Blocked ear and sore jaw weeks after diving

[spudtatoe]

Hi,

So I went diving about 3ish weeks ago, I was having a hard time equalising my right ear but I managed to get there in the end though it took a while and the 2 dives went fine. But about 2 days later I woke up one morning and my right ear was absolutely blocked, and still is blocked to this day.. and my right side of my jaw is now also sore, in thinking that's just from me trying to move my jaw possibly to try and unblock the right ear with no luck.

I thought I might try and take some Dimetapp to see if that can sort out my ear but I've only had one dose of that so far.

I'm just wondering what has happened or what I've done wrong. I was very careful not to go down too fast or go up too fast and I was always equalising.

Thanks.

 

[Bob DBF]

You might want to visit your Dr and get it checked out. Just because you equalized does not mean you did not incur damage while equalizing.


Bob

 

[fmerkel]

You absolutely did not equalize properly. You've now incurred middle ear barotrauma and sounds like a middle ear infection. This is unfortunately pretty common, especially in new divers.
There's another active thread just started: Serous Otitis Media -- Causing a lot of ear infections

Post #7 and post #8 have links that you want to spend some time on. I'd say right now #8, get this sorted out, then a LOT of time on #7.

Note - if you are having a hard time equalizing, and you don't know what you are doing >>>> don't dive. Serious permanent ear damage is not worth a dive, and it does happen to people.

Note 2 - Dimetapp is not very effective. Get some Sudafed (behind the counter) and some Afrin nasal spray. Use both as directed for the next 3 days. You can use the Sudafed longer if necessary but the Afrin will create what is called rebound and your nasal congestion will get worse for about 12-24 hours after you stop it. The longer you take it, the worse the rebound.
If you don't get some resolution fairly soon, the pain gets worse, or you develop fever and chills then I sure as hell would see a physician.

Long term you need to learn to clear properly, especially if you are going to be an occasional diver. You may be helped by support from these same medications if your improved technique is still not adequate. Technique FIRST, medication only as an aide if required.

 

[Kevrumbo]

If there is no ear pain or discharge and only decreased hearing, I'd say you've got a cerumen/wax/dead skin & generalized ear "crud" impaction. You have to see your Primary Care Physician first anyway to have a general otoscopic visual examination of your eardrum and ear canal passages for a differential diagnosis ruling out other causes. . .

 

[spudtatoe]

You absolutely did not equalize properly. You've now incurred middle ear barotrauma and sounds like a middle ear infection. This is unfortunately pretty common, especially in new divers.
There's another active thread just started: Serous Otitis Media -- Causing a lot of ear infections

Post #7 and post #8 have links that you want to spend some time on. I'd say right now #8, get this sorted out, then a LOT of time on #7.

Note - if you are having a hard time equalizing, and you don't know what you are doing >>>> don't dive. Serious permanent ear damage is not worth a dive, and it does happen to people.

Note 2 - Dimetapp is not very effective. Get some Sudafed (behind the counter) and some Afrin nasal spray. Use both as directed for the next 3 days. You can use the Sudafed longer if necessary but the Afrin will create what is called rebound and your nasal congestion will get worse for about 12-24 hours after you stop it. The longer you take it, the worse the rebound.
If you don't get some resolution fairly soon, the pain gets worse, or you develop fever and chills then I sure as hell would see a physician.

Long term you need to learn to clear properly, especially if you are going to be an occasional diver. You may be helped by support from these same medications if your improved technique is still not adequate. Technique FIRST, medication only as an aide if required.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Seeing as I've taken some Dimetapp already I might as well see how that goes, I also had some Otrivin at home so i'm taking that too. If that doesn't help then i'll probably just go and see the doctor.

 

[Stoo]

My guess is that you have a low grade middle ear infection. The relationship between your problems equalizing and the discomfort is probably reversed though. I would say that you likely had a bit of an infection brewing when you went diving. The inflammation from the infection made it difficult to equalize. The pain in your jaw is entirely in keeping with this as the inflammation is likely in your eustachian tube.

Often just gargling with warm/hot salt water will clear this up, but if it hasn't started to improve after a couple of days, you should get to your Doctor to let them have a poke and they might prescribe an antibiotic.

 

[fmerkel]

Antibiotics tend to be over prescribed and generally unnecessary in otitis media. Because of a long history of doling them out there is an expectation that patients should receive them. We are having some serious issues with antibiotic resistant bacteria and that is going to come and bite us hard sometime. Here's a quote from the previously linked discussion [ Serous Otitis Media -- Causing a lot of ear infections ] on the same subject from [doctormike]:

[Lots of misconceptions about ears and diving. Here is my sticky about all of this, I hope that it is helpful.

Ear disease is very frequently misdiagnosed by doctors who are not ENT docs or pediatricians. Your doctor may be great, I don't mean to sound snotty (hah!). However there should be no confusion between middle ear barotrauma leading to serous otitis media (for which antibiotics should never be used), acute otitis media with pus in the middle ear (which is extremely uncommon in adults, even in divers), and otitis externa ("swimmer's ear", which may require microscopic cleaning of the ear in addition to drops).

It would be helpful if divers and everyone becomes more familiar with the problem and how to manage it.

 

[Stoo]

Which is why I suggested salt water as a first step. If not treated properly otitus media can become very serious. I know this from experience... My wife developed an ear infection while we were in a remote area... within a few days, it had "exploded" and ultimately required three rounds of antibiotics (the first was injected).

I agree that avoiding antibiotics is desirable, but at the same time, they shouldn't be dismissed outright either.

 

[spudtatoe]

My guess is that you have a low grade middle ear infection. The relationship between your problems equalizing and the discomfort is probably reversed though. I would say that you likely had a bit of an infection brewing when you went diving. The inflammation from the infection made it difficult to equalize. The pain in your jaw is entirely in keeping with this as the inflammation is likely in your eustachian tube.

Often just gargling with warm/hot salt water will clear this up, but if it hasn't started to improve after a couple of days, you should get to your Doctor to let them have a poke and they might prescribe an antibiotic.

Hi, when you say salt water you mean just tap water with table salt in it, or do you mean ocean water?

Thanks

 

[fmerkel]

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt per cup water.
No need to make a trip to the dive site. ..too salty anyway and loaded with organisms.