Tinnitus

[ukPaul]

In the middle of November this year I went on my first liveaboard trip in Egypt. During one of the dives towards the end of the week I felt out of sorts and so skipped the evening dive. That night I felt nauseous but wasn’t sick. I felt nauseous and lethargic for the last three days of the holiday and didn’t dive and ate very little .

As soon as I left the boat the nausea went, but upon arriving back in the UK I was dizzy, which gradually pretty much disappeared over the next two weeks or so. When arriving back home I had tested for covid which was positive, the line was very solid on the test and I didn’t get a clear test for 13 days, however the symptoms were very mild with just the dizziness, tiredness and a slight cough.

Now though for the last two or three weeks I have noticed I am hearing a very low frequency humming noise (similar in sound to the pump on our oil boiler). After trying to find out where the heck in the house it is coming from I have realised it is me.
The sound is only in my left ear and if I close my ear by pressing on the tragus with my finger it stops.

I have never had any tinnitus before, but I am now concerned about carrying on diving and making it worse.
I’m presuming the tinnitus was caused by the covid rather than ear barotrauma or inner-ear DCS from the diving as I didn’t have a pain in the ear that I remember on or after the dive.

I am going to make an appointment with my GP tomorrow as looking on the internet tinnitus in one ear associated with dizziness needs to be looked at in case it is cause by a number of more serious things.

Any thoughts on whether it might have been diving rather than covid that has caused it, and whether continuing to dive might make it worse?
Thanks

 

[JorinB]

I can't speak to cause, but I developed tinnitus after a trauma early last year: when I'm diving it is the only time my tinnitus doesn't bother me, so in my personal experience diving doesn't make it worse.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

In the middle of November this year I went on my first liveaboard trip in Egypt. During one of the dives towards the end of the week I felt out of sorts and so skipped the evening dive. That night I felt nauseous but wasn’t sick. I felt nauseous and lethargic for the last three days of the holiday and didn’t dive and ate very little .

As soon as I left the boat the nausea went, but upon arriving back in the UK I was dizzy, which gradually pretty much disappeared over the next two weeks or so. When arriving back home I had tested for covid which was positive, the line was very solid on the test and I didn’t get a clear test for 13 days, however the symptoms were very mild with just the dizziness, tiredness and a slight cough.

Now though for the last two or three weeks I have noticed I am hearing a very low frequency humming noise (similar in sound to the pump on our oil boiler). After trying to find out where the heck in the house it is coming from I have realised it is me.
The sound is only in my left ear and if I close my ear by pressing on the tragus with my finger it stops.

I have never had any tinnitus before, but I am now concerned about carrying on diving and making it worse.
I’m presuming the tinnitus was caused by the covid rather than ear barotrauma or inner-ear DCS from the diving as I didn’t have a pain in the ear that I remember on or after the dive.

I am going to make an appointment with my GP tomorrow as looking on the internet tinnitus in one ear associated with dizziness needs to be looked at in case it is cause by a number of more serious things.

Any thoughts on whether it might have been diving rather than covid that has caused it, and whether continuing to dive might make it worse?
Thanks

Can you define what you meant by out of sorts? Did you have any difficulty equalizing your ears while diving?

Best regards,
DDM

 

[ukPaul]

I’m not quite sure really, I just felt a bit off and didn’t enjoy the dive.

It was a drift dive along a wall, but for most of the dive we were looking out into the blue. As it was my first dive I’ve done like that, straight after the dive I thought that was the reason why as I’ve read on here of other divers finding it throws them a bit when diving for the first time looking out into the blue.

After having nausea that night and the next three days however and testing positive for covid on my return home, I presumed I was feeling the early effects of covid and that’s why I felt odd on and after the dive.

I don’t remember having an issue equalising my ears no. I don’t remember having any pain in my ears after the dive or feeling anything other than a bit off.

 

[js1221]

I developed tinnitus while in the military, I’ve had it for over 35 years. It has never caused me any issues while diving. Other than the “ringing” though, I’ve not had any other issues like you described.

 

[crofrog]

I absolutely got dizziness one of the times I had covid and some vertigo during covid. Unrelated to diving. Ive since had more frequent bouts of tinnitus. Diving has not made it worse.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I’m not quite sure really, I just felt a bit off and didn’t enjoy the dive.

It was a drift dive along a wall, but for most of the dive we were looking out into the blue. As it was my first dive I’ve done like that, straight after the dive I thought that was the reason why as I’ve read on here of other divers finding it throws them a bit when diving for the first time looking out into the blue.

After having nausea that night and the next three days however and testing positive for covid on my return home, I presumed I was feeling the early effects of covid and that’s why I felt odd on and after the dive.

I don’t remember having an issue equalising my ears no. I don’t remember having any pain in my ears after the dive or feeling anything other than a bit off.

