Bubbles coming from ear and injury

[divingsurfari]

Hello to all, my first post here

A few months ago I was diving in Indonesia. 3 yrs ago I'd done an Open Water SSI course and was now going to do the Advanced Open water, although I'd done no diving in the interim.

So, I began the advanced course, went through a few exercises, and descended to a depth of 10m. After about 15 mins of exercises and descending, and as I was trying to equalise, I noticed bubbles coming out of my left ear. When this first started I immediately told the instructor. I didn't feel any other symptoms. The instructor just asked me if I felt OK and I gave him the OK signal. We completed the dive, which lasted nearly an hour because we didn't descend more than 10m.

So, I was at a depth of 10m with a dodgy ear for nearly 45 mins!

After the dive the instructors asked me if I felt vertigo or nausea and I said no and they weren't concerned.

For a couple of days after the dive there was water trapped in my ear which slowly leaked out.

After the dive, I noticed an area of pain behind and below the ear, behind the jaw but this pain eased away after a week or so.

I had to fly soon after and so sought a doctor's opinion, who looked in the ear and just said there was a bit of infection for which I was prescribed antibiotics, which I didn't bother taking.

I flew and had some pain in the left ear but it wasn't chronic and so I ignored it.

A few weeks and flights later, I went to another doctor, at a better hospital in Thailand, who checked the ear and gave me the all clear. I took several flights after this and didn't have any symptoms.

I went surfing and noticed my ear didn't react too well to the water, and the trapped water took a day or two to clear out but this seemed to go away reasonably quickly and so I ignored it.

Back in UK I went to the Dr, who looked inside the ear and said there's an area that's a bit red and looks like a bit of an infection for which he prescribed antibiotics which I didn't take. When he was poking around inside the ear with the scope I flinched in pain when he went too deep, which I think confirmed there was a minor infection.

I suppose, if I think about it, there's something not quite right in the left ear but there's no real pain (unless poking around inside) and so I just ignore it.

I've resumed normal activities, gym, cycling, walking and seem to be OK.

I noticed a ringing in my right ear after a bike ride last night but it went away. My head does feel a bit fragile but that might be because of the winter.

I'm also the other side of 40 now and can feel the change in the body.

Anyway, I just hope, through this diving incident that I haven't irreparably damaged some part of my ear.

Look forward to hearing from you

 

[RainPilot]

Mentioning @Duke Dive Medicine here to draw attention to your post.

 

[guruboy]

I'm not a doctor.

Bubbles out of the ear sounds like a perforated ear drum.

Instead of equalizing your ear with air, water was probably leaking into your middle ear. Would explain infections.

 

[divingsurfari]

Hi, I'm due to see the specialist in a month or so. I gave as detailed a description as I could so as to see if there's anything that might point towards a specific aural problem. If it's just infection and nothing else, then I can deal with it. Maybe I should take the course of antibiotics.

 

[Moor3061]

I have had only one ear infection as an adult, 2 months ago. I took the antibiotics and was diving again 3 weeks after. I was not able to equalize my ears on land, the thought of not taking the meds never crossed my mind.

 

[Beau640]

Initially when I was reading your post I was thinking perforated ear drum, but you've had multiple doctors look in there and no one has seen a perforation yet. Either the doctors don't know how to look at an ear drum (not uncommon. Perforations are hard to see. FYI a little redness doesn't mean middle ear infection) or it's not a middle ear problem.

What you're describing now with a normal drum and pain with exam actually sounds like otitis externa (can be a manifeststion of swimmers ear). Steroid drops can help but at the end of the day it's time. As for what caused the bubbles with a normal exam now who knows. Possible you had a tiny perf that's now healed (they spontaneously heal on their own).

If you are still concerned go see an ENT doctor rather than a primary care physician.

 

[JIMMY PHILLIPS]

I am assuming here and am not a doctor, disclaimer out of the way. You should take the prescribed meds , even if you feel ok, especially antibiotics as they continue to solve "issues" even after any discomfort you may or may not have felt is gone. The infection could linger, contributing to later issues encountered. Bubbles from the ear may not be anything more than trapped air leaving your ear canal once you move your head in a way that allows it to escape. I have to do a couple of head tilts while I am clearing to get those pesky air pockets to escape so my clearing is not compromised. This is where I assumed the air from your ear might not be an issue, but am just proposing possible reason. If my assumption is correct, you likely would have felt the air bubble move as soon as you moved your head in a way that allowed it to escape

 

[offfi]

Why would you go to three different doctors and never take the prescribed medication? Makes no sense to me.
Do you expect to get a better diagnosis in a message board?
I don't mean to be rude, I'm just trying to understand. ;-)

 

[peeweediver]

First and most important, wait for an ENT to look and diagnose. Self diagnosis by you (unless you are an ENT) or by anyone on this board is not OK. Also, try posting on the Dive Medicine section and see if one of the really good Docs who visit that site can add some color, but they will also say "get to an ENT", From diving stupidly, my ear drum perforated a week after the initial barotrauma but I didn't even feel the perforation. I was already going to an ENT and two days later she couldn't see the perforation unless I equalized, forcing a bit of fluid out. A week after that, she could see nothing but redness. An ear drum can heal in less than a week, but she made me stay out of the water for 4 months. My regular doc was ineffective at diagnosis and saw nothing. That's why an ENT is critical. If they prescribe something and you ignore that, can't say much about that.
Good luck.

Rob

 

[lionfish-eater]

You probably have a tiny rupture that filled the middle ear with sea water while you were diving. The water pressure at depth for 45 min forcing water into the middle ear is stronger than the bodys' pressure to force the water out at the surface. The ear drum then healed over trapping the remaining water and sea life turning the middle ear into a mini aquarium filled with all kinds of microbial flora and fauna. The antibiotics would have taken care of this, but by now they probably have spread throughout your brain judging from your post. Wishing you a speedy recovery.