how to 'flush hosts' via ssh

I have a MySQL db hosted on a commercial server as a shared account. Recently I have been getting an error: 'DBI connect('xxxxxx',...) failed: Host 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx' is blocked because of many connection errors; unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts'. However I can ssh into my host but trying to execute "mysqladmin flush-hosts' tells me 'DBI connect('xxx:example.com','xxxuserxxx',...) failed: Host 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx' is blocked because of many connection errors; unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts'". My host cannot help me (outside their scope) but I am hoping there is a way either to escalate my privileges, or execute a mysqladmin command. Anyone?