Ear infection and blocked ears over 2 weeks. How to relieve?

[Tycksel]

I have every winter this ear infection and this year wasn't exception. So +2 weeks ago ears starts to hurt and doctor diagnosed middle ear infection. I got antibiotic pills but also IV antibiotics, IM painkillers and antihistamines. Pain went away within a week and I've been using only antihistamines and nasal steroid spray after that.

Still my ears are clogged. I have visited doctor many times, but she just tells that it takes some time. With valsalva I can open my ears for few seconds, but soon they are clogged again.

How can I relieve this so I could dive again? I'm in a diving trip at Thailand, so every day is waste of time for me...

 

[Searcaigh]

Sorry to hear about your problem, and to be honest I think you have to bite the bullet on this and stop diving until the congestion goes away.

Can you obtain Sudafed in Thailand? That usually works well in dealing with the congestion.

I have had many ear issues over the years and understand your frustration regarding this.

For future reference I take a lot of proactive measures using saline nasal rinses prior to diving as well as "ear beer" daily post diving.

Have you established how you caught the infection?

 

[Tycksel]

Sorry to hear about your problem, and to be honest I think you have to bite the bullet on this and stop diving until the congestion goes away.

Can you obtain Sudafed in Thailand? That usually works well in dealing with the congestion.

I have had many ear issues over the years and understand your frustration regarding this.

For future reference I take a lot of proactive measures using saline nasal rinses prior to diving as well as "ear beer" daily post diving.

Have you established how you caught the infection?

I'm eating something similar which have ibuprofen and phenylephrine HCl but doesn't help...

I haven't been diving since I got this condition but every day wondering that when I can dive again.

Don't know how I got this. I also flush my ears after every dive and apply ear beer after 2nd dive, but have to start using that more often. Year ago I got this same infection after diving in Philippines and year before that I got infection from diving in Portugal.

I think my ears are narrow or something, because sometimes even after shower there is water stucked in my ears for weeks/months

 

[Searcaigh]

I suggest you consult an ENT specialist, preferably one who dives, and can provide some good medical advice to help resolve your ear issues.

 

[scubaozy]

Ear beer does not do much for the infection or the fluid in middle ear. You need sinus rinse to remove the mucus blocking the expelling of the fluid. Regarding Sudafed, recommended combination of pseudoephedrine to my knowledge is the combination with paracetamol. I do not recommend valsalva because fluid in the middle ear will not compress, you would not want accidentally overpressurize your middle ear. I would use more gentle methods, like pinching your nose closed and drinking glass of water with small gulps. Additionally, instead of streoid spray, I would go for something with oxymeazoline to help draining the fluid in your middle ear. Steroids are good if you have mild allergies and for longer term use but for acute case like yours better to use decongestant for a few days (not while diving). One last thing, stay away from dairy products for a few days as they thicken the mucus, for a Finn it can be difficult to stay away from milk but it will help with your healing.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Go see a medical doctor.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I have every winter this ear infection and this year wasn't exception. So +2 weeks ago ears starts to hurt and doctor diagnosed middle ear infection. I got antibiotic pills but also IV antibiotics, IM painkillers and antihistamines. Pain went away within a week and I've been using only antihistamines and nasal steroid spray after that.

Still my ears are clogged. I have visited doctor many times, but she just tells that it takes some time. With valsalva I can open my ears for few seconds, but soon they are clogged again.

How can I relieve this so I could dive again? I'm in a diving trip at Thailand, so every day is waste of time for me...

It's good to hear that you're not diving with clogged ears. Concur with @Searcaigh that you should not dive until you can easily equalize.

Some people find that nasal sprays containing oxymetazoline can be of temporary benefit. If you choose to do this, ensure that you read the instructions for use and check with a medical professional if you're on any medications that it may interact with. Also, timing is important because you don't want it wearing off while you're on the bottom.

A longer-term solution might be to visit an ENT physician when you get home and have him/her check the patency of your Eustachian tubes. If you have chronic middle ear infections it's possible that the middle ear is not draining properly. Irrigating the external ear canal won't do anything for this, as @scubaozy mentioned.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Tycksel]

I have also nasal spray with contains only oxymetazoline hydrochloride, but I was using that for a week and when it didn't help, I switched to steroid nasal spray. But this spray doesn't help either, so maybe I change back to that oxymetazoline. My antihistamines are running out, so maybe I buy more pseudoephedrine

I don't actually use diary products here in Thailand.

Can't find any ENT doctors from this island so have to just trust pharmacy and regular doctors. Many divers trust my doctor and they have got help from her

 

[boulderjohn]

I go to Florida every winter, and several of those trips have ended pretty much as you describe. The problem is that I also tend to go on significant dive trips in the spring, and I need to have clear ears. I am going to describe what has happened in each of the two previous cases.

• As the time for the dive trip approached and my ear still felt clogged, I went to an ENT. He said my ears looked perfectly fine---he could not tell me why it felt clogged. He had an audiologist in the office, and he suggested I have the ears checked to see how much worse the hearing was in the left (affected) ear. Well, the right ear was worse! Not only that, it was pretty bad. So the result of the visit was that 1) no matter how bad my left ear felt, it really wasn't bad, and 2) I now wear hearing aids.
• The same thing happened a couple years ago, with the same overall results. My ear turned out to look just fine to the ENT, not matter how it might have felt to me. As long as I could equalize, I was fine to dive.

I am in exactly the same situation right now.

 

[kinoons]

The short answer is that it can take several weeks for the inflammation and effusion (fluid) to clear after otitis media (a middle ear infection). So the feeling of full ears for two weeks is not unusual.

Longer answer is that if these infections continue to reoccur, or the difficulty equalizing or ear pressure persists after 4-6 weeks, an ENT is the professional you need.

TLDR - DDM’s post for the win.