Hi,
I saw a thread here about Doc Ear Plugs and posted a question about them but don't see the thread anymore.
My question is about a veteran that had a car bomb go off near him and he is deaf in one ear and cannot equalize.
Are there ear plug or anything this guy could use to get him diving?
Thanks in advance!
If the veteran does not have a perforated ear drum or ear infection, perhaps you should hear my story. I had a severely blown right ear drum and was told that I would most likely need to have reconstructive ear drum procedure, after I was treated for a severe ear infection.
During my treatment of the infection I experienced a lot of pressure and pain in that first week. The second week it got a little less. By the third week I had finished my medication and my doctor said that my ear drum was healing quite well. It took I while before I could get comfortable in the water again. My right ear was extremely sensitive to free diving even just a few feet. I couldn't even imagine being a scuba diver.
I believe that things began to change the more I did things in the water. It had nothing to do with diving at first. Just swimming or snorkeling on the surface. I also like to surf so this added another water exposure to my ears. The key is letting your ears be comfortable in the water. Later I decided to practice going down a few feet in a pool. If you can have access to a pool, you can slow things down to a level that can let you do something like ear equalizing in a way that is non-reactive. In other words, trying to equalize in the ocean, with the fear of pain in your mind and pressure of others waiting for you to equalize , can only make it hard for a person like this to achieve equalization. His ear could be reacting to some of these things, making it hard for him to relax, this could lead him to not be confident that he can actually equalize.
"HE CAN GET THIS CONFIDENCE BY ACHIEVING EQUALIZATION IN THE POOL." His confidence of achieving some type of equalization is very important. It is the single most important thing that got me to incrementally go down deeper and deeper.
Only after this happened did I believe I could actually become a diver when I wanted to.
I must add that I for some reason I have to wear I hood or the water rushing into my ear causes me to have difficulty equalizing. Perhaps this veteran should also wear a hood it definitely is a must for me when I dive. I found that what works best is to start equalizing right from the start. He should remember to continually do small puffs or nose squeeze, as he is descending. He should practice this in the pool .His goal is not to expect pain but to know what it is like to equalize.
