sharp ear pain, can't equalize

[barnbridge]

My newly certified 16 year old son is in St Croix diving with the scuba club at his high school. He texted me today and is complaining of a sharp pain in one ear and can't equalize. He's supposed to fly home tomorrow. Should I tell him to visit the emergency room or does this sound not serious? Thanks

 

[DCM]

Let me start off with a *disclaimer* by saying I am not a doctor (even though I may profess to be to a certain demographic, lol) and he should absolutely see one!

What can offer is purely anecdotal experience... google ear problems and diving, there is a bevy of info out there on the many problems that can occur in the inner ear as well as the potential issues that can arise if not taken seriously - only a specialist will see the condition of the membrane! I have ruptured my right ear a few times when I was younger behaving stupidly as well as having 'tubes' as a child (NB correlation between tubes and pinholes left in the membrane which may lead to issue when diving, also documented on google searches).

My experience began when I was doing my open water course, I could not equalize well in the pool and decided it was only 10 feet deep so I stayed down. I tried to equalize at the bottom and without forcing it too much next thing I knew I was blowing bubbles out of my ear (no lie)! Although this meant that I did not have to equalize for the remainer of my time in the pool, at night it was pounding because of the water trapped in there. I have felt this before when rupturing an ear after landing on it from a 5m spring board (booze = more courage = more flips = bloody pillow that night).

I was never able to see a doctor before heading to Panama for a dive trip. I prepared myself for it by being careful not to get water into it during showers and not popping my ears. On the flight, 3 weeks later, I started equalizing carefully to see how it felt. I opted to dive and although at the beginning it was not always smooth I was equalizing. At one point I had to ascend 15 feet to equalize after dropping only 3 since the last one but eventually got it under control, was doing multiple dive days to 100' (I am only OW, no chirping/bragging from others on that point).

My advice (read: not Dr.) is to have him see a specialist, make sure he is aware of the full situation and possible outcomes if he doesn't deal with it, be very careful when diving (even if it takes longer to get to the bottom) and look into the different ways to equalize - I now rock my head when equalizing to stretch the membranes. He should begin 'prepping' his ears by equalizing on the surface BEFORE he even thinks about touching the water... remember what was said in class - EQUALIZE EARLY AND OFTEN (especially so if you have had problems before)!

Hope this helps... remember rest and dryness are the best cures, but a specialist is the best diagnosis!

 

[TrackerF16]

i know this post is a year after the fact, but what i have to say is pertinent,

recently i was diving in mexico, first time in awhile, i recall the first time i dove i had one ear that was slow to equalize, i could get down it would just take me a little while, first dive, everyone descended at the rate of the DM, and left me by my lonesome, thankfully one of the other DM's saw me, and hung out with me, took me a really long time to get to depth, just had to go slow, eventually i got down, but not without a few moments of pain, when i surfaced, it felt like i had water in my ear

second dive went better, i got down faster, but still got left behind for a lil bit(this time i swam along with them as i descended)

after the second dive, the feeling of a "plugged" ear didnt go away, it has its moments of being painful, and was a general mood killer for the rest of the trip, this was a week ago tomorrow, i flew home in this condition, chewed gum most of the flight, it sucked, but it didnt hurt worse than the squeeze in the first place.. ear popped alot

saw a dr as soon as i could after i landed (a GP) he told me my eardrum wasnt ruptured, but i had managed to get fluid into the tympanic cavity, behind the ear drum, he said most likely i have some sort of inflammation in my eustachian tube thats not letting the fluid drain,, he game me a round of steroids thats supposed to help reduce inflammation in the sinus cavities, so far, in 2 days, the felling of having a plugged ear has reduced alot, but the popping is still there, and when i do certain things, (like yawn) it still sounds like its plugged

the long story short, if its similar to my story, getting him to a dr wont cure it instantly, but it might help reduce the pain, the flight home wont kill him, but it wont be pleasure.

Tracker