ear feels plugged a week after dive

[eth727]

I went diving last week and my left ear feels plugged. I don't feel any pain. I squeeze and blow into my nose and it feels normal for a few seconds but eventually feels plugged up again. Any Ideas? Does DAN master insurance cover something like this?
Thanks

 

[sabbath999]

Call Dan and ask them both about the problem and the insurance.

Fluid in the ears isn't necessarily painful, sounds to me like you have an issue though.

 

[emoreira]

This has been discussed several times in this forum. Try a search in this site.
However, I do recommend you to pour a few drops of pure alcohol mixed with white vinegar (10 % white vinegar, 90 % medicinal alcohol) in each ear after every dive. Alcohol will dry your ear channels and vinegar will avoid bacteria to grow inside.
A cheap solution with only one disadvantage, the salad dressing smell you will leave behind.
This works if you don't already have some infection inside.

 

[flots am]

I went diving last week and my left ear feels plugged. I don't feel any pain. I squeeze and blow into my nose and it feels normal for a few seconds but eventually feels plugged up again. Any Ideas? Does DAN master insurance cover something like this?
Thanks

As far as I know, DAN should cover any diving-related health problems.

I'd recommend having a doctor take a look at your ears and would also recommend not putting anything (liquid or solid) in your ears until they're looked at. If you have a perforated eardrum, you can cause a tremendous amount of pain and damage that way.

flots.

 

[Dana Kay]

I agree with seeing the doctor first. My boyfriend had the same thing and it turned into an infection very quickly after he started the alcohol and vinegar. He now uses the mixture after every dive and has had no further trouble.
Good luck.

 

[Crush]

Your ear can be plugged on the inside or on the outside. If doing the valsalva technique (plug your nose and blow, as if to equalize) helps, it is likely on the inside in which case you should see a medic - there is fluid inside your ear, and this often leads to an inner ear infection (or is caused by an inner ear infection). This remedy helps in the case of your ear being plugged on the outside, and for general ear maintenance:

I used to get regular ear infections (outer ear) after diving. Finally, one physician told me that he could prescribe me (more) antibiotics, but he instead suggested a remedy for what he called "swimmer's ear." Similar to emoreira's concoction, it is:

1/3 vinegar, 1/3 rubbing alcohol, 1/3 water

the 1/3 water seems to go a long way in not burning your ear. Lay on your side, apply to one ear, dropwise, let it sit for five minutes, flip over onto the other side, and repeat. Done at the end of a day of diving, it is a brilliant (non-antibiotic) way of keeping your ears healthy. A year later, I am still antibiotic free.

 

[Crush]

If you have a perforated eardrum, you can cause a tremendous amount of pain and damage that way.

flots.

If you plug your nose and blow (as if to equalize) and you hear air escaping, you have a perforated eardrum. A negative result does not mean that your eardrum is not perforated.

 

[Lee Taylor]

Had this happen to me. I use to get "reverse squeeze". It starts with your eustation tube having liquid in it. During the ascent the eardrum flexes outwards (due to the lessening pressure). The flexing creates a negative pressure in the inner ear. This in turn draws liquid (from the eustation tube) into the inner ear(look at a diagram of the ear). In my case (sounded like my ear was full of water) it took about three months for it to heal properly.