Ear Equalization

[demonic_death]

Hi Guys!

I am a newbie at scuba diving and I just had my first confined dive. I have had trouble equalizing my ears even on land, and as a result, I could feel a lot of pain even if I try to equalize when I am underwater. I have tried all the equalization methods (pinching my nose, swallowing, wiggling my jaw) but my ears don't pop at all!

I have had an x-ray and my sinuses are fine and clear. I am worried that I may not be able to dive at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Xman]

Sounds like potentially you have narrow eustacian tubes. Be careful to get things checked out thoroughly be an ear/nose/throat specialist before continuing.
My wife got through her pool sessions, but once in open water and going deeper (7m) she had problems equalising. She came up one metre and tried, then up another metre, then another metre. Ended up having to surface. She got a reverse block and blew her eardrum. Not nice! Hope you get whatever it is sorted, but if you are having any pain in your ears due to inability to equalise then you should not dive until you can sort it out.
Rupturing you eardrum is no fun at all.

 

[ScubaFreak]

Hi there,

In addition to what Xman said, might be something as simple as a big build up of wax in your ear. Yup- sounds gross enough, but when I first started, i had that problem with one of my ears, couldn't equalise it at all, eventually went to Doc and got it cleared out. Apparantly I have "Bendy ear canals" gotta get syringed once a year.

So before spending all the $$$ on an ENT, i suggest just going to your own doc, or even buying some over the counter ear wax drops. Lots of the time they can do the job just fine aswell!

HTH

Scubafreak

 

[Xman]

Thanks Scubafreak, I wasn't meaning to suggest jumping straight to an ENT specialist, but rather to do so if another solution could not be found before diving again. I hope you are right and that it is just a wax build up. It could be any number of things, and I was not meaning to say that I know what is wrong. I was just trying to caution about the possible dangers/outcomes, and to advise caution as far as diving goes until a solution has been found.

 

[jakobus]

Here's a link I found really helpful. Click on the video for "Diver's Ear - Under Pressure". This doctor talks about other methods for equalizing that may work better for you.

http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/index.html

 

[demonic_death]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll have my ears checked out by the doctor.