JenlovesIandA
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Hi guys,
My name is Jen, I'm a 27 year old wife and mom to 2 girls. I've always loved the ocean and would love to eventually start diving one day. As of late, I've been looking around these forums for an answer to a question that I feel possibly one of you divers may have experienced. Here goes: I got a sinus infection last January with led to my Eustachian tube,especially the left, being blocked for 6 months. I finally found an ENT who did a newer, less traumatic procedure called Eustachian tube dilation to reopen the blocked tubes. After about a month of swelling and everything settling, I was back to 100%. Now comes the question. I woke up 2wks ago Friday with that scary cloggy feeling in my left ear. I tried to be calm and performed a gentle valsalva to make sure that both tubes were able to open. They were. Try as I might (gently of course) no amount of equalizing could rid me of the pressure feeling in my left ear. I moved on from valsalva to. Toynbee and even flexed my tubes open. Nothing changed the pressure feeling. Called my ENT and he set up an appt for the following Monday. Meanwhile, I was instructed to see my PCP just to rule out an ear infection. My PCP found no infection or fluid in the middle ear. He asked me to do a valsalva and a toynbee while he observed each of my ear drums. Both moved when I equalized. He concluded that my allergies were flaring and causing inflammation in the sinus cavities which in turn was putting pressure on the Eustachian tubes. He Rx'd a 60mg prednisone taper for 6 days. I completed the pred with no change in the pressure feeling. When I saw my ENT on Monday, he did pneumatic otoscopy of my ear drums and found both to vibrate freely and easily. He also found no fluid. Upon inspecting my nose, he saw a heavy post nasal drip and some yellow mucus way up in my nose. He examined my lymph nodes and found a swollen one just under the left side of the neck. He told me he suspected sinusitis, but couldn't be certain if it was bacterial or viral, so he decided to Rx augmentin 875 for 10 days with a follow up on the 15th. He also sent me for a tympanogram to check my middle ear pressure, and I did the exam when the ear was feeling pretty pressurized, but it came up normal. There was only a slight (5daPa) positive pressure in both ears. So now I'm waiting till the 15th. I was told to continue to gently equalize a few times everyday and to add sudafed to my regular daily dose of Zyrtec. I decided to post here even though I'm not a diver yet because I was hoping someone here may have experienced something similar. Has anyone been able to equalize just fine but still have the feeling of pressure for some reason? If so, what did your ENT say and did it go away? I greatly appreciate you welcoming me into your community and any advice you may have to offer me.
-Jen
My name is Jen, I'm a 27 year old wife and mom to 2 girls. I've always loved the ocean and would love to eventually start diving one day. As of late, I've been looking around these forums for an answer to a question that I feel possibly one of you divers may have experienced. Here goes: I got a sinus infection last January with led to my Eustachian tube,especially the left, being blocked for 6 months. I finally found an ENT who did a newer, less traumatic procedure called Eustachian tube dilation to reopen the blocked tubes. After about a month of swelling and everything settling, I was back to 100%. Now comes the question. I woke up 2wks ago Friday with that scary cloggy feeling in my left ear. I tried to be calm and performed a gentle valsalva to make sure that both tubes were able to open. They were. Try as I might (gently of course) no amount of equalizing could rid me of the pressure feeling in my left ear. I moved on from valsalva to. Toynbee and even flexed my tubes open. Nothing changed the pressure feeling. Called my ENT and he set up an appt for the following Monday. Meanwhile, I was instructed to see my PCP just to rule out an ear infection. My PCP found no infection or fluid in the middle ear. He asked me to do a valsalva and a toynbee while he observed each of my ear drums. Both moved when I equalized. He concluded that my allergies were flaring and causing inflammation in the sinus cavities which in turn was putting pressure on the Eustachian tubes. He Rx'd a 60mg prednisone taper for 6 days. I completed the pred with no change in the pressure feeling. When I saw my ENT on Monday, he did pneumatic otoscopy of my ear drums and found both to vibrate freely and easily. He also found no fluid. Upon inspecting my nose, he saw a heavy post nasal drip and some yellow mucus way up in my nose. He examined my lymph nodes and found a swollen one just under the left side of the neck. He told me he suspected sinusitis, but couldn't be certain if it was bacterial or viral, so he decided to Rx augmentin 875 for 10 days with a follow up on the 15th. He also sent me for a tympanogram to check my middle ear pressure, and I did the exam when the ear was feeling pretty pressurized, but it came up normal. There was only a slight (5daPa) positive pressure in both ears. So now I'm waiting till the 15th. I was told to continue to gently equalize a few times everyday and to add sudafed to my regular daily dose of Zyrtec. I decided to post here even though I'm not a diver yet because I was hoping someone here may have experienced something similar. Has anyone been able to equalize just fine but still have the feeling of pressure for some reason? If so, what did your ENT say and did it go away? I greatly appreciate you welcoming me into your community and any advice you may have to offer me.
-Jen
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