Thanks for the responses. I have had some balance issues, which have been mild enough that I put them down to sleep deprivation (caused by the tinnitus) but I definitely have to be at least slightly conscious of walking which should be entirely automatic. Oddly, it does not seem to affect activities that you would think should require an adroit sense of spacial awareness, such as salsa dancing. I suppose that is because my body would normally be using visual cues and nerves from the arms and legs to keep dancing whereas it may be used to delegating balance almost entirely to the ears for simpler tasks. Also, I am not sure I had any balance issues until two and a half days after diving but perhaps I just had not noticed any swaying until then.
The severity of the tinnitus has greatly diminished since my ears became unblocked on Sunday (exactly a week after diving). My Colombian friend´s sister offered to give me magnetic therapy which I was happy to try without thinking too much about how that is supposed to work. Whether by coincidence, placebo effect or some other cause, my hearing returned to what sounded like full acuity two hours later during the applause to a Steiner school presentation (that her children attend and so I´d been invited to). I hadn´t been fully aware of how dampened my hearing had become until hearing the cracking sound of each clap. I suppose I don´t know for sure that my hearing is 100% over a full range but I am not straining to hear. The tinnitus has been much easier to ignore since then.
I have taken four short flights since the dive (Galapagos->Guayaquil->Quito two days later; Quito->Medellin->Bogota five days later) and didn´t notice any problems but I was equalising gently and often.
My next flight is not for another 3 weeks. I found an
otorrinolaringólogo in Bogota("ENT specialist" is much less cumbersome) so I have an appointment in two days (13th of Nov). He suggested taking nasal anticongestants as well as pills that counteract the imbalance and others that seem to be painkillers. I will only take the anticongestants until seeing him since I have not had any pain as such and the imbalance is manageable. I have read that it is better to avoid taking drugs that reduce vertigo or imbalance as the body will take longer to find its own way to compensate. He also told me to avoid alcohol but I would rather not unless there is an excellent reason to do so ... I might limit myself to a couple of beers until after the appointment.
3rd dive in the galapagos...niiiiiice!
I have been bloody lucky to swim amongst twenty+ white-tipped sharks, chasing tame giant sea turtles around and having sea lions glide over to me under the waves ... good to remember that when you feel like your body´s letting you down.
I still have the occasional "full ears" feeling with a dull ache and sometimes tinnitus while on the surface and not on a diving vacation
Interesting. How long does that tend to last for? Presumably even if it is not caused by diving there is still some kind of trigger which could be indentified.
Ya, I was thinking this is a statistic just waiting to happen...
#1 I shouldn´t have dived with no sleep the night before, which I wouldn´t have if I´d listened to 1) my body or 2) my girlfriend, who I´d phoned up a half hour before the dive because I was so jittery and wanted advice. I tried to postpone until the next day but the divemaster was having none of it.
#2 I shouldn´t have trusted that anyone is going to look out for my health and safety except for me, especially after signing a waiver that absolves the company of all responsibility "Even in cases of negligance". There was virtually no instruction, except for hand signals for hammer head sharks and scorpions and sorting out our kit. I knew about equalising. I just forgot how soon you should do it and had a whole load of other considerations distracting me.
#3 I shouldn´t have felt complacent because of the shallowness of the dives.
Still, the 2nd dive was a beauty and I have got some awesome GoPro photos and videos to show for it.
As you described the ringing as 14khz I assume you play music or something like that
Yes. Piano, drums and guitar, which could have been the cause of the original tinnitus. I am not sure whether this incident has caused me additional tinnitus or whether it just dampened the hearing which made me tune in to the latent tinnitus.
did you force the valsalva when you equalized on that dive?
Yes, there was some pain when I equalised but it was mild-moderate.
I guess the main thing I´ll want to find out from the ENT is whether there is a problem inner ear or middle ear. The vertigo stuff seems to point more towards the inner ear but looking through the forums, there are cases in which the middle ear issues cause imbalance as well (
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/485769-middle-ear-barotrauma-delayed.html). No point in second guessing until I see the otorrolaring...blagh.
