gryffin
Contributor
I’m in the middle of a two week dive trip in Bonaire. During the first week I pushed a bit on two dives (out of about 17 total dives) where my ear wasn’t clearing well. I often have difficulty clearing my right ear- usually if I wait it out and descend slowly, I can equalize successfully, though sometimes there is some squeaking initially. On the first dive of the two dives I pushed through, 1st dive Wednesday (4th day of diving, 10th dive of the trip) I was feeling pressure to descend quickly- I felt pressure in my ear during the beginning of the dive, which eventually resolved, over 15 min or so while I ascended a couple of feet to relieve the pressure before trying to descending again- repeating this process a few times until I got to about 25 feet and eventually had no discomfort at that depth. I didn’t have a feeling of fullness or echoey hearing post dive, nor did I have vertigo or dizziness, but I did have some cracking noises when I tried equalization techniques on the surface after surfacing. However, during the night, I had an itchy ear canal, and a bruised feeling when I pushed on the base of the earlobe. I had a similar experience on the 1st dive on Friday, the 16th dive of the trip and during the night following it. On the other 15 dives, I sometimes had some squeaking during equalization, but no real difficulty. The bruised feeling and itchiness continued though, I did do some scratching, so I called DAN on Saturday, and decided to go to a clinic for an evaluation. Both DAN and I were thinking swimmers ear.
The doctor observed: mild swelling redness external ear canal, bulging tympanic membrane. She diagnosed ear squeeze and beginning otitis externa. She prescribed Panotile and said no diving until complaints have resolved. She said it could be a few days or as long as 7-10 days.
I’ve been out of the water since Friday afternoon, and using the drops since Saturday afternoon. Today, Tuesday, I have no feeling of bruising no matter where I press on my ear, and I hear a normal click when I swallow or use Valsalva on land. I thought maybe I could try a dive today based on the doctors notes, but I followed up with DAN and they still advise against it.
Including today, we have 4 more days of diving. Should I really sit out if I am feeling this improved? Should I try to see if I can equalize in the water? Should I see if the doctor can look again? DAN seemed more worried about the possible infection than the barotrauma. The doctor seemed less concerned about that.
We have a big trip coming up in April that I am nervous about (Maldives), and I was really hoping to get some good continued confidence building here as a tune up before that trip- including some surface buoy/line training (I had an experience last December that I am rebuilding confidence from- I was fine, training kicked in when it needed to, story for another time).
I want to do the right thing, but I don’t want to waste the dive opportunities (nor the vacation time sitting around in a hotel room) if it’s truly an over abundance of caution. I’ve dove on past trips with ear crackling, itchiness, even a bruised feeling, figuring as long as I could clear, I was not going to do any long-term damage, but I’m no longer sure if that was a correct assumption.
Sorry for such a long post.
The doctor observed: mild swelling redness external ear canal, bulging tympanic membrane. She diagnosed ear squeeze and beginning otitis externa. She prescribed Panotile and said no diving until complaints have resolved. She said it could be a few days or as long as 7-10 days.
I’ve been out of the water since Friday afternoon, and using the drops since Saturday afternoon. Today, Tuesday, I have no feeling of bruising no matter where I press on my ear, and I hear a normal click when I swallow or use Valsalva on land. I thought maybe I could try a dive today based on the doctors notes, but I followed up with DAN and they still advise against it.
Including today, we have 4 more days of diving. Should I really sit out if I am feeling this improved? Should I try to see if I can equalize in the water? Should I see if the doctor can look again? DAN seemed more worried about the possible infection than the barotrauma. The doctor seemed less concerned about that.
We have a big trip coming up in April that I am nervous about (Maldives), and I was really hoping to get some good continued confidence building here as a tune up before that trip- including some surface buoy/line training (I had an experience last December that I am rebuilding confidence from- I was fine, training kicked in when it needed to, story for another time).
I want to do the right thing, but I don’t want to waste the dive opportunities (nor the vacation time sitting around in a hotel room) if it’s truly an over abundance of caution. I’ve dove on past trips with ear crackling, itchiness, even a bruised feeling, figuring as long as I could clear, I was not going to do any long-term damage, but I’m no longer sure if that was a correct assumption.
Sorry for such a long post.
