Continuing Barotrauma problems

[Ben Tetzner]

Greetings all, I had a barotrauma event in the philippines in november. I also had an ear infection just before this, which was cleared by a doctor in the philippines. Diving was fine, just took a day off here and there ,when the ear was problematic. Anyway, I was fine heading home, and lost partial hearing on the plane, which my ENT called sudden hearing loss. I have not yet recovered my hearing and my left ear rings like crazy, 2 months later !
My guy at stanford said I have probably damaged the oval window, and recommended quitting diving !!! I sure would consider this if I could rid myself of the tinnitius and hyperacusis ! This brings a new meaning to miserable !
Today I try a new med called nortyptiline to hopefully help with the ringing ! Any similar nightmare stories out there ?

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Ben,

I'm sorry to hear about this event. If you did damage the oval or round window (round window damage is more common) then your symptoms may or may not resolve over time. Your ENT would be in the best position to advise you on your recovery arc.

The rationale behind the "no diving" recommendation is that if the vestibular apparatus is damaged, there's no real way to tell (a) exactly how extensive the damage was, (b) how well it's healed and (c) how sensitive it will be to further insult. If you go diving again and traumatize it further it could aggravate any current symptoms or lead to additional symptoms like vertigo.

Sorry the news isn't better.

Best regards,
DDM