Popping ear after a dive?

[The.Cancerian]

Hi..
I went scuba diving last weekend and my ears had a problem clearing while I went down. After finishing the dive I felt my ears are totally blocked (not by water), it needs popping.
It has been 5 days now and it’s still not popped, it's annoying because I can't hear out of it now. It does not sound like there is fluid in there and does not hurt, but when I swallow I can hear like bubbles in my ears.

What could this be? How can I get it to stop?
I went to an ENT who gave me 2 medicines and also asked me to do 2 things, eat a gum and blow a balloon once a day but still it did not pop.
When I try to pop them I get dizzy.

So what to do?
:depressed:

 

[doctormike]

Hi..
I went scuba diving last weekend and my ears had a problem clearing while I went down. After finishing the dive I felt my ears are totally blocked (not by water), it needs popping.
It has been 5 days now and it’s still not popped, it's annoying because I can't hear out of it now. It does not sound like there is fluid in there and does not hurt, but when I swallow I can hear like bubbles in my ears.

What could this be? How can I get it to stop?
I went to an ENT who gave me 2 medicines and also asked me to do 2 things, eat a gum and blow a balloon once a day but still it did not pop.
When I try to pop them I get dizzy.

So what to do?
:depressed:

Hey, thanks for writing..!

Since you have already seen the ENT doctor, can you tell us what he or she saw in your ear? That might be helpful in discussing this...

If you have barotrauma (with fluid behind your eardrum) it can take weeks to go away. The only medication that I know of that has been repeatedly shown to hasten the resolution of this problem is oral steroids, although decongestants are commonly used for this as well, and there is some evidence that they may help.

Chewing gum is a way of getting your Eustachian tube to open, helping the fluid to resolve. I'm not sure what blowing up a balloon with your mouth would do for the problem, but I do give kids with ear fluid this device...

Hope that you are feeling better soon!

Mike

 

[Hank49]

If you've only been doing a valsalva, blowing out, try pinching your nose and sucking in. You may be going the wrong way. Your eardrum would be bowed out on ascent if your sinuses are blocked. You're trying to blow it out further if that's the case.

 

[TSandM]

The reason you aren't able to relieve your symptoms by pressurizing (popping) your ears is that the symptoms aren't due to a vacuum in the middle ear -- it just feels like it. When you are going downhill or descending in an airplane, you feel as though your ear is full, and your hearing is muffled because the eardrum can't move back and forth with the sound waves that hit it, because the pressure difference holds it back. In your current situation, it's the fluid that has accumulated in the middle ear that is impeding the motion of the drum and the bones to which it is attached. Your hearing is muffled, and your ear feels full because it IS.

As Dr. Mike states, it can take quite some time for this fluid to resolve, especially if there is a lot of it. You might spend this time looking at some resources to help you avoid having this problem again: Dr. Kay's VIDEO on the diver's ear, this DAN article on the same topic, and THIS essay on techniques for clearing.

Hope you are well soon!