Having trouble clearing ears.....

[trishxray1]

I am newly certified and am having a hard time cleaing my ears after dives. I am wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas on how to do this?? I have done EVERTHING I know to do on my own and it has been three days now and they still have not popped! Any ideas will be appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

[tracydr]

There is a video on Scuba forum that I'm sure someone will post on clearing ears. It can be very helpful to learn some different valsalva techniques.
I think the biggest two problems new divers have is not recognizing the feeling of of pressure until it's already pretty late and getting scared when they feel that new pressure sensation, describing it as pain rather than pressure. (I see this in patients a lot when they come in with allergies and they have pain in ears which I get them to further quantify as pressure)
Start equalizing the minute your face is in the water and never stop. Don't go down quickly (unless your first dive is Darwins Arch in Galapegos) and be confident that it will work. If you can equalize in 12 feet in the pool you have it made so practice swimming to the bottom of the pool. The first 10 feet have the biggest pressure change so that's why pool practice is good and also why ear clearing gets away from you at the beginning of the dive.

 

[tracydr]

I just reread your question. You may have been ascending quickly or may have allergies which can cause your ears to feel full for awhile after diving. My husband and I both have that problem, usually starting about day 3-4 of our dive trip, worse if we dive deeper than 100 feet often or more than three dive days. We went to Bonaire about 3 weeks ago for 14 days and my ears still feel full.
The only thing that seems to help a little is nasal steroids and antihistamines.

 

[TSandM]

If your ears still feel plugged after three days, you have almost certainly had some barotrauma. When you are unable to equalize, the low pressure in the middle ear draws edema fluid out of the tissues and fills the middle ear spaces with it. This results in a damping of the transmission of sound from the eardrum to the cochlea, and thus muffled hearing and a feeling of fullness. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for this. Anecdotal evidence supports the use of antiinflammatory medication, and possible oral decongestants like Sudafed, to encourage faster resolution.

In the meantime, you might benefit from watching THIS video on the diver's ear (it's long) and reading THIS excellent article by DAN on diving and ear issues. Here is also a good essay on equalization techniques.

 

[Erku]

Oh neat. This has happened to me and my wife as well after our first trip. It's been almost a week and my ears are still a little foggy when I first wake up, and pop a lot throughout the day. That is probably barotrauma: we thought it was water in our ears at first, but we've done a lot to ensure that is not the case. Now that I know, we'll practice equalising more.

 

[trishxray1]

This has been very helpful and in fact, this time of year, I do have horrible allergies! I will try all this and maybe I will have some luck! Thanks to all who have replied!!

 

[Scuba.com]

This is a very common question that arises here, mainly due to how important it is to us all to be able to clear our ears and how common it is to have these issues. I post this same piece of advice I received some years ago, so for those of you who've seen it, please don't shoot me.

Here's a piece of advice I was first given by my Course Director in my IDC some years ago after having a similar blockage that prevented me from completing a fun dive after our IE. Keep in mind that your Eustachian tube and the area inside your ear that you are trying to equalize the pressure in, is tissue. Just as we'd no sooner hop up from our computers right this moment and run a 100 meter sprint and expect our body to perform without some sort of negative and probably painful reaction, we shouldn't expect our ears to suddenly be subjected to this forced pressure and pressure changes without some sort of similar resistance.
He advised me that in his experience, if I were to get into the habit of clearing my ears every hour or so through out the day prior to my diving, my ear canal would be a lot more accustomed to performing the task I'm asking it. Very similar to stretching before a workout or run. Medically, I cannot say whether that advice is sound for that particular part of the body, but I can attest to the fact that it was the last time I've experienced any ear blockage of any type in 17 years.
It's also advice I've passed on to my students and instructor candidates over the years, and to my sometimes foggy knowledge, I cannot think of a student I've ever had who has been forced to abort a training dive due to equalization problems.

 

[dk2943]

I had trouble clearing my ears. I even went to a DAN md. He told me to use Afrin before I dive. Have not had a problem since

 

[Togalive]

My father's ears have been completely "clogged" feeling for almost 2 weeks now, though he still dives with them like that since when looked at by a doctor there was no evidence of his eardrums being hurt, and there was no water or inflammation. I say its all in his head

But really, be careful about ear issues, blowing out an eardrum isnt a fun experience above water, and its no doubt worse underwater.

 

[silvernotch]

I cannot clear my ears using the typical valsalva method and was very very frustrating while training and my first couple dives. I read a suggestion on here that says to pinch your nose but instead of blowing like the valsalva method, you try to make the K sound with your tongue. To me, it helped push more air into my tubes and I have not had one problem since.