sonofzell
Registered
Greetings,
My [now] 16-year-old daughter got her ow certification last August. She logged another 9 dives since her checkouts, all of which were in the same freshwater quarry she certified in (the point being she is a very new diver and with just under 50 dives myself I don't have an abundance of experience to offer). During her checkouts and subsequent dives she did not have any trouble at all with equalization or pain.
On her first attempted dive of this year, she was unable to descend beyond 15' without "agonizing" pain in her ears. I aborted the dive, but stayed in the water with her and my other daughter for a good 20 minutes just to review equalization techniques. Even without gear in shallow water when was unable to free swim beyond 10' or so without experiencing the pain. While she reported pain bilaterally, she said it was significantly worse in her left ear.
She took an allergy pill in an attempt to reduce up any possible sinus inflammation/congestion and we attempted another dive about 2.5 hours later. During this surface interval, she reported zero pain or discomfort. On the second attempt, she claimed the pain was "worse than before", and presented almost immediately (<5' depth). With the diving day scrapped, I assumed it was simply some anomaly associated with her sinuses.
A few weeks ago, she flew to visit family in Florida (from PA). I did not travel with her, but she noted a similar, albeit less intense pain during takeoff and landing. When picking her up from her return flight she reported an identical experience. She did NOT experience the pain during the entire flight, which I suspect would be due to the full pressurization of the aircraft at cruising altitude. While she was in FL, I had asked her to try to spend some time at depth while swimming recreationally and she claimed to experience ear pain even while free-swimming to the bottom of the 8ft pool.
I made an appointment with her physician who examined her earlier this morning and claims that there is nothing remarkable to report. She prescribed Cipordex drops (which I admittedly am not familiar with at all, but my other daughter uses for 'swimmer ear'), but did not offer any specific advice for diving or flying.
My daughter will be returning to Florida this weekend, so I hope to have some feedback regarding the effect of the drops in flight. Regardless of the results, I am curious if there is anything I can or should be doing to prepare her for future dives. We have a tentative day planned in a few weeks and she is understandably apprehensive about returning to depth.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!
-K
My [now] 16-year-old daughter got her ow certification last August. She logged another 9 dives since her checkouts, all of which were in the same freshwater quarry she certified in (the point being she is a very new diver and with just under 50 dives myself I don't have an abundance of experience to offer). During her checkouts and subsequent dives she did not have any trouble at all with equalization or pain.
On her first attempted dive of this year, she was unable to descend beyond 15' without "agonizing" pain in her ears. I aborted the dive, but stayed in the water with her and my other daughter for a good 20 minutes just to review equalization techniques. Even without gear in shallow water when was unable to free swim beyond 10' or so without experiencing the pain. While she reported pain bilaterally, she said it was significantly worse in her left ear.
She took an allergy pill in an attempt to reduce up any possible sinus inflammation/congestion and we attempted another dive about 2.5 hours later. During this surface interval, she reported zero pain or discomfort. On the second attempt, she claimed the pain was "worse than before", and presented almost immediately (<5' depth). With the diving day scrapped, I assumed it was simply some anomaly associated with her sinuses.
A few weeks ago, she flew to visit family in Florida (from PA). I did not travel with her, but she noted a similar, albeit less intense pain during takeoff and landing. When picking her up from her return flight she reported an identical experience. She did NOT experience the pain during the entire flight, which I suspect would be due to the full pressurization of the aircraft at cruising altitude. While she was in FL, I had asked her to try to spend some time at depth while swimming recreationally and she claimed to experience ear pain even while free-swimming to the bottom of the 8ft pool.
I made an appointment with her physician who examined her earlier this morning and claims that there is nothing remarkable to report. She prescribed Cipordex drops (which I admittedly am not familiar with at all, but my other daughter uses for 'swimmer ear'), but did not offer any specific advice for diving or flying.
My daughter will be returning to Florida this weekend, so I hope to have some feedback regarding the effect of the drops in flight. Regardless of the results, I am curious if there is anything I can or should be doing to prepare her for future dives. We have a tentative day planned in a few weeks and she is understandably apprehensive about returning to depth.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!
-K