James horton
Registered
Hi there, does anyone know if you are still able to dive if you have this Eustachian tube condition?
Patulous Eustachian Tube
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fmerkel
Contributor
Had to look it up; intermittently patent/open E-tube.
Since the E-tube HAS to open to clear your ears, this sounds like it might actually be a benefit in diving.....unless the sounds of the regulator and bubbles drove you crazy.
[Patulous Eustachian tube, also known as patent Eustachian tube or PET, is the name of a physical disorder where the Eustachian tube, which is normally closed, instead stays intermittently open. When this occurs, the patient experiences autophony, the hearing of self-generated sounds. These sounds, such as one's own breathing, voice, and heartbeat, vibrate directly onto the ear drum and can create a "bucket on the head" effect.Wikipedia]
Since the E-tube HAS to open to clear your ears, this sounds like it might actually be a benefit in diving.....unless the sounds of the regulator and bubbles drove you crazy.
[Patulous Eustachian tube, also known as patent Eustachian tube or PET, is the name of a physical disorder where the Eustachian tube, which is normally closed, instead stays intermittently open. When this occurs, the patient experiences autophony, the hearing of self-generated sounds. These sounds, such as one's own breathing, voice, and heartbeat, vibrate directly onto the ear drum and can create a "bucket on the head" effect.Wikipedia]
OP
James horton
Registered
Any of the medical staff here know anymore about this?
Hi James. Not my field but until others chime in I have to agree with Fmerkel (a respiratory therapist BTW). Problems in diving and equalization occur with ETD when the tube is narrow or obstructed. You have the opposite problem.
If @doctormike or @Duke Dive Medicine doesn’t reply maybe give DAN a call.
If @doctormike or @Duke Dive Medicine doesn’t reply maybe give DAN a call.
NAUI Wowie
Contributor
Yeah, I remember looking into this in another thread. Not really much in the literature about it. I would say the same thing that I say for all poorly understood or described issues with the ET - see if you can safely equalize in a pool. The main concern I would have would be a reverse block, if the intermittent patency locked up at depth. There simply isn't a lot of data there, so you would need to listen to your body and experiment in closed water conservatively.
Protondecay123
Contributor
I’m not an ENT, but It’s seems that could be a blessing to help equalize pressure in your ears.
Wasserratte
New
I actually have this problem in one ear and unfortunatly it keeps me from diving at the moment. On descend it usally is not a problem, however since the tube is always open I cant hear or feel the equalization on that specific ear. So I have no control over it: When Im at depth, after 10-20 minutes its starts to hurt really bad. I assume air is trapped in the middle ear somewhere. Ascending is really hard, because it feels like I get a reverse block and have to ascend really really slow for it to not hurt.
Ouch
OP
James horton
Registered
That sounds very strange. Have you had an Ent have a look at it? If it is patulous I can't understand how you would have air trapped in the middle ear. It sounds like there is more going on than just a patulous eustachian tube.
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