Another one on ears

[Kaffphine]

HELP!! I've been dry for over a month. I realize I need to be patient, but this is taking a LOT of will power.

Ok, about two months ago my right ear was feelin full after diving, started to get dried and flaky (ear canal), and I had some problems coming up with reserve block. The Doc said pseudoephedrine for a few days as it was probably a minor Eschuan irratation. Ear drum was observed intact.

Over the next two-three weeks I did 4-5 dives. I could go down, come up (with some work), and had a headache for all or at least the end of the dives. And my left ear started to behave the same, but to a lesser degree. My ears feel pretty good on those dives, and for about an hour after that the orginal pain returned serveral times over. After the last dive the headaches were all the time and got worse as the day went on, and I was taking Vicidan to get to sleep. At that point I pulled myself out of the water. The Doc put me on Zinothmax (sp?, antibotic), that helped the headache alot. But like a week after that was done everything was started getting worse again. From the flaking of dry skin there was too much 'debrie' to observe the ear drum.

Went back for the thrid time and now I'm on a longer dose of Agumentaun (sp?). That's not making anywhere near the improvement the Zinothrmax did, but is helping a little. Headaches are becoming intermittant. And in the past week tinnuis, a soft white noise. Only time I don't hear it is when there's alot of noise. Then for a period of like 4-5 seconds the volume of everything just drops really low then returns to normal, that's happened like 3-4 times. And on that visit there was still too much 'debrie' to see the ear drum.

I'm probably going back to the doc's next week as the Agumentaun isn't doing much. My doc doesn't know dive medicine, and I'm not sure I've done a good job on expressing the important of an intact normal ear while under pressure. Any ideas? Although, next time I leave the office I'm having a referal for an ENT.

 

[Cherry]

I pass on to you DocVikingo's very good advise to me Contact DAN for a referal at

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/

Good luck

 

[BillP]

Howdy Jess:

Sorry to hear about your trouble. As I'm sure you can appreciate, no one can make diagnoses, devise treatment plans, or give specific medical advice to any individual on an Internet message board. To try to do so would be irresponsible. All that your fellow board members can do is describe their personal experiences (which I sometimes find have little or nothing to do with the subject at hand) or discuss points in general. Medical care is best dispensed in person by a practicing health care professional, particularly for complex problems.

That said, some general observations about diving with ear trouble. Continuing to dive with ear problems- either trouble clearing, problems with hearing or balance, significant irritation of the outer ear canal, or whatever is unwise, and diving to the point (or beyond) of needing narcotics (Vicodin) for the pain is downright foolhardy. If a diver has minor ear problems that don't resolve soon after diving, they have recurrent minor problems that occur repeatedly during/after diving, or if they have a major ear problem with significant pain, drainage, fever, hearing loss, balance problems, etc. they should seek medical attention before further diving. If they fail one (or two, or three) rounds of attempted treatment by their primary care doctor, seeking the advice of a specialist is prudent. The diver should then refrain from diving until their ear problems resolve and they are cleared to resume diving by their doctor.

Any well trained and qualified ENT should be able to treat significant ear disorders from diving. The need for a doctor who knows about diving comes when it's time to consider that release to return underwater (and that well trained and qualified ENT should know about the effects of pressure like seen in diving on the ear).

Good luck,

Bill