiac distress all day. But bugs? No, thank you.” She went on to say, “The scariest thing I see as an ER nurse is hands down the number of live cockroaches that crawl into people’s ears.” She explained that, not only did it happen one time, but then there was a second patient with the same ailment in that same week! Her reply to this? “I don’t love that.”
There are many reasons why a cockroach could end up in the ear of a patient, just as with any other insect. It can happen when a person is sleeping or they could fly in when a person is spending time outdoors. And in Florida, cockroaches are especially plenty.
Luckily, when this unfortunate disaster occurs, there is a way to cure a patient and rid them of their new unwanted friend. Beeson laid out the process, with a “primary goal” of killing the insect. Doctors apply an anesthetic cream called lidocaine and then the cockroach will crawl out on its own accord.
Beeson may have given even the biggest insect lover the heebie-jeebies when she continued, “The patient I had last week had a roach crawl out of their ear after it was submerged in lidocaine. The provider calmly pulled it off their face and tossed it in the trash. I quickly ran out of the ER carrying the insect-filled trash bag.” She said that patients come in feeling distressed because they can feel and hear the cockroach inside their ear, which sounds the absolute worst.
Though a cockroach will likely only cause some discomfort or even the risk of a slight ear infection before discovery, there is also a risk of eardrum rupture in some cases.
Beeson said, “The ear canal has very thin skin—if an insect is scratching around, it could cause pain or inflammation.” In other words, it is very likely that you will know the cockroach has taken up house and home inside your ear if you have the misfortune of experiencing it! Her tale reminds me of why I’m glad I don’t live in Florida anymore.
