Novice diver - forgot to equalise and tinnitus night after dive

[pisha]

I was diving in the Galapagos islands last Sunday (close to Seymour, if you have had the fortune to get to know the archipielago). I had received my Open Water in 2008 and had done another dive in 2012 in Girona, Spain so it had been a while since my last dive. There was a problem in the hotel the night before with a machine that kept me up all through the night (some damned kind of water purification device) so I was close to cancelling the dive at the last minute but the temptation of seeing hammerhead sharks and sea lions at those depths got the better of me. To be honest, the dive company seemed like a bit of a cowboy operation as there was a couple with us who had no certification at all which is, at best, highly questionable (if not illegal). Anyway, during the first immersion, I forgot to equalise until the space between my ears made it absolutely bloody apparent at about 5-6 meters. I know that equalising is one of the basic things that anyone should know about but I guess I was overwhelmed by getting in control of the gear and just getting over my sleepiness.

I equalised after some pain and got out of the water, terminating the first session early. I think that immediately after getting back on the boat there was a small amount of fluid (whiteish yellow) that leaked from my ears but I have had no further leakage. I did the second immersion without incident.

The night after the dive I started to hear ringing (which I think is around 14 kHz) but have not had any other symptoms. I went to a clinic in the Galapagos (Puerto Ayora) the day after and they looked at my left ear with an otoscope and said that it did not look damaged. I have read about barotraumas on this site and others since Sunday, so the worry is about whether it could be an inner ear injury and what to do about it.

I have had tinnitus before following on from a long haul flight. This was highly troublesome for me for a month or so, generally or at times irritating for perhaps the next year and then faded away into the background. At least I know that the same should happen again in this case (though presumably there is some risk of hearing loss).

I am not doing anything to treat it at the moment but I will avoid diving for the moment.

I may look for a specialist clinic if I need to but I will be in Ecuador and Colombia until the 4th of December. In the mean time, is there anything else I can do? Thanks.

 

[Roatan Joe]

Well if you had blood and also yellow/white fluid coming out of your ears, I feel there a strong possibility that you have an injury. I would get to another doctor as soon as possible and get a second opinion. Additionally, there's a good chance you're going to develop an infection. Too late now, but next time I would take a refresher dive course with an instructor before jumping into the ocean.

 

[Steve_C]

Get it checked out by an ear specialist not just a doctor.

I had a dive a couple weeks ago where I, unusual for me, had some clearing issues in the right ear on descent during the second dive. Went back up until pressure gone. Repeated this a couple times before it cleared. Dive 2 then went off without a hitch. Later my ear did not feel right and in fact was painful once when I sneezed. So back home I went to an ENT ear specialist. He not only looked in my ear but had his audiologist run some tests. Looking in the ear he could say my ear drum looked ok but that was it, he could not comment on inner ear trauma. With the audiologist he was able to tell me that I did not have any blood or fluid in the inner ear but I had a 10% loss in bass tones on the right. I am clear to dive after a 2-3 week rest. Inner ear/sinuses just "irritated". My low normal right should return to normal right in a few months.

 

[diver 85]

I'd find me a (good) ENT.........hell, some GPs don't know there's supposed to be 2 ears......!!

 

[Steve_C]

Did not know this going in, but turns out my ENT was used to seeing divers and was very familiar with the different types of trauma that can occur.

 

[wgw04024]

I have to equalize at about the first 3 or 4'. I cannot imagine going 5 meters. It doesn't seem like something that you even have to 'remember', you should be able to feel it. 3rd dive in the galapagos...niiiiiice!

 

[MrChen]

and take a refresher class next time!

 

[wgw04024]

and take a refresher class next time!

Ya, I was thinking this is a statistic just waiting to happen...

 

[Pearlman]

I had one "bad" dive because I neglected to equalize properly/effectively until I was more than 15mtrs down when it started hurting bad. Going up a bit and equalizing fixed it on the dive and I have continued diving without issues since. But its now more than a year and 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. The usual frequency of any problems before that bad dive was once in two years or maybe less, (I almost never fall sick - fever/cough/cold etc) - now the ear problem hits me once a quarter. My ears feel stuffed like a pressure change has occurred - happening now as I type. Is there some subtle long term damage that can persist so long like this? Shouldn't it heal within a few months?

P

Sent from Tablet, please excuse brevity and typos...

 

[MaxE]

I'm not a DR and won't give you any medical advice. I do wish you a speedy recovery and hope no serious or long term damage happened. As you described the ringing as 14khz I assume you play music or something like that. I will say 14khz is really high and if I remember correctly at the top end of what adults can hear, of the ringing only lasted a few hours probably not a big deal, if it lasted longer or comes and goes go see an audiologist, and ENT will tell you if you have structural or physical damage to the ear, an audiologist will tell you how it is going to affect your hearing.