ear problems

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ladaniel

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Messages
20
Reaction score
0
Location
Carrollton, Georgia
# of dives
50 - 99
I am a newly certified diver and am having some ear problems. Advice needed. I was certified earlier this year and have 8 dives under my belt since certification. When I took the course last year the heater in the pool was not working and I started having problems clearing my ears. It was like I was under a pillow when I talked. I could hear everything I said and kept hearing a whilstle sound whenever I cleared my ears in and out of water. I was also having a bouyancy problem and was up and down in the water. I went to regular dr. and he prescribed antibotics. Ears did not clear up so I went to ENT. Ears very inflamed and some temporary hearing loss. She did not think I had done any damage to ears. Sayed on steriods to clear up ears and did not get my certification before vacation. Did resort dives while in Aruba. Took refersher course this year and had much easier time and received my certification. Two weeks ago went to Nassau for 12 days for vacation. My son was getting doing his certification dives. I stayed at the pool and my husband went with my son. I swam off and on for 4 days and did some snorkeling. We did 2 tank dives for 3 days straight. I had problems clearing off and on and some bouryancy problems in shallow water on the second dive each day.
As the psi reached 1000 or so I had harder time staying down. Put drops in my ears each night to dry up water. I could still hear water some. On 1 dive I was trying to clear my ears and kept going up higher and higher and had to end dive early. The next day ears seemed fine. I was able to descend with very little problem. I was looking at a wreck and my weight intergrated pocket caught on side of boat. Needless to say it pulled out my BCD and I ascended faster than I should. I was down about 50 ft. I was weighted a little heavy so I cleared as much as I could as I had no choice to let myself rise to top. A more experinced diver could probably stayed under control but I could not. My husband was able to bring my weight pocket to me and we slowly descended and slowly continued the dive. Dive was about over but we were a ways from the boat. We slowly made our way back to boat and I continued to think postive. We skipped the next day and I stayed out of the water because I was still feeling like I was in a bag and could hear myself. We did a night dive on Sunday and things went good but not great. Some clearing problems but I made it through the dive. Some problems clearing as we changed depths. Max was 40 ft. Still having some bouyancy problems so I grounded myself from the last 2 dives. We are back home and I am still hearing myself talk. Sometimes a litlle pain will go through my ear. I am going to contact DAN to find a diving ENT in the Atlanta area because I do not think a regular ENT will understand problem. Anyone having this problem? Wondering if it is the diving and bacteria from the ocean or if maybe it is the chlorine causing bacteria in the ear and the diving is aggravting the situation. No sinus symptons at any time. No blood in ears. Just hearing myself speak and feeling of having a bag over my head along with the whislting or squeaking. HELP!! I AM NOT GIVING UP MY DIVING. Or is it the fact that I ascended too fast and have done something to my ears? I do not hear myself talk all the time now and sometimes I can not even tell anything is going on. The mornings seem to be the worse. HELP!!!!!!
 
Hi ladaniel:

Your history sounds as if you sustained middle ear barotrauma. You probably have fluid (blood and/or serum) in your middle ear with possibly some damage to your ear drum(s). Examination would be beneficial. Most ENT doctors are quite familiar with this problem, even though they might not be divers. It is usually treated with a combination of rest from diving, decongestants and antibiotics - usually clearing up in one to two weeks.

Prevention is the secret and there is a posting on the Scuba Clinic web page that you might find helpful at http://snipurl.com/goym .

Best regards:

scubadoc
 
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