Ear problem

[Janko]

I was snorkeling about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and at one point I dove a few metres. I had trouble equalizing the pressure on my left ear and felt some pain. I couldn't equalize the left ear so I just swam a little shallower.

In any case, since then I have had a bit of a strange sensation - when I swallow, cough or breathe heavily I get a bit a 'venting' going on in the ear. Not that any air comes out or anything, but it feels weird. Sort of like when your nose is really stuffed up due to a cold and there is that pressure...

Hard to describe. It has subsided somewhat as time has gone by, but is this common? As with most diving mishaps I'm guessing this phenomenon has a name.

In a related tangent, one time I got kicked in the head underwater and my left ear drum exploded. After I screamed in pain at my sister for about half an hour, I found I could go underwater, plug my nose and blow bubbles out of my ear.

It was awesome. (It healed just fine.)

 

[BuoyantC]

Janko,
It sounds to me like you may have pushed some water into your eustachian tube. I have had this happen, but it has gone away in a couple of days. Since yours has lasted several weeks now, and given your previous ear problems, perhaps it's time to seek medical advice.
Even an ear infection can have serious consequenses so be kind to your body.
Good Luck,
Dennis

 

[Janko]

Hmm... yeah, I'd be more worried if it was painful in any way, and it does seem to be gradually going back to normal. I'll let it go for a little longer and see if it clears up.

If not, I guess it can't hurt to get it checked out. Thanks!

 

[Mortlock]

Could be time to have your ears flushed out. I had similar symtoms (wihtout the bubbles) and the flushing worked a charm! In either case you'll be needing to see a doctor.

Morty

 

[pipedope]

Preferably a diving ENT.

While waiting for your apointment watch the streaming video at;
http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/index.html

 

[atownscubaman]

ok...i have had eaqualizing trouble too. My dad has been scuba diving for 20 years and he told me a trick for equalizing.
He told me to look up and to the left and stretch your neck muscles and it is easier to equalize.

 

[JKSteger]

I went diving this past Saturday and couldn't equalize my left ear very well. Instead of just going up a few feet and trying to equilize again, like a dummy I got so cought up in trying to get my left ear to equalize and get rid of the pain that was building I lost my bouyancy. So here I am trying to equalize my ear while descending and only my right ear is equalizing...the pain was almost unbearable! I eventually got it equalized but after I came back to the surface I was spitting up blood and blood was in my left nostrile. I had burst some capalaries in my ear. The next day I dove a couple of times and didn't have the first problem equalizing!

I said all of this to say that equalizing is important and if you don't equalize expect to have ear problems. I'm fortunate that I didn't have any problems after going down without equalizing properly. I'm a new diver and I have learned a very painful and valueable lesson.

BTW, watch the video that was linked earlier by pipedope it is very informative!

JKS

 

[crispos]

I was snorkeling about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and at one point I dove a few metres. I had trouble equalizing the pressure on my left ear and felt some pain. I couldn't equalize the left ear so I just swam a little shallower.

In any case, since then I have had a bit of a strange sensation - when I swallow, cough or breathe heavily I get a bit a 'venting' going on in the ear. Not that any air comes out or anything, but it feels weird. Sort of like when your nose is really stuffed up due to a cold and there is that pressure...

Hard to describe. It has subsided somewhat as time has gone by, but is this common? As with most diving mishaps I'm guessing this phenomenon has a name.

In a related tangent, one time I got kicked in the head underwater and my left ear drum exploded. After I screamed in pain at my sister for about half an hour, I found I could go underwater, plug my nose and blow bubbles out of my ear.

It was awesome. (It healed just fine.)

It sounds like your left ear drum has been torn and partially healed. If I were you, I would fix it ASAP because when you are older, you may lose hearing in that ear. It isn't funny. My old man burst an ear drum when he was a teen, and he is 80% deaf in that ear now.

This assumes your post is legit and you aren't blowing air up my wazoo.