DiverEmily
New
Just got back into diving after taking multiple years off. I have always had difficulty clearing my ears, but if I went slow enough I would always be able to dive. This weekend my husband and I went to do a refresher dive before heading off to HI in two weeks for family vacation + diving. The first dive it took forever ~15minutes, but I was able to clear my ears to 30ft. It is a quarry in the midwest and the water was COLD. The second dive no matter how slowly I went I couldn't make it past 10ft and we abandoned the dive after 30 minutes. The next day I started have mild ear pain. 48hrs post dive I was at the ENT. The visual inspection and the tympanometry test came back normal. He did say that my eustachian tubes were narrower than most and mildly hyperemic. He said he saw no reason to postpone diving and recommended Sudafed to be taken 1hr prior to diving. I mentioned that I thought Sudafed wasn't recommended especially with NITROX (which is what I dive with) but he seemed undeterred. So question- Is Sudafed OK with Nitrox now? Should I plan on taking a Sudafed but using regular air? Do I need a different ENT?