Ears - over a long dive trip

[gearhound]

This may sound weird, but clean your ears out...and not with Q tips which push the wax in. I had an older student that couldn't equalize at all and had sore ears after a pool session. He went in to see the doc and he had a big wax build up which prevented him from equalizing. Had his ears cleaned out and returned to complete his course a couple of weeks later.
There's drops available at the drugstore that you flush out with water afterwards. I do this a week before our big cave trips and haven't had issues since (although I still use ear beer during the trip).

 

[victor]

The Air flight seems to be a trigger.
Switch off the air jet(s) and clear ears as quickly as possible as the preasure changes. Multiple takeoff and landings make it worse. Hydrate and throat lozenges of the flight.
Try and have a day off after the flight.
Seems like if I inflame or bruise them on the flight constant diving just makes it worse.

Some advice on the Aircon. If possible switch it off. If we need it we switch it on when we go out for dinner then switch it off when we go to return.

If I follow all these precautions I find that after 2 days I will only rarely have to consiously clear my ears. just the act of holding the reg in my mouth and breathing equalise the preasure without me noticing.

I think the trick is if you bruise/inflame them then take a day off to let them recover. If you continue to dive then you may end up having to stop diving for a two or more days to let them bounce back.

 

[84CJ7]

Something to consider if you have allergies, get allergy shots (immunotherapy). I went from having far worse allergies than everyone else to having far less allergies than everyone else, and because its building your bodies natural resistance it doesn't effect any other body functions or have any possibility to wear off during a dive. Its one shot in each arm once a month once you have gotten tested and built up to the normal dosage.

I still use pseudoephedrine the night before and then the morning of a dive day just in case. Specifically zyrtec-d as I found ceterizine hcl works well as a backup antihistamine. It does seem to make equalizing much easier though I can usually dive without it if needed.

I do need the "ear beer" to prevent ear infections though. I have had some super serious ones after diving.

 

[Capnhook]

When I first started diving my left ear was next to impossible to clear. I'm talking nearly a 1/3 of my tank to drop down to 60ft. My doctor gave me a nasal steroid and after using that for a couple weeks, I could clear much better, but it was still a challenge. I decided I didn't want to be taking steroid spray forever. For the last year or so I have been clearing my ears 5-10 times a day at random times. In the shower, while reading a book, driving the car. Whenever I think of it. Now I have no issues at all. I can descend head first and shoot straight to the bottom should I choose. Between all the practice and finding the exact position my left ear needs my head to be in, I can clear with ease. Practice, practice, practice. It seems to me that I've stretched them out or something, but it works for me.

 

[Scubawankenobi]

I buy swimmers ear drops, which are usually 95% isopropyl alcohol and glycerin. I cut that to a 50/50 solution with white vinegar. This will change the PH in the ear canal to make is a less hospitable place for bacteria. I treat after every dive, 5 minutes in each ear. I don't wait till I feel it coming on. I have not had any issues with ear infections for a couple years.

I've had a few ear infections, but mostly have used swimmers ear to prevent this but also to "dry out" my ears when I feel a little water trapped. For me a tiny water can be trapped more so in one ear vs the other.
Problem ran into:
Had been doing a LOT of diving (5 daily on trip) & then some...was repeatedly using the swimmers ear drops.
After a week(?) or more I remember getting a tiny burning sensation in my ear after putting the drops in. Was actually worried a bit.
Anyhow... someone warned me, and I believe this turned out to be the case, that using the swimmers ear drops too frequently can actually cause the skin lining the ear canal to dry-out and crack. So then the alcohol drops are going right into a tiny wound. Also, that the cracks then can be more prone to infection (bacteria while diving).

So I switched to infrequent use of swimmers ear drops & don't do it repeatedly over back-to-back dives/days but just when water feels trapped. Or every other day before going to sleep.

I don't know if the 50/50 (less alcohol) might help with the problem I had of drying out the skin?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

My wife has trouble with her ears, myself not so much, but over dive trips where you're diving multiple times a day every day I am very conscious of avoiding any trauma, being careful on equalizing... however, it still seems, and maybe it's as I'm getting older that my ears are bothering me more and more no matter how careful I am, and my wife had to sit out a day of diving on our last trip to Belize, on the second day she could not equalize below 34-38 feet. We brought 'ear beer' with us for the first time and used it during the trip, my wife even was using it between dives, while I was using it at the end of the day. Just seems no matter what there is always some sort of ear issue rearing it's head over trips now with us, and we are doing longer and longer trips with more and more diving, heading toward some live-a-board diving sooner or later.

I noticed my wife was holding her nose a lot to equalize, I kind of suspect in doing this all of the time she is putting more pressure on her ears then if she was just equalizing without resulting to doing it that way. Am I correct or does it not matter?

Wondering what tips, tricks or what we could be doing differently to either avoid entirely any ear issues or even change what we are doing to ensure less problems. Not spring chickens anymore and it seems like we are getting to the point that ears are now becoming a factor holding our diving back in the future.

I use the vinegar and alcohol mix in ears before and after most every dive. I try to be gentle on my ears when equalizing and stay ahead of the pressure. At night, I make sure my ears are warm. If it is at all cool, like 70 degrees, I will wear a ski hat and keep the ears warm. I can not have cool air blowing in or across my ears, especially when sleeping outside. Usually by the third consecutive day of diving, I need to take a pseudophed or two to keep things open.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I , also no spring chicken , have also had problems with my ears. After a liveaboard I went to my doctor for something else and asked her to look in my ear. The left one had a pretty nasty infection , but I had no pain out of the water.

I took two months off work at the end of last year and dived most days for seven out of the eight weeks away. I had no problem equalizing at all on that trip , in the end I just needed one puff to get down. I believe this was attributable to the treated infection, but also to being a lot more relaxed in general and about equalizing in particular.

Hope you get sorted out soon.