Barotitis — Never dive with cold!

[Trixxie]

I had to dive with a cold last weekend to do checkout dives with students who already paid and took the time to be there.

I am fortunate to not get colds very often, this was my first one in about a year or more. I have never dove with a cold before and was kinda leery about having to do it this time.

Fortunately for me, I had another instructor agree to go with me to help out. I sat out on the AOW Deep dive as I did not want to push the envelope. I did do the OW checkout dives though at 20-30'. Smart, right? the depths which have the greatest pressure change from the surface.

Anyways, I did not feel as if I had any congestion. Either in my chest, ears or sinuses. I had an awful sore throat and a bit of a tickle which made me cough from time to time. I had no problems clearing my ears or other ill effects from my cold.

Is it possible to have congestion and not know it?

- Also welcome to the board rob1967 - hope you are back to 100% before your trip!

 

[doctormike]

I had to dive with a cold last weekend to do checkout dives with students who already paid and took the time to be there.
... Anyways, I did not feel as if I had any congestion. Either in my chest, ears or sinuses. I had an awful sore throat and a bit of a tickle which made me cough from time to time. I had no problems clearing my ears or other ill effects from my cold.

Is it possible to have congestion and not know it?

Yes, this is exactly the point... some people will have significant symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection (sore throat, etc..), but their baseline equalization abilities are good enough that the additional swelling in the sinuses and the Eustachian tubes isn't enough to compromise function. At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who can never equalize, even at the surface, even when feeling perfectly fine...

The bell curve strikes again!

 

[rob1967]

Thanks all for you input, this board is a great resource.

Docotrmike, you are a wealth of info when it coems to ENt- dive medicine.

I have to agree whole heartedly with Ber Rabbit. My little inside voice WAS telling me I should not dive with a cold. Despite my 3 C-cards, i still consider myself a novice diver and look to the instructor for his guidance and wisdom. My cards have been accumulated by a sincere desire to learn and advance my skills. I certainly don't plan to do a divemaster course anytime soon! I don't even own a wetsuit to sew any patches too!

As for the Nitrox, i did the course when I was in Coron Bay, Philippines. They have fantastic WWII wrecks there in around 30 metres of water, and the Nitrox is highly recommended to increase bottom time at that depth. The other big benefit of the "voodoo gas" that i found is much less post-dive fatigue on Nitrox v. compressed air. One theory is that post-dive fatigue may represent sub-clinical DCS, so anything that reduces the formation of little gas bubbles in my body sounds good to me!

As for my ear, it is getting better, and according to one ENT, there does not appear to be any inner ear damage, so that is a relief. I am still really unhappy with the instructor/dive shop for not offering to re-schedule my course when I told them I had a cold.

 

[rollerboi]

It sounds like I've had a similar experience to the OP, in which I went diving a week and a half ago with a very slight sinus congestion. Unfortunately, this seems to have turned into some form of sinus barotrauma. I am completely deaf in one ear, and the volume of the other ear fluctuates, almost feels as though my hearing is decreasing gradually. Taking sudafed and a hndful of other medicines, which relieve the pain short term but seem to be having no impact long-term. I have an intensely severe headache that accompanies this hearing loss, and sensation of pressure in my head.

I went to a clinic the following saturday, and the doc said i was full of fluids under my eardrum.

Now I'm wondering - how in the heck does one get in to see an ENT right away? The earliest I've been able to schedule is August 12th. Is there some secret password of some sort (or something I can say to the receptionist to express the urgency) that I can use to get in to see one quickly?

As it is, I may end up having to go to the ER, which I cannot afford, on Monday, with the faint hopes of getting in to see an ENT. Unless any of you have a better suggestion. :/

Is a week and a half with no improvements, and worsening hearing, normal? Should I give it a little longer?

 

[doctormike]

Thanks all for you input, this board is a great resource.

Docotrmike, you are a wealth of info when it coems to ENt- dive medicine.

