depressed beyond words; 50% hearing loss to barotrauma

[anvilring]

Last week, I did 6 dives over three days and on the very last dive, I came up on boat with what I thought was just water in my ear... apparently not that lucky. That was Saturday last, Monday I went to a ENT doc and he feared the worst as he couldn't detect any fluid in the middle ear. A trip to an audi the next day confirmed my worst fear; about 50% hearing remaining in my left ear. I'm on prednisone but so what... I have seen what at least seems to be the slightest improvement in hearing but nothing close to what I had before that dive which, I must admit, wasn't super (the hearing not the dive!) to begin with but way better than where I'm sitting now.
This whole episode caused no pain, no dizziness, nothing.... I see a specialist Friday next but its probably just money thrown out a window. I've been diving off and on for 20+ years and this is my first injury but what a homerun its turned out to be. He mentioned the possibility of a middle ear surgical procedure but thats got to be risky, painful and long to mend... any one ever heard of someone recovering from this? To add insult to injury, this was the first real dive trip with my son and now hes looking at me and thinking if he wants to continue diving at all. We had such a good time!, and now I'm sitting here sending this message with an old borrowed Siemens hearing aid stuffed in my ear and thinking how hard its going to be to live like this....

very depressed,
m

 

[RonFrank]

I find it amazing you could do so much damage without even having any pain. Were you able to clear OK the entire dive? I've not heard of Barotrauma without pain.

In any event, I hope you can recover. I'm not a doctor, so it's not possible for me to say.

Good Luck,

 

[redacted]

OTOH. I have 95% loss in one ear and over 50% loss in the other (non-diving). I miss a lot of what people say but sleeping is real easy. And sometimes I hear people say much more interesting things than they actually said.

 

[DESIGNERDIVER]

Last week, I did 6 dives over three days and on the very last dive, I came up on boat with what I thought was just water in my ear... apparently not that lucky. That was Saturday last, Monday I went to a ENT doc and he feared the worst as he couldn't detect any fluid in the middle ear. A trip to an audi the next day confirmed my worst fear; about 50% hearing remaining in my left ear. I'm on prednisone but so what... I have seen what at least seems to be the slightest improvement in hearing but nothing close to what I had before that dive which, I must admit, wasn't super (the hearing not the dive!) to begin with but way better than where I'm sitting now.
This whole episode caused no pain, no dizziness, nothing.... I see a specialist Friday next but its probably just money thrown out a window. I've been diving off and on for 20+ years and this is my first injury but what a homerun its turned out to be. He mentioned the possibility of a middle ear surgical procedure but thats got to be risky, painful and long to mend... any one ever heard of someone recovering from this? To add insult to injury, this was the first real dive trip with my son and now hes looking at me and thinking if he wants to continue diving at all. We had such a good time!, and now I'm sitting here sending this message with an old borrowed Siemens hearing aid stuffed in my ear and thinking how hard its going to be to live like this....

very depressed,
m

I am really sorry for what you are going through. remember there are other doctors that you might want to see besides the ent. IMHO it is worth seeing a specialist who SPECIALIZES and has experience with divers. You can contact DAN for a recco I believe. If it were me I would seek several opinions and a ton of research. I wish you luck!! keep your chin up!!

 

[Inalara]

IMHO it is worth seeing a specialist who SPECIALIZES and has experience with divers. You can contact DAN for a recco I believe. If it were me I would seek several opinions and a ton of research. I wish you luck!! keep your chin up!!

I'm with DesignerDiver, while I've had an ear injury that has recovered the hearing (took along time), there are so many variables that you really need a doctor, preferably with experience of dive based injuries to tell you the likely outcome of your own injury.

I assume the borrowed hearing aid is from the Hospital; if not, be aware that it may not be helping as much as you think, as they should be set for your own personal hearing loss range - it's like picking up a pair of random glasses, they may help you read a few sentances and you don't feel the strain, but if you wore them the whole day you'd probably end up more tired because you are straining to use something not made for you.

Here's hoping for a good outcome for you

 

[newman_diver]

I did a dive course with a guy and the same thing happened. No pain, discomfort or any signs of damage, other than the hearing. Didn't affect diving either, he could still clear no problem. Unfortunately, the doctors at work wouldn't allow him to continue diving. It's been almost 2 years now and as far as I know, his hearing hasn't recovered much at all.

Hope you have better luck than my friend. As someone said, it will make sleeping through noise much easier

 

[mikeyjoe]

Have you sought any advice from DAN - they hay have some insight.....

Good Luck

 

[anvilring]

But in this case its just a matter of having something (simple aplification) on the other side.... As a one legged man might say; even a short crutch is better than your arm. I'm already doing my reserch on my new hearing options... all of course involve a hearing aid. I'm scheduled for a look/see at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston on Friday next and I'll let all interested know what I found out. Although I'm pretty sure what's coming.

On another note; it seems swelling is the culprit to hearing loss in this instance so: if you or someone you has this happen on a far away trip, theres a way to tell "fairly certain" that its nerve related insted of "fluid" related hearing loss.

And my point is this: had I known of the possible damage WHEN it happend, I could have started myself on relatively harmless (but none the less; powerful) inexpensive steroids to reduce the swelling and get things going a right as they could be going days ahead of an office visit!! ANyBODY can travel with a generic dosage (several days worth of ) Prednizone.

 

[DandyDon]

I hope you had DAN dive insurance? It'd be nice to not be out any money.

good luck!

 

[doctormike]

Last week, I did 6 dives over three days and on the very last dive, I came up on boat with what I thought was just water in my ear... apparently not that lucky. That was Saturday last, Monday I went to a ENT doc and he feared the worst as he couldn't detect any fluid in the middle ear. A trip to an audi the next day confirmed my worst fear; about 50% hearing remaining in my left ear.

Hi, Anvilring...

As with most such cases, the devil is in the details. If you have a new onset hearing loss after diving, and there is no evidence of fluid or blood in the middle ear, and the audiogram shows a "sensorineural" hearing loss (as opposed to the more common conductive hearing loss related to barotrauma), then the possibility exists of a leakage of inner ear fluid (a perilymph fistula, or PLF).

Unlike the controversial spontaneous PLF, a leak of this type following a pressure injury may well be helped (or at least stabilized) by surgery. The operation involves opening up the ear by lifting the eardrum, and packing fat or other material around the site of any suspected leak.

Obviously, I can't be very specific over the Internet, but if you are truly in this situation, you should see an ENT doctor who specializes in ears (an otologist) right away - the longer you wait, the worse the results may be. If you want to PM me with your location, I may be able to give you a local referral...

Two more points - prednisone may or may not be helpful (controversial) for a sudden sensorineural hearing loss, which is though to be related to inflammation in the inner ear. However, a sudden loss after diving would be more suspicious of a traumatic fistula, and there is not much evidence of the benefit of steroids in this case. It is common, however, to try it anyway, since it doesn't do much harm, and any improvement would be good...

Also, the operation (middle ear exploration with fistula repair) is actually pretty quick, not particularly painful, and in good hands, should not be very risky... Maybe we are thinking of two different things, so I'm not sure what operation your doctor was talking about...

Here are some previous threads about this issue:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/271573-perilymph-fistula-surgery.html


http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/233882-physiological-presentation-symptoms.html


http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/239727-barotrauma-ugh.html