Ear pressure for a newbie..

[Medicaptain]

My wife and I just completed a week in Maui. We did an intro dive then followed it up by two dives a day for four more days...

I have a problem clearing.......I need to do it every few feet and it seemed to take me forever sometimes but I did get comfortable on most of my dives. However, each time I ascended...my ears were VERY noisy and I had to slow down my ascension to reduce it.

I now have a pressure feeling in my left ear since my last dive four days ago........I just cannot seem to get it to "pop"...when I blow slowly through my pinched nostril I can hear some fluid in that ear only....I tried alcohol and it seems to help for about 10 minutes and it seems to be worse each morning......today I have felt a few short periods of pain in that ear so I am fearing that it may becoming infected.......

Any ideas out there?

 

[diverbrian]

If you have problems like this four days after a dive, it most likely time to see a doctor and have him take a look inside. At the very least if you afraid of infection, you could get some antibotics.

Also, we teach our students to descend slowly and clear ears almost continously in the first 20-30 ft (the largest proportional change in ambient pressure in the water is the first atmosphere or 33 fsw). Once every couple of feet (especially for people with sinus problems like me) may not be enough. On the ascent, how fast were you ascending? Maybe you were going up a little quickly as well.

I am not trying to insult your intelligence by asking stupid questions. I am just trying to guess what happened so that I don't find myself doing it.

Thanks!

 

[double125's]

Definatley seek out a doctor for the existing problem. In the future you may want to try cleaning your ears before every dive by using alcohol and peroxide. Continually clear as you go down, come up extremely slow (this is good for more then one reason). While visiting the doc try to get more insight on how to prevent it then share with us. God diving.

 

[Canook]

Have you tried the ProEar 2000 mask?

 

[wreckchick]

Yup, I got one after my first dive trip. It didn't really show up until I was on the plane home. My ear just started aching like crazy. A few days of antibiotics cleared it right up.

The rate at which you can safely descend is often controlled by the ears, my ears clear well on the way down just by swallowing but if I start to feel ANY pressure, long before any pain, I arrest the descent and wait few seconds. This has not been a particular problem for me in a while but try to descend as slowly as you need to to keep your ears happy. You should never "squeak" your ears on the way down. Your ears should never be uncomfortable on a dive.

As to "noisy ears" on ascent, no matter how slowly I ascend my ears crackle on the way up. I don't have any residual pain but I can definitely hear them equalizing.

Rachel

 

[alex6]

After every time i go swimming i use swim ear. You can get it at an local store. It comes in a little white bottle.

 

[deignor]

If your ear feels full and clogged- you probably have fluid in your middle ear. Putting in peroxide or alcohol is not going to help. If you are feeling pain, get yourself to an ear doctor. Ask you diveshop if they recommend anyone.
I ended up with middle ear barotrauma with fluid in my middle ear when I had some problems equalizing on a dive trip 2 weeks ago. OK for the rest of my trip but a few days later when I was home- I needed to see the doctor.
Gave me antibiotics to avoid/treat infection and steroid nose spray to help open up sinuses and Eustasian tubes.
Good luck.
Diana