Diving with Water ALREADY trapped in ears -- am I an idiot?

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ClassAction

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Just got back from a vaction in Aruba. I got 7 dives in. Around my 5th dive, some water collected in both ears and wouldn't come out. Nevertheless, I did two more dives. I think the last two added some more water to my ears...

It's now been a week and there's still water in my ears. I've tried everything, including drops for swimmers ears. I'm making an appointment to see an ENT tomorrow...

Anyway, was it silly to keep diving? Does anyone else have this problem? Thanks!
 
ClassAction:
Just got back from a vaction in Aruba. I got 7 dives in. Around my 5th dive, some water collected in both ears and wouldn't come out. Nevertheless, I did two more dives. I think the last two added some more water to my ears...

It's now been a week and there's still water in my ears. I've tried everything, including drops for swimmers ears. I'm making an appointment to see an ENT tomorrow...

Anyway, was it silly to keep diving? Does anyone else have this problem? Thanks!

As long as you didn't have pain, it wasn't silly.

It may be that you have some wax or other debris in your ear canals which has caused some fluid to be retained. Seeing an ENT is a good idea. If there is wax in your ears, it's easily removed. Also, it would be advisable to have someone take a look at your ear drums.
 
It depends.

I'm not sure what you mean by "some water collected in both ears and wouldn't come out." If you mean in the external auditory canal (outer ear), then probably it was not foolish to do a couple more dives provided that you had no pain or difficulty clearing.

If you mean in the middle ear (behind the ear drum), then it probably was unwise to continue diving.

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual, and should not be construed as such.

Best regards.

DocVikingo
 
I assume that it was in the outer ear. It felt not different than any other time I had water in my ear. Thanks for the advice, albeit "educational" in nature! (I have had some experience with dislclaimers myself!).
 
ClassAction:
I assume that it was in the outer ear. It felt not different than any other time I had water in my ear. Thanks for the advice, albeit "educational" in nature! (I have had some experience with dislclaimers myself!).
I ´ve had the feeling of having water in my outer ear while it was in the middle ear, caused by mild barotrauma that didn´t cause pain while diving. (inicially I thought it was water in the outer ear, it was the same feeling) I think that if you have the same feeling after some hours, it´s hard to beleive there is still water in the outer ear. In my expirience the best way to take it out and prevent external ear infections, is with some drops of alcohol with voric acid.
 
Over the years I've fount that when a student complains about water stuck in their ear that the problem often is that they've gotten squeezed a little. If that's the case it isn't water but budy fluid in the middle ear.

If you have any doubt or it persists it might be a good idea to have it looked at and if it were me I'd stop diving until it clears up.
 
Although not at all medically qualified, i know the kind of feeling you describe. After almost every dive trip i have come away with stuffed ears, that feel like water is trapped in them. I dont dive with congestion or colds etc (however moving to this hot and humid climate does seem to make me feel more congested every morning, maybe that is what is causing this?), but always seem to get this feeling that starts about an hour or so after diving (usually on the drive home) and continues for a few days in one or both ears. As my diving is on weekends, i just suffer it through the week until the following weekends. I am pretty sure its cos i am not equalizing often enough, i am trying to do it more so, but if i dont feel the squeeze or any pain as i descend, but still get this every time. It has reduced in intensity though since i first started and the recovery period is lessening from almost a week down to a few days. I typically remedy this by sleeping on the opposite side to the blockage, or if its in both ears i sleep with my head slightly elevated to encourage drainage. As for continuing to dive after feeling this, i prefer not to as it seems to exacerbate the feeling. Are you fairly new and not equalizing enough, or have you had recent troubles with congestion etc? My ENT did see some fluid in my ear when i saw him in october with the same feeling, so i am mostly certain its still going on, that was after my checkout dives when i didnt equalize anywhere near enough and felt pain, these times i get the same post diving feeling, without the pain or anything telling me that there is something wrong - hence the playing around with equalizing frequency (I can do it 20 times in a row on the surface just sitting here in front of the computer, but that dry air doesnt help me swallow all that easily and the valsalva doesnt seem to work too well). Just some thoughts, hopefully something in my experiences so far can help you out.
 
[Miguel--do you by some chance mean boric acid? ]

I do, sorry for the mystake.
Here in Spain in the drug stores you find "over the counter" solutions of alcohol and boric acid to saturation. They´re very commonly used (and prescribed by ENTs) to prevent water-related outer ear infections.
Anyway, as I said before and some others seem to agree, I beleive it´s a mild barotrauma in this case. When you have never had it, it seems like water is trapped in the outer ear.
 
lasted at least a week, I would tend to agree that any fluid causing the problem is located in the middle rather than outer ear.

If correct, then continued diving was (and until resolution continues to be) questionable.

Best regards.

DocVikingo
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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