At 33, Ive finally taken up scuba diving! Ive been a water animal all my life, swimming, snorkling, free-diving. During a trip to the Malaysia, I finally got round to doing my OW cert, and Ive now done my AOW at home in Norway (a nice difference in temperature, from 28 Celsius to 1 Celsius
). Now to the problem:
It all started up with a severe head cold in the beginning of January. It got sort of stuck and after one month of sniffling I started feeling a pressure in my ear. Went to an ENT who said I had a middle ear infection. He took an allergy blood test, stuck a thing in my nose to do a culture, I got an oral anti-congestant and was told to equalize 100 times a day! I started taking this, and 4 days later the doctor called me and said the culture test had come back, I had a Moraxella bacteria and got an antibiotic called Ery-Max. It got better in about two weeks, and I went diving. I was still using the anti-congestant, I just couldnt keep away from the water About 10 days later, I got a sore throat. Went back to the doc who said my ears looked good but he thought I now had something in my throat so he gave me another anti-biotic, Amox something. He had also gotten my allergy test back and he said I had an sIGE value of 550 which would mean I was very likely to have allergic rhinitis. He gave me non-drowsy antihistamine and a cortisone nasal spray. The thing with the allergy is, I was already diagnosed with allergy after a skin test 12 years ago, but I have never had any problems until now. A couple of days of light sneezing in the middle of June every year, otherwise no problems what so ever.
I finished the antibiotic two weeks ago and have now been taking the allergy medication for a couple of weeks more, and I cant say it has gotten much better. In fact, it has gotten worse the last four days. I am generally congested in the mornings, then it loosens up when I go to work. Then it comes back in the afternoon and gets worse during the evenings. The mucus is clear but sometimes quite slimy, especially when it comes from the back of my throat. Saw the doc again, he said this might very well be a part of the allergy and told me to go on with the medication, although he changed the brands to see if another formula would give better results. But now, a couple of times, it has passed the level of discomfort and I felt like I had a golf ball between my left cheek-bone and eye. I need to get better! Everything seems to be going downwards (of course there might be an element of hypochondria in this, Im really worried about the diving ) I have never had problems before and I have never had problems or difficulties equalizing.,
I have full confidence in my ENT, he seems very good, but I would just like some second opinions from you diving gurus. Is it normal for allergic rhinitis to be painful? Could it be sinusitis? If it is sinusitis, shouldnt that itself be treated with antibiotics and anti-congestant, even if the rhinitis is the cause of the sinusitis? Could it be something totally else? Thanks for your advise.
It all started up with a severe head cold in the beginning of January. It got sort of stuck and after one month of sniffling I started feeling a pressure in my ear. Went to an ENT who said I had a middle ear infection. He took an allergy blood test, stuck a thing in my nose to do a culture, I got an oral anti-congestant and was told to equalize 100 times a day! I started taking this, and 4 days later the doctor called me and said the culture test had come back, I had a Moraxella bacteria and got an antibiotic called Ery-Max. It got better in about two weeks, and I went diving. I was still using the anti-congestant, I just couldnt keep away from the water About 10 days later, I got a sore throat. Went back to the doc who said my ears looked good but he thought I now had something in my throat so he gave me another anti-biotic, Amox something. He had also gotten my allergy test back and he said I had an sIGE value of 550 which would mean I was very likely to have allergic rhinitis. He gave me non-drowsy antihistamine and a cortisone nasal spray. The thing with the allergy is, I was already diagnosed with allergy after a skin test 12 years ago, but I have never had any problems until now. A couple of days of light sneezing in the middle of June every year, otherwise no problems what so ever.
I finished the antibiotic two weeks ago and have now been taking the allergy medication for a couple of weeks more, and I cant say it has gotten much better. In fact, it has gotten worse the last four days. I am generally congested in the mornings, then it loosens up when I go to work. Then it comes back in the afternoon and gets worse during the evenings. The mucus is clear but sometimes quite slimy, especially when it comes from the back of my throat. Saw the doc again, he said this might very well be a part of the allergy and told me to go on with the medication, although he changed the brands to see if another formula would give better results. But now, a couple of times, it has passed the level of discomfort and I felt like I had a golf ball between my left cheek-bone and eye. I need to get better! Everything seems to be going downwards (of course there might be an element of hypochondria in this, Im really worried about the diving ) I have never had problems before and I have never had problems or difficulties equalizing.,
I have full confidence in my ENT, he seems very good, but I would just like some second opinions from you diving gurus. Is it normal for allergic rhinitis to be painful? Could it be sinusitis? If it is sinusitis, shouldnt that itself be treated with antibiotics and anti-congestant, even if the rhinitis is the cause of the sinusitis? Could it be something totally else? Thanks for your advise.
