Ear problem, Tinnitus & Buzzing - Never Diving Again

[Oezkan]

You should check for discharge or blood in your ear canal after the problem occurs. That will indicate that there was a perforation. It could be tricky though if diving without hood as it might be washed away already.

Maybe it got washed away, but there was no discharge or blood after the dive when I dried my ear. Even pain there wasn't. It started about 1 hr after the dive. Still not discharge tho. No other symptoms like vertigo or hearing loss. Just a feeling of fullness in the ear

 

[scubaozy]

Maybe it got washed away, but there was no discharge or blood after the dive when I dried my ear. Even pain there wasn't. It started about 1 hr after the dive. Still not discharge tho. No other symptoms like vertigo or hearing loss. Just a feeling of fullness in the ear

Eardrum perforation is quite acute, you will feel sharp pain for a moment in most of the cases and sudden relief of pain. Fullness of ear indicates middle ear barotrauma, can happen without perforation and usually you do notice it after the dive.

 

[Curtis Hopper]

Maybe it got washed away, but there was no discharge or blood after the dive when I dried my ear. Even pain there wasn't. It started about 1 hr after the dive. Still not discharge tho. No other symptoms like vertigo or hearing loss. Just a feeling of fullness in the ear

Get DAN insurance and see a doctor. Like one with a degree in medicine and scuba issues.

 

[Oezkan]

I've been to an ENT today. So hey said I had a mild barotrauma on Saturday from diving. The ear drum seems from that still a little red no hole at all and no infection.. He said I can already go diving in 1 or better after 2 days. I only got pills against inflammation just in case there is any behind the ear drum.

So you think I can really dive in 2 days (so 4 days after the last dive) already even tho I had a barotrauma? Dr Google say it needs 2 weeks

 

[lowwall]

I'll let the qualified medical personnel comment on when you can go diving again, but I wanted to address this:

On descending everything was working well until about 28 meters. After that equalizing got a bit difficult. I had a pain in the left ear, equalizing didn't work. After about 15 seconds (too long I guess) I ascended 2 meters and went down again. With a little more force equalizing worked.

You are going to keep damaging your ears until you learn to pay attention to them. Never force equalization. As soon as you have difficulty equalizing, you need to ascend until you can easily equalize. And then slowly descend equalizing every meter or two.

If you are experiencing pain, don't hesitate. Ascend immediately.

This may mean you can't get to the bottom on some dives or that you have to descend more slowly than you'd like. But that's OK. Just let your buddy know ahead of time that you sometimes have ear issues. If you are diving from a boat, also let the operator or DM know. They might be able to put you in the water first to give you the time you need.

 

[Angelo Farina]

With a little more force equalizing worked. After the dive I had pain all day.

There should be no "force" involved in equalizing...
Just performing the proper manoeuvre which opens your Eustachian tubes.
I am still convinced that all your problems come from an improper equalizing technique.
I warmly suggest that you take a DAN Equaleasy class.

DAN Europe - EqualEasy - course - DAN Europe - EqualEasy - course

nome:EqualEasy - Equalisation Awarenessabstract:At present, this content is only available in Italian language. The DAN Equalisation Awareness course is the training course focusing on...

www.daneurope.org

One of my colleagues had similar problems, and he was refusing to follow my advise on how to equalize correctly, but he finally went to that course (at the Y-40 pool), and in one day he solved his problems...
Search for similar courses in your area...

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I've been to an ENT today. So hey said I had a mild barotrauma on Saturday from diving. The ear drum seems from that still a little red no hole at all and no infection.. He said I can already go diving in 1 or better after 2 days. I only got pills against inflammation just in case there is any behind the ear drum.

So you think I can really dive in 2 days (so 4 days after the last dive) already even tho I had a barotrauma? Dr Google say it needs 2 weeks

A perforated tympanic membrane (aka TM or eardrum) by definition has some sort of tear or hole. I could see someone making a presumptive diagnosis based on visualization of blood or blood-tinged fluid in the outer ear or a careful medical history though.

Re how long to wait, middle ear (and by extension, Eustachian tube) inflammation caused by barotrauma is notoriously slow to resolve. It can take even longer than Dr. Google says. If you decide to dive again, you will need to be very mindful of your equalization technique, which from your description probably needs some fine-tuning. There's excellent advice above on how to properly equalize, and to reiterate part of it, you must never force a Valsalva (pinch the nose and blow) maneuver. Doing so can result in serious, possibly permanent injury to your inner ear, which contains the delicate structures involved in balance and hearing.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Oezkan]

A perforated tympanic membrane (aka TM or eardrum) by definition has some sort of tear or hole. I could see someone making a presumptive diagnosis based on visualization of blood or blood-tinged fluid in the outer ear or a careful medical history though.

Re how long to wait, middle ear (and by extension, Eustachian tube) inflammation caused by barotrauma is notoriously slow to resolve. It can take even longer than Dr. Google says. If you decide to dive again, you will need to be very mindful of your equalization technique, which from your description probably needs some fine-tuning. There's excellent advice above on how to properly equalize, and to reiterate part of it, you must never force a Valsalva (pinch the nose and blow) maneuver. Doing so can result in serious, possibly permanent injury to your inner ear, which contains the delicate structures involved in balance and hearing.

Best regards,
DDM

Thanks very much for your reply and thanks to the others above too!! I tried many times already to learn another equalization techniques like frenzel. But it only works on land and not in water. The problem Saturday was after a 7 month dive break we decended to 32 meters very fast. I think we reached 32m in less then 1 minute. I go diving tomorrow again as the ENT said I can. Got no pain anymore in the ear. Tomorrow I equalize often and defend really slow. Let's see how it works.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Please, do not force equalization. At any minimal issue, be ready to stop descending and abort the dive.
Frenzel is not the easiest method for scuba divers, as it requires to close the mouth. It is much easier for free divers, who are trained to spit the snorkel and to dive with the mouth closed.
Removing the reg from the mouth for equalizing with Frenzel is definitely unpractical.
And the open-mouth version of Frenzel (aka Marcante-Odaglia) is very tricky to master, requiring precise control of soft palate, tongue and epiglottis.
Who has such a precise control, usually can also perform BTV, which is much simpler and does not require to pinch the nose.
But there are at least other 4 equalizing techniques, suitable for scuba divers (reg in mouth), such as Toynbee, Lowry, etc.
With your history of barothraumas, I would invest time and money with an instructor who can help you finding the best equalization method which works for you.
We are not all built the same...

 

[Oezkan]

Hey Guys. Thanks for your replies. I read it and take your advise. Especially the equalization course. Eversince my last post I Dived 5 times already. Descending slowly and ewualazing often and early. So diving worked and that proofed that my problems do come.from bad equalization. But that is not the only reason I realised. I Dived 2 times and concentrated only on my ears (buddy saw 2 tiger sharks and 10 dolphins and I didn't see anything because of my ear check dive).. So I found out I have to equalize my left ear about every 0,3 meters. Even when I'm 36 meter deep I have to equalize it that often. While my right ear doesn't need it even every meter and its already fully equalize when I do it for my left. And when I ascend my left ear has a very low little pain. Like the pressure gets stuck thet (reverse squese). So I have to ascent slowly. But especially on my safety stop and when there are waves and I can't hold the exact same depth, it's really uncomfortable for the left ear.

So ill keep defending slowly and ewualazing every 0,3 meters. But that's a bit annoying and weird because only one ear need it.