Ears

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safyrewulfie

Guest
Messages
390
Reaction score
11
Location
charlotte county, fl
# of dives
25 - 49
K I didnt think I d ever ask this one. Anyone got any secrets for ear issues? I dont normally have problems with my ears when I dive. For some reason this last dive
did a number to me. No mater how many times I tried to equalize them I couldnt get
my right ear to relax. I finally just lived with the pain for a few minutes and it adjusted
so I thought til I surfaced and realized I was completely clogged.
Finished the second dive pretty much as the first in pain. When I got home I
flushed with my swimmers ear mix and laid on a hot wash cloth to help
drain it. The next day Im still off balanced. So I guess I m land locked
for a few more days if this doesnt relax. I keep flushing with alcohol to keep
it from becoming infected. 3 times a day I flush it. Today its miserable. Not
as clogged but I can feel every sneeze, step sudden move, turn of my neck
everything. And the popping lol. Drives me batty. So any secrets for good draining
how to better adapt to the sinking? I was chewing the mouth piece, blowing
my ears like we are trained even leaving my mouth open jaw loose while decending.
Maybe the rain had messed up my allergies and my sinuses were snarky to
begin with who knows. But I m more interested in any secrets for good draining
or ear maintenance lol. Bad ear is a good excuse for not mowing the grass I
found out. And for cleaning the house, heck just for having a nice lazy day!
 
Hey safyrewulfie:

So not a secret but more common sense, if you feel pain or can't equalize, DON'T DIVE! Of course this doesn't help you for you last dive but maybe it will for the future ones.

Now, go see the doctor. I don't know what's wrong with your ear and neither do you, so to prevent any potential damage if none has been inflicted get professional help. A family Physician or an emergency room Physician will be able to look in your ear(s) and get an idea of what's going on and then treat you accordingly. If you simply take analgesics and decongestants and stay at home you may be delaying the diagnosis of a more serious problem.

Read these threads for further reinforcement and DandyDon and DocVikino cleared up if DAN will cover barotrama injuries related to ears- they will, and if this is the case for you then strangely you will be in luck. StreetDoctor had ear problems post dive but it just sounded like a bad day and saw a Physician and he's well on his way to recovery. He did not dive after his discomfort.

If you want more information and from someone more nice and not sitting on the couch at home and surfing the internet, call DAN. They will also guide you in the right direction.

And finally, maybe a Moderator can move this to the Diving Medicine subforum for better responses. I honestly stopped in here because I thought you found some kind of fossilized ears. Strange but true.

I do hope you get to feeling better, no diving until you get a professional evaluation, and take it easy for more than a few days unless cleared hot by a Physician sooner.

With sincerest regards,
Thomas
 
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This won't help you much now,but I have found that some in their excitement don,t start to equalize soon enough then it is too late and you should go up and start over. As they say equalize early and often! It seems to get easier with experience, but even with all my diving I have to pay attention to it every dive..... That being said you shouldn't,t have continued your second dive with ear problems!
 
Found 4 fossil whale ears today!!!! I thought the same thing as well when I saw it. Hehehe. Thanks for moving the thread.
 
No pain so far just the popping. And I read that if my nose is stuffy to then I should have popped a allergy pill too. Lesson learned. All the rain was the problem and made my allergies act up. So now I ll add a decon to my pre dive regime. As for now when I take a allergy pill, it opens the tube enuff to where I feel better. So I ll just go with this for now. I got 2 more days before I go back to work. Or I ll break down and see the doc on Tues if I dont feel a lil more better tomo.
 
Here is a great video, The Diver's Ear--Under Pressure, that is the best resource for divers on ears that I have seen and is widely recommended on the Scubaboard. (Many of the links in old threads no longer work.)

Doc's Diving Medicine Home Page
 
Exactly what my problem was until I tried the valsalva manuever 3 days later and injured the ear a bit more, I wasn't in any pain either until that happened. Doc has me on antibiotic pills and ear drops twice a day for both. Pressure finally let up yesterday with very minimal discomfort today. (7 days post dive). I'm going to get back into the doctor thursday if all feels good and see if he gives me the thumbs up for next weekend. If it doesn't clear up definitely see a doc so he can get you on antibiotics.
 
Go to doc. I also had to be put on antibiotics and ear drops, but I wasn't cleared to dive for 2 months because I took too long to get to doc. Don't wanna mess with your ears. Screw them up and your diving days can be over.
 
First off, the problem you have is not in your external ear, so drops and rinsing won't help, and pure alcohol rinses may actually irritate the canal and cause the external infection that you don't yet have.

The problem you have is fluid which has accumulated in the middle ear, as a result of inadequate equalization. (The video mentioned above will make a lot of this clear.) This fluid takes significant time to reabsorb. Using antihistamines and decongestants MIGHT help speed the process, and anti-inflammatories seem to help as well (eg. ibuprofen). But it still takes time, and may take more than a week.

If you are off balance, that's not a good sign. That suggests actual barotrauma to the inner ear structures, like oval window rupture, and that means a trip to the ENT doc as soon as you can. These are injuries that can actually beach you permanently, if they are not promptly and properly addressed.

For anybody who is reading this: If you can't equalize, DON'T decide "just to put up with it". Go up and see if you can clear; if you can't, DON'T dive. DON'T do a second dive, when you have ear discomfort from the first one. Damage is cumulative. Fluid accumulations in the middle ear beach you for a few days or a week; damage to the inner ear beaches you for a long time. Ears are nothing to take lightly for a diver. Watch the video -- there is a ton of good information there.
 
So I ended up with irritated ear canal. Doc put me on anties for a just in case kind of thing. I told him I did a dummy but the dive was a mess for me and I just wanted to have something go right. He just shook his head and looked in my ears and such. He said no damage just red and swollen. So 10 days of anties and 2 weeks of dry docked. Guess we will go to busch gardens next weekend instead of underwater lol. Unforn I wasnt feeling sick until the antibiotic lol.
 
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