A man who thought his ear was blocked from water went to a doctor and was told he was fine. A visit to a specialist a couple days later found something else in his left ear: a cockroach.

Zane Wedding went swimming in Auckland, New Zealand on Jan. 7 and left believing his ears became blocked with water.

He told USA TODAY he initially tried clearing his ears with swimmer’s ear drops and fell asleep later that evening. The next morning his ear was still blocked, so he headed to the doctor. 

Wedding said the doctor didn’t believe he needed his ears cleared and reluctantly flushed it out, but Wedding felt no relief. 

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“He said I should use a hairdryer to dry up the leftover water in my ear,” Wedding said. 

He spent the weekend deaf in his left ear and started to experience dizziness. When his condition didn’t improve by Monday, Wedding told USA TODAY he decided to go to a specialist. 

It took the specialist a couple of seconds to determine that the water he thought was blocking his ear was actually a cockroach.

“I realized I had just spent a weekend cooking a cockroach in my head with a hairdryer,” Wedding said. “It made me feel sick instantly.”

The extraction of the roach only took five minutes, and he felt immediate relief.

Wedding, who is Māori, said BIPOC in New Zealand are less likely to see a doctor and less likely to receive a referral to a specialist. This is what drove him to get a second opinion, or else he said he’d probably still have the cockroach in his head. 

“People know their own bodies. Don’t ignore what doesn’t feel right,” Wedding –said. 

Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.