Hi All,
Recently diagnosed with mild middle ear barotrauma (MEBT) but ear drum is fine. In Bonaire a couple of weeks ago - I dived at least once a day - no issues with equalization. 24 hours after last dive, I woke up with clogged ear and hearing about 50% of normal. Went to an ENT on return home - he says I have middle ear fluid consistent with MEBT. Two weeks later - I’ve done a course of prednisone and antibiotics and am using Sudafed and nasal steroids now but it doesn’t feel like it’s improved much. No diving till it’s resolved which could take weeks to months and of course I have a bunch of boat trips booked over next few weeks.
In the absence of diving, I have now read every article ever written on MEBT and am now considering a change of career to professional gum chewer (doing this to keep eustacian tubes open). I’d be really interested to know others experiences in recovery time for similar mild MEBT - thanks!
Recently diagnosed with mild middle ear barotrauma (MEBT) but ear drum is fine. In Bonaire a couple of weeks ago - I dived at least once a day - no issues with equalization. 24 hours after last dive, I woke up with clogged ear and hearing about 50% of normal. Went to an ENT on return home - he says I have middle ear fluid consistent with MEBT. Two weeks later - I’ve done a course of prednisone and antibiotics and am using Sudafed and nasal steroids now but it doesn’t feel like it’s improved much. No diving till it’s resolved which could take weeks to months and of course I have a bunch of boat trips booked over next few weeks.
In the absence of diving, I have now read every article ever written on MEBT and am now considering a change of career to professional gum chewer (doing this to keep eustacian tubes open). I’d be really interested to know others experiences in recovery time for similar mild MEBT - thanks!