ThinLine
Registered
Long story short..
I was taking a break from the scuba and decided to go out to the reef with my wife and 9 year old daughter. I had been up and down a few times, 25-30ft on average for 1 minute drops, just relaxing and enjoying the freedom of not having all the gear on.. As we were hanging on the boat and getting ready to enter my wife cried out "My ring!" It just slipped right off and was on the reef below us. I put my mask back on and popped under going down about 10 ft, looked around for a few seconds and managed to find it. I surfaced, gave her the ring and when I turned my head to clear the water my right ear was filled with a loud ringing like I've never heard, then I noticed it was the only thing I could hear. At no point was there any pain during my decent, ascent or up to this point. Never any discomfort or vertigo.
That was last Sunday and I tried everything from alcohol and vinegar to steroid drops with no results so I went to the Dr the next day. He said the drum looked fine, however when I equalized while he was looking with the otoscope he said my drum retracted and appeared to be under pressure. He prescribed an antibiotic and Prednisone 20 day course that steps down every 5 days. Unfortunately I'm self pay and an ENT specialist isn't something I have the luxury visiting. However from what I've read this seems to be the common treatment.. Official diagnosis is Inner ear barotrauma..
In my entire life I've never had a problem equalizing, am always able to swallow or wiggle my jaw and have never even had an ear infection. I was not congested at all and it wasn't even a quick up and down dive.
My son and I were recently certified and have enjoyed several dives together, had just signed up for our AOW class and were excited about all the diving we had in store for us while cruising. We live on a sailboat and are prepping to take off in the fall for 6-12 months of exploring. I am also a singer/songwriter and have always used this as a form of income. I"m sure I'll get used to only hearing from one ear but as of now I'm in a personal hell.
So from what I've read and from what my Dr has said, in 20 days (15 more) or so we will know if you are going to get hearing back. If it doesn't come back by then, he has little faith it ever will. While he has no issue clearing me for diving (he is a diver himself) he did say however, if it doesn't return it would be ill advised, at least before learning sign language :depressed:
Just wanted to vent, in hopes someone had a similar story that turned out well. I did google and search, found some older posts that were similar but wanted to just get it out there. P.S. My Dr also said he gets ear injury far more from snorkelers diving up and down then from Scuba..
I was taking a break from the scuba and decided to go out to the reef with my wife and 9 year old daughter. I had been up and down a few times, 25-30ft on average for 1 minute drops, just relaxing and enjoying the freedom of not having all the gear on.. As we were hanging on the boat and getting ready to enter my wife cried out "My ring!" It just slipped right off and was on the reef below us. I put my mask back on and popped under going down about 10 ft, looked around for a few seconds and managed to find it. I surfaced, gave her the ring and when I turned my head to clear the water my right ear was filled with a loud ringing like I've never heard, then I noticed it was the only thing I could hear. At no point was there any pain during my decent, ascent or up to this point. Never any discomfort or vertigo.
That was last Sunday and I tried everything from alcohol and vinegar to steroid drops with no results so I went to the Dr the next day. He said the drum looked fine, however when I equalized while he was looking with the otoscope he said my drum retracted and appeared to be under pressure. He prescribed an antibiotic and Prednisone 20 day course that steps down every 5 days. Unfortunately I'm self pay and an ENT specialist isn't something I have the luxury visiting. However from what I've read this seems to be the common treatment.. Official diagnosis is Inner ear barotrauma..
In my entire life I've never had a problem equalizing, am always able to swallow or wiggle my jaw and have never even had an ear infection. I was not congested at all and it wasn't even a quick up and down dive.
My son and I were recently certified and have enjoyed several dives together, had just signed up for our AOW class and were excited about all the diving we had in store for us while cruising. We live on a sailboat and are prepping to take off in the fall for 6-12 months of exploring. I am also a singer/songwriter and have always used this as a form of income. I"m sure I'll get used to only hearing from one ear but as of now I'm in a personal hell.
So from what I've read and from what my Dr has said, in 20 days (15 more) or so we will know if you are going to get hearing back. If it doesn't come back by then, he has little faith it ever will. While he has no issue clearing me for diving (he is a diver himself) he did say however, if it doesn't return it would be ill advised, at least before learning sign language :depressed:
Just wanted to vent, in hopes someone had a similar story that turned out well. I did google and search, found some older posts that were similar but wanted to just get it out there. P.S. My Dr also said he gets ear injury far more from snorkelers diving up and down then from Scuba..