Thanks! I'm always happy to help as best as I can... It's the closest that I can get to diving here in the Catskills for a week...

My cards have been accumulated by a sincere desire to learn and advance my skills. I certainly don't plan to do a divemaster course anytime soon! I don't even own a wetsuit to sew any patches too!

Yes, and I hope that you took my little post in the right spirit... you sound like a very enthusiastic diver who will be a great buddy for years to come! I didn't mean to suggest that more training was a bad thing at all... just commenting on how multiple cards and few dives might put you in an uncomfortable situation with instructors and buddies in the future. But you are right to know your own limits - that is what makes a safe diver.

As for the Nitrox, i did the course when I was in Coron Bay, Philippines. They have fantastic WWII wrecks there in around 30 metres of water, and the Nitrox is highly recommended to increase bottom time at that depth.

As long as you are more limited by bottom time than by air consumption, this is true. You probably have pretty good AC if this is the case... congrats!

The other big benefit of the "voodoo gas" that i found is much less post-dive fatigue on Nitrox v. compressed air. One theory is that post-dive fatigue may represent sub-clinical DCS, so anything that reduces the formation of little gas bubbles in my body sounds good to me!

This is apparently an urban legend according to the research that I have seen... I think that the placebo effect is more to credit here for feeling better after a Nitrox dive. On the other hand, I do exactly the same thing, and I know that I feel better with Nitrox!

As for my ear, it is getting better, and according to one ENT, there does not appear to be any inner ear damage, so that is a relief. I am still really unhappy with the instructor/dive shop for not offering to re-schedule my course when I told them I had a cold.

Hooray for your ear! I think that your feelings about the dive shop are appropriate. Dive shops, like many other small businesses, are in the service industry. They only will succeed if they consider what makes their customer's experiences as good as it can be...

 

[doctormike]

It sounds like I've had a similar experience to the OP, in which I went diving a week and a half ago with a very slight sinus congestion.

Will respond to you off-thread. But basically, any acute change in hearing after diving needs a quick audiogram and ENT evaluation...

Mike

 

[jeboy]

I had a congested right (part) nose and i dived last week at 15ft for 15minutes. My left nose was fine. I hear funny sounds while eqalizing during that dive? why is that?

 

[doctormike]

I had a congested right (part) nose and i dived last week at 15ft for 15minutes. My left nose was fine. I hear funny sounds while eqalizing during that dive? why is that?

It is normal to hear the sound of air entering and exiting the middle ear, especially if there is some fluid behind the eardrum. If there is any change in your hearing after the dive - as I mentioned above - you should get a hearing test and see someone right away...

Mike

 

[jeboy]

thanks mike. i have no problems with my hearing and my colds are gone. i am now looking forward to my next dive probably before this month ends.

 

[rob1967]

Well, I am happy to report that I was able to successfully dive in Sipidan (Malaysian Borneo) only 5 weeks after my Barotitis in the pool incident. The diving in Sipidan is absolutely fantastic by the way.

I still have some residual hearing loss and tinnitus from the original incident however. I did learn that you actually can dive with a cold, since I came down with a cold the day before arriving in Sipidan. However, despite this, I did manage to equalize and had some fantastic dives.

The lessons I have learned from all this, I can recap as follows:

1) Watch Dr. Kay's video on equalization technique and practice, practice, practice.

2) Equalize early in the dive, and equalize often.

3) If you have pain and cannot equalize, do not descend further! Rather ascend until the pain is relieved. At this point, you can either abort the dive, or try this trick: blow out each nostril one at a time by plugging the other, then try to equalize again.

4) Take a sudafed before every dive (if you have any history of ear problems/difficulty equalizing).

I know this last point is a bit controversial, and that proper equalization technique is more important than drugs. However, I would not wish my barotitis experience from hell on anyone, and would much prefer any potential side effects of the drug if it helps reduce the risk of ear pain. There is only one paper in the medical literature on this, and it does show that sudafed has significant reduction in the risk of ear pain with diving.