Ear Crises- Help!!!!

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

I went diving last weekend in Monterey Bay and we had 2 dives on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. On Saturday the 1st dive was good but the 2nd dive I accidentally choked on a bunch of water. Gave me a bad cough trying to cough up the water. That night I had a pretty good cough but by morning it was gone. So I thought all was good. Dives seem to go well, I didn’t descend to fast. I seem to be able to clear just fine. I got out of the water on second dive and felt like I had water in the ears and couldn’t clear. By the next morning my ears were very sensitive to sound and muffled. No pain though. I started using some ear drops incase it was trapped water but still no good. Today I went to the doctor and he told me that I had Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. He said that its because the coughing inflamed me so it was like diving with a cold and I couldn’t equalize properly I am not equalized properly and there is no cure. He said just time, he said it could take weeks. He is not a diver and said he doesn’t see divers very often. Maybe I should find a different doc. He said no planes, altitude or diving until it gives. The dilemma is in 4 weeks I am supposed to take an AOW class. In 6 weeks I am supposed to fly to Cozumel for 7 days of diving. If this takes weeks that would be awful. So I turned to the best resource I could think of. Has anyone out there had this before? Any quick cures you know about? Anything I should try? He told me to quit the ear drops because they were starting to give me an earache. He said antibiotics would do nothing. Any advice? :shakehead

Thanks in advance,
Stacy

 

[divingjd]

Stacy:

Whatever you do, don't push it. You can do even more damage. My wife has had similar problems. You need to be very careful with this sort of thing. You might want to find an ENT who is familiar with diving. Your LDS may have someone they can refer you to, ours has business cards for at least one. Unfortunately, I have never heard of a good quick cure. Skip the AOW class if you are not right.

Hope it clears up soon, I know you are really looking forward to the Coz trip.

 

[Web Monkey]

Call Diver's Alert Network and ask for a referral to a diving doc or ENT near you.

Depending on what's wrong, they may give you something to help it get better faster, or at the very least if they tell you to "wait for it to get better", you'll know it's an opinion based on fact, and not just a guess.

Terry

I went diving last weekend in Monterey Bay and we had 2 dives on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. On Saturday the 1st dive was good but the 2nd dive I accidentally choked on a bunch of water. Gave me a bad cough trying to cough up the water. That night I had a pretty good cough but by morning it was gone. So I thought all was good. Dives seem to go well, I didn’t descend to fast. I seem to be able to clear just fine. I got out of the water on s
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Stacy

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

I know I should just wait and hope it happens soon but easier said then done. I just want it done so I dont have to worry about it. If I miss my trip because of some stupid water choke issue I am going to be so bumbed. I thought there might be some magic quick fix. I think I am going to call DAN though, getting a doc that knows diver issues is a good idea.

Stacy

 

[Web Monkey]

With diving injuries you never want to "wait and see if it gets better" unless the person who told you to wait has specific training in that area and is basing the opinion on known facts.

Terry

I know I should just wait and hope it happens soon but easier said then done. I just want it done so I dont have to worry about it. If I miss my trip because of some stupid water choke issue I am going to be so bumbed. I thought there might be some magic quick fix. I think I am going to call DAN though, getting a doc that knows diver issues is a good idea.

Stacy

 

[concordepa]

First, it probably wasn't water in your ears but blood. When I had trauma to my ear (which funny enough was from flying with a sinus infection, not diving), it took a few weeks to heal. The doctor prescribed some steroids that would heal it faster if I wanted, but I chose to let it heal naturally (which the doctor said was preferable). Check out the video on equalization that can be found on the new divers forum for more on damage that can be done to ears because of lack of equalization.

In terms of what to do, you may want to get a second opinion right away, or wait a couple weeks and see how it heals, then go back to the doctor. You probably will be fine for the four weeks/six weeks, but get the doctor's okay before you go. Also, you might want to reschedule the AOW class and give yourself more time to heal.

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

Just called DAN and they said to take Sudafed decongestant. That should help speed up the stabilizing process. So that was good news. Will pick some up after work. I checked about getting a doc in my area that has scuba experience and the closest is 45 min away and he is not within my health plan. So much for that idea They gave me some good new though.

Thanks for all the feed back.
Stacy