Ear injury?

[trigfunctions]

Another thing, sometimes I have to pinch the nose and blow real hard to get them to pop or clear... it almost sounds as if air comes out my ears... does that sound right?

You should never, ever blow real hard to equalize. You need to descend slower and look into taking sudafed or something before the dive. You need to discuss this further with your doctor.

 

[jonesbf]

It sounds like you had blood/fluid collection due to the vacum created by insufficient equalization and not by rupture. Is that correct? Just curious if the ENT commented on that.

That's correct. He told me to let it clear up before going back under and to be extremely careful with decent in the future. He said I was likely just one of those people who is going to have more trouble with equalization than most, but that the fact that I eventually could equalize was a good sign.

 

[TSandM]

Myrddin, I'm assuming that the doctor put you on some type of nasal steroid, which is a very appropriate step in reducing inflammation and swelling of the tissues due to allergy or irritation. It does take some time to work, however.

Afrin is a powerful vasoconstrictor, and does enormous good relieving congestion, but be careful with it. When it wears off, people often have a feeling of worse stuffiness than they had before they used it, and if you succumb to the temptation to reuse the drug, you can get into a vicious cycle known as rhinitis medicamentosa, which can require steroids and a fair amount of uncomfortable time to relieve.

If you do a search on "equalization", you'll come up with quite a few threads talking about this, which are full of tips for practicing and different techniques for equalizing.

 

[myrddin]

yes he put me on Nasacort AQ and said only to use the Afrin right before a dive. I do not know for sure if I even have an allergy but I know I have sinus trouble from time to time ( I guess it could be allergy related?). I am going to try to perfect this as I need to be sure I do not screw up my ears. I have always had a lot of trouble clearing and no one has really giving any advice to help me fix it. I will practice more ofter... even if I'm not int he watter.

Any way I guess I will use the medicine everyday like he said, and when my ears are better Ill dive agn after trying the afrin and see what i feel like.

 

[jonesbf]

Myrddin, I'm assuming that the doctor put you on some type of nasal steroid, which is a very appropriate step in reducing inflammation and swelling of the tissues due to allergy or irritation. It does take some time to work, however.

Afrin is a powerful vasoconstrictor, and does enormous good relieving congestion, but be careful with it. When it wears off, people often have a feeling of worse stuffiness than they had before they used it, and if you succumb to the temptation to reuse the drug, you can get into a vicious cycle known as rhinitis medicamentosa, which can require steroids and a fair amount of uncomfortable time to relieve.

If you do a search on "equalization", you'll come up with quite a few threads talking about this, which are full of tips for practicing and different techniques for equalizing.

He actually didn't put me on anything and indicated that it should clear up on its own.

 

[Andrew Richardson]

Hey - great comments - don't take this lightly. I cleared my ears under pressure free diving in a pool (12'). Mine healed very slowly (3-4 months). I am also unable to take ephedrine.

The symptoms of bad barotrauma can be horrid: anxiety & panic attacks, tinnitus, pain, stuffy ears, hearing loss - I went through a battery of tests to check my inner ear (luckily - no significant damage). Now seven months later and I can dive but must take great care. Left ear & left sinus still bother me a few times a day but Doc said 'as long as I can equalize, I can dive'

What I learned was that the stuffy after diving feeling can happen if you don't completely clear your ears when you get to your intended depth. I happened to like the feeling of mild squeeze - gave me a comfort feeling something. I was used to it from swimming - used to only worry about the pain. Now I know any squeeze is a bad thing.