Ear Equalization Issue

[Crowell]

This weekend I was diving with several other folks at a freshwater spring and everything was going along fine.

We went down to an area of about 45' for about 5 minutes or so, but most of the dive was between 5' and 20' depth, total ... with the majority of it at around 16 - 18'.

We were in the water for about 45 minutes all total, and the 45' point was very early in the first dive. I had no problem with my ears at all.

About 40 minutes into the dive we were at 12' or so depth, and my right ear started hurting, pretty significantly, after I turned my head to look for my buddy. I was hovering face-down, and looked somewhat up and across sideways to my buddy, which put my ear aiming towards the surface (something I've done at other times with no problem).

My ear started hurting and I went up to the surface with my buddy to mention it. After a moment, we went back down, and all was fine pressurizing on the way back down, but we just swam to the shore to sit it out for a while.

We did a surface interval of about 90 minutes or so, ate some oranges and water, then went back for another dive.

The second dive was ok, and we went back down to 25' without any problem. We swam around a little more - going to different areas and back up to around 8' or so with no problem, then we went back to the 45' area for another pass at it. When I got to around 30' on this second dive, I started having the ear-pains again fairly severly, and so I ended up hovering at 25' while my buddy went on down. I was fine at 25', but below that my ear started to really be a pain to me and was even very painful trying to pressurize it, so we ended this dive short and called it a day.

Any ideas? Could I have been doing something wrong, or just a bad day? I didn't have any sinus problems and was breathing clearly, and have had several dives to 70 and 80 feet or more in the gulf with no problem. I don't have (and didn't have) any water trapped in it, and the only thing I can think of that I did differently is before this dive was I tried to clean my ears prior to the dive with one of those water-spray things to keep any wax from getting compacted inside my ear canal. Usually I'll just let the wax compact, and if necessary use the water sprayer to clean it out post-dive.

Thanks for any comments or opinion. I'm not in any pain today, and I wasn't in any pain after surfacing either time yesterday or in the afternoon, and my fiance said she didn't see any bubbles coming from my ear - so I think I'm ok there, just concerned and curious mostly.

 

[ScubaFreak]

Again, the famous saying arises "I'm not a doctor but"....

Sounds to me like it may just be some kind of ear infection? There is the possibility that there may be a slight perforation, no bubbles from the ear is a good thing (although quite an amusing thing to see ) but there could still be some damage to the inner ear.

Best bet is to see an doc and see what he reckons, he may refer u to an ENT specialist if he thinks it's appropriate.

Was the water really cold? I got terrible earaches before when I hit a thermocline, hurt like hell but was fine once I got out!

 

[Xanthro]

If you changed how you clean your ears before that dive, that could cause pain. Especially if you have large wax build up.

Most pain my ears have ever been in was after I used some over the counter ear wax removal kit once. Felt like my ears were on fire.

If the wax level in your ears was vastly different than what you are used to, then the water could cause pain, as can even the air, in extreme cases such as I suffered.

Xanthro

 

[ScubaCollin]

Sounds like you were all over the place with your depths. This may also be a problem, going up and down like that is a killer on the ears.

 

[lostinspace]

yes - a saw-tooth profile can (a) really mess your ears up and (b) could lead to DCS

 

[rachelscott51]

Ears can be sensitive to just about anything. I find that I can have bad ear days for seemingly no reason. Just be careful with your profiles. I have had much more trouble when sawtoothing (as someone else previously mentioned). You also might have done some minor damage on the first dive and should see a doctor just in case, so you don't have the problem in the near future.

 

[MyDiveLog]

A good Chiro and a good ENT doctor!

I dive a lot (120 a year), but never in fresh water, so take any advice with a grain of salt. I had chronic ear problems about a year ago and did a lot of reading on this. There could be a handful of causes, most likely with some that are exacerbating others.

Dive Technique: Are you equalizing early (before you 1st descend) and often (with every breath)? Most folks don't equalize on the surface, but that takes a lot of stress off the eustachian tubes. Do you descend head-down? Don't ... air rises, which makes it hard on your eustachian tubes when you equalize in a head-down position. Just the 'flip' to begin finning down puts about a quarter of an ATA pressure change on the eustachian tubes. Your post mentioned you were head-down when the first problem occurred....are you careful to equalize at depth when you change elevations? The thing I learned is that, once they get irritated, the Eustachian tubes have trouble clearing on subsequent dives. Sound familiar?

Ear Problems: Find an ENT that is a diver and have them checked. The DAN website can point you to one. You may have wax build-up, or an ear infection, or a fungus and you can't tell which is which, even if you have a great otoscope.

Post Dive: My ENT has me putting drops in my ear that are a combination of distilled water, vinegar, and alcohol (1/3 each). The 'swimmers ear' drops are just alcohol and seem too burn to darn much. Leave the drops in for a minute each drain, and then blow-dry your ears. I'll admit it looks stupid (blow drying my ears, but not my hair) and I always get some teasing in the dive shop, but I haven't had an ear infection since I've been doing this.

I noticed that my ear infections were most common when I was working with students in the pool a lot; perhaps ear infections are more common in fresh water. Mine had to be treated with Keflex and an anti-fungal powder.

 

[fookisan]

Sounds like you were all over the place with your depths. This may also be a problem, going up and down like that is a killer on the ears.

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I had the same ear issues as the original writer of this thread and took a dive this weekend with many ups and downs which I had seldom have done in the past...usually just stay down. Guess the ears only take so much pressure changes.

Dan

 

[lostinspace]

I noticed that my ear infections were most common when I was working with students in the pool a lot; perhaps ear infections are more common in fresh water. Mine had to be treated with Keflex and an anti-fungal powder.

Nope - nowt to do with fresh water and everything to do with the bacterial & fungal soup called a "public access swimming pool". :11:

 

[Crowell]

Post ENT visit update:

Well, I visited an ENT yesterday about this issue.

And a little more background info as well ... I was a crash-recovery diver for Sikorsky's crash-rescue crew out of Troy, AL back in the late 90s and I never had a problem with this stuff. I got out of diving for a while, (about 5 years), and just recently got back into it again as more or less a fresh-start earlier this year. My first dive this year (72') I had some pain as well, but only once back on the surface, and a good ear cleaning did the trick for me later that evening at home. Then no issues until the weekend in the starting post.

Seems one thing the doctor picked up on while I was having my head examined was that I also had a UPPP (uvulopalatopharyngoplasty) in 2001 which I didn't think was any big deal, so I didn't mention it. For those that don't know, basically a UPPP is a fairly invasive surgery to the mouth, soft-palette, and throat, whereby a doctor basically goes in with a chainsaw and cuts out everything he can get his hands on - or at least that's what it feels like for about 2 weeks after you wake up from the surgery. They remove your tonsils, adenoids, uuvula, and part of the roof of your mouth back in the throat, and it hurts like nothing I've ever had done to me.

Anyway, it seems I have some residual scar tissue that the ENT says is obstructing my right eustacian tube, and creating a problem for me to equalize, so that even if I can equalize ok on the surface - even the least amount of blockage or additional sinus issues can create issues for me with equalization as I get more pressure on me. This is all according to this doctor, who's an ENT and also a diver, but I don't know if he's a diving-specialist doc or not.

Anyway, he told me what he would recommend for folks in my situation is to take a bottle of Affrin, hold my head to the right, and keep squeezing affrin up my nose "until I can taste it", about 20 minutes prior to getting in the water.

Thoughts anyone?