Trouble clearing ears

[j8d]

Thanks for all the great advice.

 

[tddfleming]

My husband and 12 yr old daughter have had the same issues as you. With both of them, it took a lot of practice on land. My daughter has had a much easier time now, we used to go down a few feet up a few feet-back and forth until we could clear her ears. After pratice both on land and water, she does much better. She also finds it helpful to tilt her head in one direction or another to relieve the pressure while pinching her nose.

Husband same thing, tilting of head (more like stretching his neck), sliding jaw forward, swallowing. It takes him some time to get his ears cleared. Very slow and painful for me :shocked2:

As many have stated visit an ENT to have a look see.

 

[Scuba.com]

Here's a piece of advice I was first given by my Course Director in my IDC some years ago after having a similar blockage that prevented me from completing a fun dive after our IE. Keep in mind that your Eustachian tube and the area inside your ear that you are trying to equalize the pressure in, is tissue. Just as we'd no sooner hop up from our computers right this moment and run a 100 meter sprint and expect our body to perform without some sort of negative and probably painful reaction, we shouldn't expect our ears to suddenly be subjected to this forced pressure and pressure changes without some sort of similar resistance.
He advised me that in his experience, if I were to get into the habit of clearing my ears every hour or so through out the day prior to my diving, my ear canal would be a lot more accustomed to performing the task I'm asking it. Very similar to stretching before a workout or run. Medically, I cannot say whether that advice is sound for that particular part of the body, but I can attest to the fact that it was the last time I've experienced any ear blockage of any type in 17+ years.
It's also advice I've passed on to my students and instructor candidates over the years, and to my sometimes foggy knowledge, I cannot think of a student I've ever had who has been forced to abort a training dive due to equalization problems.

 

[formula1mb@aol.com]

I'll second the advice to practice throughout the day. In the beginning I had occasional problems equalizing and than just started practicing at work, while driving, etc. to the point where it became second nature and haven't had any serious problems equalizing in a while.

Also, not a bad idea to try different techniques too. At first I used only the valsalva method but practiced the frenzel method until I could pop my ears anytime and now like it a lot more---quicker, easier, and more consistent.

 

[mouthbreather1]

if only one ear is clearing try rubbing your tongue on the roof of your mouth when you pinch and blow
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