A couple of years ago, I got a very small perforation in my eardrum while freediving. The perforation was confirmed by my instructor because with my head underwater I was able to blow bubbles out my ear by equalizing. Of course I left the class immediately, and the next day I visited a doctor. He told me that the perforation was tiny and that my middle ear was filled with blood with a few bubbles. He gave me an antibiotic, told me to stay out of the water for a while, and told me that the blood would drain on its own. I had no pain at any time, and my hearing did not appear to be affected, except that sound was somewhat muffled until the blood drained. That ear had a feeling I can only describe as a feeling of "fullness."
In itself, this was a minor incident that would be of no concern to me except that I had to stay out of the water for a while and was unable to continue the class. When I got home a week later, my regular doctor told me there was no sign of trauma, as the ear was all healed and back to normal.
Here's my concern:
In retrospect, I realize that I have often experienced that same feeling of "fullness" in one ear or the other after diving (both scuba and freediving) along with sounds being muffled. I always use Ear Dry drops after every dive, and normally that gets the water out of my outer ear, but often I'm still left with the fullness and muffling, and when that happens, no amount of Ear Dry helps. I suspect, based on the incident related above, that I often get blood in my middle ear when diving. This happens even after dives when I've had no difficulty equalizing and no pain. (It's rare that I have difficulty equalizing, though of course this is just my subjective experience.)
I'm wondering if I should be concerned about this. I enjoy diving, but it's only one of several activities I enjoy, and if I had to give it up it would not be a disaster for me. In fact, I have not dived in a couple of years, just because in that time it's never been at the top of my list of things to do.
In itself, this was a minor incident that would be of no concern to me except that I had to stay out of the water for a while and was unable to continue the class. When I got home a week later, my regular doctor told me there was no sign of trauma, as the ear was all healed and back to normal.
Here's my concern:
In retrospect, I realize that I have often experienced that same feeling of "fullness" in one ear or the other after diving (both scuba and freediving) along with sounds being muffled. I always use Ear Dry drops after every dive, and normally that gets the water out of my outer ear, but often I'm still left with the fullness and muffling, and when that happens, no amount of Ear Dry helps. I suspect, based on the incident related above, that I often get blood in my middle ear when diving. This happens even after dives when I've had no difficulty equalizing and no pain. (It's rare that I have difficulty equalizing, though of course this is just my subjective experience.)
I'm wondering if I should be concerned about this. I enjoy diving, but it's only one of several activities I enjoy, and if I had to give it up it would not be a disaster for me. In fact, I have not dived in a couple of years, just because in that time it's never been at the top of my list of things to do.
