A MAN has been taken to hospital after a cockroach crawled into his ear and survived all attempts for DIY extraction.

Hendrik Helmer was asleep in his Karama home when he felt "something trying to drill into his head" in the early hours of Wednesday morning, The NT News reports

"It was the most excruciating pain," the 36-year-old scaffolding yard supervisor said.

"It was like someone driving a cotton bud but way worse than that. It was like the pain you get when you go a bit too far multiplied by 100."

Mr Helmer then dozed off but the pain came back in his right ear.

"I tried the vacuum cleaner trick but it wasn't successful," he said.

"(Then) I tried water and that really pissed him off - the pain of him trying to burrow away from drowning was incredible.

"A cockroach can scratch and tear and dig and thrash."

Mr Helmer woke his housemate to drive him to Royal Darwin Hospital for fear of crashing because of the pain.

He was rushed through the emergency department.

But the most shocking part was when Mr Helmer finally saw the cockroach after it was removed with forceps.

"It took a bit of force to pull him out," he said.

Hospital staff told Mr Helmer it may have been the biggest insect they'd removed from a human ear.

Read the full report at The NT News