For the past few years, I have had issues with water in my ears after diving. It did not matter if it was a shallow (40 ft) or deep (80+ ft) dive. After my dives, I have a clogged sensation in both ears and it oftentimes progresses to a feeling of dizziness or even vertigo. I tried using the "Swimmer's Ear" drops, and while they sometimes provided minimal relief, they never really cleared up my ears.
I have tried home remedies such as those ear wax cleaning kits and the custom potion concoctions some here rave about. None have worked for me.
On occasion, I also get reverse barotrauma while ascending. As you may know, the bad thing about the "reverse squeeze" is that you never know if it will hit you until you ascend. I always try to manage my gas and gas availability for "what if" scenarios, but when you know a reverse squeeze may hit you unexpectedly, it places even greater emphasis on gas management. My last incident was at about 40' and I had ~1k psi and my dive buddy was at ~1200. I managed to slowly ascend and it worked itself out.
I decided to seek an ENT who specialized in scuba issues. I contact DAN and they referred me to an ENT Specialist in Dallas (where I live) and I made an appointment. The ENT is Dr Andy Chung and he did his ENT residency at Duke University where DAN is located. He is also a diver.
Dr Chung provided me with a pre-dive protocol for the reverse squeeze issue. It involves taking pseudoephedrine one hour prior to my dive, as well as some pre-dive exercises to prepare my eustachian tubes for diving. (Similar to Frenzel). I have not had a reverse squeeze since using this protocol.
For the water-clogging issues, Dr Chung said to toss the OTC ear remedies as they can make the issues worse. He prescribed an ottic powder treatment kit that includes Mastoid powder (comprised of ciprofloxacin, clotrimazole, dexamethasone and boric acid) and an insufflator bulb. I use this after my dives for the day are complete. Dr Chung also fitted me with custom vented ear plugs for diving. I have the Doc's Plugs, but my experience has been that they fall-out of my ears too often. Dr. Chung's ear plugs are custom fit by using a molding process. They also go deeper into the ear canal so they stay put. I also use a Mack's Ear Dryer after each of my dives and it works very well! Dr Chung also recommended for long dive trips to do an office visit with him before my trip to clean out my ears with what I can only describe as an ear vacuum cleaner.
So far this has worked for my occasional weekend dives at my local lake.
I have a 10-day dive trip planned for Coz next month (June 2021) where I will do about 25 total dives. I am hoping to be ear-issue free!
I have tried home remedies such as those ear wax cleaning kits and the custom potion concoctions some here rave about. None have worked for me.
On occasion, I also get reverse barotrauma while ascending. As you may know, the bad thing about the "reverse squeeze" is that you never know if it will hit you until you ascend. I always try to manage my gas and gas availability for "what if" scenarios, but when you know a reverse squeeze may hit you unexpectedly, it places even greater emphasis on gas management. My last incident was at about 40' and I had ~1k psi and my dive buddy was at ~1200. I managed to slowly ascend and it worked itself out.
I decided to seek an ENT who specialized in scuba issues. I contact DAN and they referred me to an ENT Specialist in Dallas (where I live) and I made an appointment. The ENT is Dr Andy Chung and he did his ENT residency at Duke University where DAN is located. He is also a diver.
Dr Chung provided me with a pre-dive protocol for the reverse squeeze issue. It involves taking pseudoephedrine one hour prior to my dive, as well as some pre-dive exercises to prepare my eustachian tubes for diving. (Similar to Frenzel). I have not had a reverse squeeze since using this protocol.
For the water-clogging issues, Dr Chung said to toss the OTC ear remedies as they can make the issues worse. He prescribed an ottic powder treatment kit that includes Mastoid powder (comprised of ciprofloxacin, clotrimazole, dexamethasone and boric acid) and an insufflator bulb. I use this after my dives for the day are complete. Dr Chung also fitted me with custom vented ear plugs for diving. I have the Doc's Plugs, but my experience has been that they fall-out of my ears too often. Dr. Chung's ear plugs are custom fit by using a molding process. They also go deeper into the ear canal so they stay put. I also use a Mack's Ear Dryer after each of my dives and it works very well! Dr Chung also recommended for long dive trips to do an office visit with him before my trip to clean out my ears with what I can only describe as an ear vacuum cleaner.
So far this has worked for my occasional weekend dives at my local lake.
I have a 10-day dive trip planned for Coz next month (June 2021) where I will do about 25 total dives. I am hoping to be ear-issue free!