What you're describing doesn't sound like it's connected to diving, though without knowing your dive profiles I would hesitate to completely rule out DCS. It could be related to COVID. You also mentioned the nausea going away when you left the boat but then some dizziness after arriving home. Presumably you flew; if you had mild barotrauma, flying could have aggravated it. Hopefully your GP can give you some more concrete information. You could also reach out to a diving medical referee through UKDMC.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[ukPaul]

Thank you so much for the replies, especially DDM, that does sound more encouraging that it might have been the covid rather than the diving which has caused it.

As I was hiring a dive computer I don’t have the dive profiles, but in general we were all diving nitrox and diving 3 times a day with a maximum depth of 30M and maximum times of 50 minutes (though most dives had a maximum depth shallower than that and were shorter).

On the final dive (where I felt a bit off) it was 50 minutes long and I had a maximum depth of 26m but I spent most of the dive shallower than that. I was shallower than the rest of the divers for most of the dive as I was by far the least experienced of those on board and had been told to dive above the rest of the group on the last few dives to improve my gas consumption as I was getting through it rather faster than everyone else on the previous dives.

Towards the end of the last dive which was a drift dive we were suddenly caught by a lot stronger current, which I did find rather alarming as I hadn’t experienced that before and was a bit concerned where it was going to take me, but it was fine and didn’t take us up or down in depth.

At no point during the week did I hear an alarm from my computer to indicate I was ascending too quickly, or have any warnings appear on the computer.

The only concern I had near the beginning of the week, on one of the Thistegorm dives was that after the dive I had tingling on the skin of my arms. I did query this both with the guide and the other divers some of whom were BASI instructors from the UK, but everyone said it wasn’t anything to worry about as I didn’t have any other symptoms. (the dive was only 30 mins long). I didn’t have the skin tingling at all again on any other dive.

I didn’t feel any discomfort/pain or dizziness on the plane flying home.

I did visit the GP, she went through a number of questions I think mainly checking for things like Meniere’s disease. She looked in my ear and everything looked normal. As I wasn’t experiencing any pain and the ear looked normal I was just sent away with advice to do steam inhalation three times a day and that the tinnitus would probably go away and to go back to the GP if it hadn’t gone in a month.

Thanks for the link to the referees via UKDMC

 

[ukPaul]

An update

The tinnitus eventually totally went away after over 3 months. The only treatment being my GPs suggestion to do steam baths.

I’ve just come back from my second liveaboard, and was relieved that no tinnitus was apparent when I dove (though it is arguable whether I would have noticed it on a boat with an engine rumbling away). I did have some soreness with my left ear towards the end of the week (this is the ear which is always harder to equalise). For the last couple of days I took Sudafed, just to make it easier. I also had similar soreness on my first liveaboard and both times chalked it up to your ears taking a bit of a battering with 3-4 dives a day for a week.

Upon leaving the boat on the day after the last dives, didn’t notice any issues. Upon arriving home and going to bed that night noticed very very slight tinnitus.

The next day (2 days after the last dive) I was very dizzy all day, but thought it was probably down to a tiring week, long journey and lack of sleep. (I have had periods of dizziness previously unconnected to diving)

Next day (3 days after last dive) no dizziness but tinnitus in my left ear the same as after the previous trip)

Next day (4 days after last dive) dizzy again also.

Now 6 days after the last dive I still have the tinnitus, plus very mild dizziness.



I’m a bit fed up as I’m thinking I probably shouldn’t dive again. Firstly that I don’t want 3 months of tinnitus after each week of diving, and also worried that I’m doing permanent damage.

Any thoughts?

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

An update

The tinnitus eventually totally went away after over 3 months. The only treatment being my GPs suggestion to do steam baths.

I’ve just come back from my second liveaboard, and was relieved that no tinnitus was apparent when I dove (though it is arguable whether I would have noticed it on a boat with an engine rumbling away). I did have some soreness with my left ear towards the end of the week (this is the ear which is always harder to equalise). For the last couple of days I took Sudafed, just to make it easier. I also had similar soreness on my first liveaboard and both times chalked it up to your ears taking a bit of a battering with 3-4 dives a day for a week.

Upon leaving the boat on the day after the last dives, didn’t notice any issues. Upon arriving home and going to bed that night noticed very very slight tinnitus.

The next day (2 days after the last dive) I was very dizzy all day, but thought it was probably down to a tiring week, long journey and lack of sleep. (I have had periods of dizziness previously unconnected to diving)

Next day (3 days after last dive) no dizziness but tinnitus in my left ear the same as after the previous trip)

Next day (4 days after last dive) dizzy again also.

Now 6 days after the last dive I still have the tinnitus, plus very mild dizziness.



I’m a bit fed up as I’m thinking I probably shouldn’t dive again. Firstly that I don’t want 3 months of tinnitus after each week of diving, and also worried that I’m doing permanent damage.

Any thoughts?

I'd recommend you see an ENT physician as soon as practical.

Best regards,
DDM