(UPI) A New Zealand man who initially thought he had water trapped in his ear said the true cause of the blockage turned out to be something far more shocking -- a live cockroach.

Zane Wedding, 40, of Auckland, said he went swimming at a local pool Friday and later felt the sensation of blockage in his ear.

"I used some drops to clear it up and fell asleep on the couch later that night," Wedding told CNN.

He said his ear still felt blocked the next day, so he went to see a doctor, who advised him to try using a hairdryer to dry up the water inside his ear canal.

Wedding said the feeling persisted, so he went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist on Monday.

He said the doctor expressed shock immediately upon looking inside his ear.

"She said: 'I think you have an insect in your ear,'" Wedding told the New Zealand Herald.

Wedding said it took the doctor about five minutes to extract the cockroach.

"Every time she touched it I just imagined her squishing a cockroach into my eardrum, so I wasn't the perfect patient," he said.

Wedding said there was "instant relief" when the insect came out.

"I felt a pop as soon as the doctor pulled it away," he said.

He said the encounter left him with lingering feelings of disgust.

"It still gives me the creeps. We've got the fumigator coming in on Friday," he said.

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