sea_otter
Contributor
This is a hard post to write, so please, be kind. With 20/20 hindsight, I realize that I could have made better decisions.
After six days of diving, I am sitting on the beach with a ruptured ear drum while my friends are underwater. I'm trying to figure out what went wrong, and how I can prevent it next time. Here's my long winded story.
This week was spent doing training work, with a lot of ups and downs in shallow water. Here's are my profiles.
I have had ear trouble in the past, and I took a month off diving in Nov-Dec due to an issue with a mis-aligned dental crown, resulting in TMJ and ear problems on my right side. The dentist fixed the bite, and I've spent a dozen days happily diving since then. I was confident that problem was resolved.
I had a first sign of trouble on Tuesday (day 4). I should mention that a lot of that morning was spent swimming around with no mask in potentially questionable "fresh" water. On dive 3, the last of the day, I encountered a minor issue equalizing. While not painful, I felt more of a "pop" than the usual gentle equalization. This surprised me, as I really had not noticed the depth change, swimming down a very gentle slope (dropped 5 feet over 15 min). I did have a small amount of fluid in my right middle ear after that dive, and I was worried that I would have to call the following day's dives.
My ear was back to 100% when I woke up Wednesday, so I decided to dive. The day progressed with four wonderful and non-eventful dives (well, plenty of event, but all of them were intentional simulated failures. No ear problems).
My last day diving was Thursday, and I did have some trouble on the first dive. I was having a difficult time keeping my head in the right place during a lost line drill. I found myself clenching my regulator with a death grip while feeling around for the line blindfolded. My jaw was sore after this dive, and the TMJ worry returned. I took an anti-inflammatory after that dive, concerned that swelling might put pressure on my eustachian tubes and cause harm. I ate lunch and felt better, happy to do a second dive.
The second dive Thursday was uneventful, and I was happy to be able to repeat the lost line drill, this time with a clear head (and a comfortable mouth grip). I felt great that evening and was confident that I'd be able to complete my class the next day.
Unfortunately, I woke up Friday morning feeling a small amount of fluid in my right middle ear. I stopped diving, and I visited the doctor. She diagnosed me with a middle ear infection and gave me a prescription for antibiotics (oral and drops) and pain killers. She told me to take 3 days off diving.
Friday night, things got much worse. On Saturday morning, I woke up with my middle ear completely filled with fluid. I was unable to equalize (and certainly unwilling to try and push it) and my hearing was impacted. In pain, I called DAN's emergency line (who are absolutely amazing, wonderful, helpful people), and they referred me to another doctor at the hyperbaric chamber. He told me that the middle ear infection was likely a mis-diagnosis, and suspected the problem was due to barotrauma. He gave me a prescription for a nasal steroid inhaler, which I started taking while continuing the antibiotic course I had already started. He assured me that I should feel better within a day or so.
Today is Sunday. Last night I was in immense pain, and I woke up in the middle of the night having felt my eardrum rupture. I spoke with the doctor, am continuing medicines (excluding ear drops), and I see him again tomorrow.
In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how I can keep this from happening again. This isn't the first time I've had ear trouble, and I've now had two similar experiences resulting in ruptured ear drums (the first time my left ear, and now my right). The first experience was similar to this one.
So far, I've come up with:
I'm sad, frustrated, and in pain. Can anyone offer any more advice?
After six days of diving, I am sitting on the beach with a ruptured ear drum while my friends are underwater. I'm trying to figure out what went wrong, and how I can prevent it next time. Here's my long winded story.
This week was spent doing training work, with a lot of ups and downs in shallow water. Here's are my profiles.
I have had ear trouble in the past, and I took a month off diving in Nov-Dec due to an issue with a mis-aligned dental crown, resulting in TMJ and ear problems on my right side. The dentist fixed the bite, and I've spent a dozen days happily diving since then. I was confident that problem was resolved.
I had a first sign of trouble on Tuesday (day 4). I should mention that a lot of that morning was spent swimming around with no mask in potentially questionable "fresh" water. On dive 3, the last of the day, I encountered a minor issue equalizing. While not painful, I felt more of a "pop" than the usual gentle equalization. This surprised me, as I really had not noticed the depth change, swimming down a very gentle slope (dropped 5 feet over 15 min). I did have a small amount of fluid in my right middle ear after that dive, and I was worried that I would have to call the following day's dives.
My ear was back to 100% when I woke up Wednesday, so I decided to dive. The day progressed with four wonderful and non-eventful dives (well, plenty of event, but all of them were intentional simulated failures. No ear problems).
My last day diving was Thursday, and I did have some trouble on the first dive. I was having a difficult time keeping my head in the right place during a lost line drill. I found myself clenching my regulator with a death grip while feeling around for the line blindfolded. My jaw was sore after this dive, and the TMJ worry returned. I took an anti-inflammatory after that dive, concerned that swelling might put pressure on my eustachian tubes and cause harm. I ate lunch and felt better, happy to do a second dive.
The second dive Thursday was uneventful, and I was happy to be able to repeat the lost line drill, this time with a clear head (and a comfortable mouth grip). I felt great that evening and was confident that I'd be able to complete my class the next day.
Unfortunately, I woke up Friday morning feeling a small amount of fluid in my right middle ear. I stopped diving, and I visited the doctor. She diagnosed me with a middle ear infection and gave me a prescription for antibiotics (oral and drops) and pain killers. She told me to take 3 days off diving.
Friday night, things got much worse. On Saturday morning, I woke up with my middle ear completely filled with fluid. I was unable to equalize (and certainly unwilling to try and push it) and my hearing was impacted. In pain, I called DAN's emergency line (who are absolutely amazing, wonderful, helpful people), and they referred me to another doctor at the hyperbaric chamber. He told me that the middle ear infection was likely a mis-diagnosis, and suspected the problem was due to barotrauma. He gave me a prescription for a nasal steroid inhaler, which I started taking while continuing the antibiotic course I had already started. He assured me that I should feel better within a day or so.
Today is Sunday. Last night I was in immense pain, and I woke up in the middle of the night having felt my eardrum rupture. I spoke with the doctor, am continuing medicines (excluding ear drops), and I see him again tomorrow.
In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how I can keep this from happening again. This isn't the first time I've had ear trouble, and I've now had two similar experiences resulting in ruptured ear drums (the first time my left ear, and now my right). The first experience was similar to this one.
So far, I've come up with:
- Maybe plan a day off every 3-4 days, for ears, even where nitrogen loading doesn't require it. A day off following any minor hiccup is also probably a wise plan.
- Look for a better ergonomic mouthpiece that does not hurt even if I'm clenching it (I do like the Apeks Comfobite, but they seem to be a bit hard to find outside the UK. I'll look harder. The Aqualung clone does not work for me.)
- If I do have TMJ issues, call the next dive.
- Stick to "gentler" equalization techniques like Frenzel. Currently I'll mix and match this and Valsalva. Maybe look into free diving training to get better at different techniques.
I'm sad, frustrated, and in pain. Can anyone offer any more advice?
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Do you use any “ear beer” post-dives? 
