Dose is 2.5mg for 2 weeks every morning , i'm preety clued up on side effects though . I have to go back after 2 weeks anyway for a further check so will do a follow up then , thx for your advice tho mate really appreciate your time.
Ears full after doing handstands in pool !
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fmerkel
Contributor
IMO that's just plain inappropriate. 2.5mg is a 'teaser' dose. Side effects won't be a problem. Likely you'll barely notice it.
For a situation like this it's preferable to have a high dose for a short time; something like 40mg x 5 days, then stop. Or 40>30>20>10>5> stop.
The idea is to hit it HARD, and reduce the swelling quickly, so the tissues can return to more normal state, drain, and start healing.
That's a VERY VERY cautious approach by someone not clued in to what is going on in this situation, which unfortunately a lot of non-diving physicians are. You end up getting treated like you have an ear infection, which you don't in the beginning. You just have fluid in the middle ear. The longer you stay in this state the higher the probability of an infection becomes, unfortunately.
Where do I come off criticizing your physician, right?
I'm a Respiratory Therapist. I specialized for 12 years in asthma education. I taught the medical people how to treat asthma. An acute exacerbation of asthma is in many ways similar in the inflammatory component to your middle ear problem. The treatment when it gets very bad is a short course of high dose steroids. I've seen it a lot. It's best practice.
I've also been on the receiving end of this. My issue is rotten sinuses. Those don't get along too well with diving. I've been dealing with this for over 25 years. Over the years I've had multiple courses of high dose steroids to treat nasal polyps and 'open thing up', and 2 sinus surgeries. Again, normal practice.
2.5mg/day x 2 weeks is not normal practice for an acute middle ear barotrauma. It's not worthless, but it may not be a whole lot better than 60mg of Sudafed (pseudoephedrine). If you are going to stay on the 2.5mg course, in that case I would add the Sudafed. Recognize both are 'uppers', so you might feel a bit jittery or anxious. Do not take 4-6 hours before bed.
For a situation like this it's preferable to have a high dose for a short time; something like 40mg x 5 days, then stop. Or 40>30>20>10>5> stop.
The idea is to hit it HARD, and reduce the swelling quickly, so the tissues can return to more normal state, drain, and start healing.
That's a VERY VERY cautious approach by someone not clued in to what is going on in this situation, which unfortunately a lot of non-diving physicians are. You end up getting treated like you have an ear infection, which you don't in the beginning. You just have fluid in the middle ear. The longer you stay in this state the higher the probability of an infection becomes, unfortunately.
Where do I come off criticizing your physician, right?
I'm a Respiratory Therapist. I specialized for 12 years in asthma education. I taught the medical people how to treat asthma. An acute exacerbation of asthma is in many ways similar in the inflammatory component to your middle ear problem. The treatment when it gets very bad is a short course of high dose steroids. I've seen it a lot. It's best practice.
I've also been on the receiving end of this. My issue is rotten sinuses. Those don't get along too well with diving. I've been dealing with this for over 25 years. Over the years I've had multiple courses of high dose steroids to treat nasal polyps and 'open thing up', and 2 sinus surgeries. Again, normal practice.
2.5mg/day x 2 weeks is not normal practice for an acute middle ear barotrauma. It's not worthless, but it may not be a whole lot better than 60mg of Sudafed (pseudoephedrine). If you are going to stay on the 2.5mg course, in that case I would add the Sudafed. Recognize both are 'uppers', so you might feel a bit jittery or anxious. Do not take 4-6 hours before bed.
I would follow the recommendations given to you by Duke Dive Medicine and others to see an ENT specialist ASAP. Inner ear problems are nothing to be messing around with taking medication advice from non-medical people. I have a friend that screwed around with a similar problem and wound up with a massive inner ear infection that gave him severe vertigo for quite a while after the infection was cleared up, and also had some hearing loss. He would have paid anything to have avoided that experience. Sometimes paying money is worth every dime, even if it is painful to open the wallet.
2.5 mg daily does seem a bit on the low side. I won't second-guess your practitioner, but if you don't get relief it may be worth re-visiting with it him/her.
Prednisone Tablets (prednisone) dose, indications, adverse effects, interactions... from PDR.net
Best regards,
DDM
Prednisone Tablets (prednisone) dose, indications, adverse effects, interactions... from PDR.net
Best regards,
DDM
Quick update on my ears atm , am 8 days away from my return appointment with doctor . Not much change at all with ears left one still feels full with hardly any hearing. , right one not too bad have decent hearing .
Left ear has terrible tinnitis tho .
I can valsalva gently and feel my tubes open and get some pressure differential into my middle ear which redeces the Tinnitis down to a quiet whine but it gradually gets louder again over the next 30 mins as if the pressure increases again ? Sounds weird i know..
Have no pain , when i go back to the doctors going to explain i'm concerned i'm not getting the right treatment and could end up with hearing damage , the NHS in the uk is not the best when dealing with things like this and even a referral to an ENT could take months
Left ear has terrible tinnitis tho .
I can valsalva gently and feel my tubes open and get some pressure differential into my middle ear which redeces the Tinnitis down to a quiet whine but it gradually gets louder again over the next 30 mins as if the pressure increases again ? Sounds weird i know..
Have no pain , when i go back to the doctors going to explain i'm concerned i'm not getting the right treatment and could end up with hearing damage , the NHS in the uk is not the best when dealing with things like this and even a referral to an ENT could take months
Okay , update from visit to ENT specialist today , finally after 3 months of waiting .
So i had another hearing test which came back as 20% in left ear ( the damadged one ) and 90% in right ear ( reasonably normal ) . The specialist said he would try 2 treatments today and we would evaluate if they worked.
Firsly he totally cleaned out my outer ear of any wax using drops and a suction device which literally felt like it was sucking out my eyeball through my ear lol , but he explained he was not even close to my eardrum , he then checked my eardrum carefully for any small tears or holes and said it was fine no damage to that.
Secondly he had an electronic device which he inserted into my left nostril and i had to hold my right nostril while he activated it and it would push air through my nose and i had to swallow as the same time to get the air to flow through my eustachian tubes into my midle ear . This took some practice but he was a really patient guy...
Well....after about 10 goes i got the hang of it and i couldn't believe what happened .There was a loud crackling popping noise inside my ear ( loud to me obviously not to him ) and i felt a load of gunk and fluid run down my throat and i said to him i think it worked.
He stopped the process and we waited about 10 minutes as my ear was preety sure and the tinnitus had dissapeared...and i could hear !!!! i just can't believe it , my hearing was like super sensitive everything seemed really loud in that ear apparently he said it was common as that ear has been struggling for input for months and it will setle down in a few days..
I can't begin to explain the relief i feel not from the deafness part but from the tinnitus relief , i am so happy i had a good ENT who had experience in this treatment...it's now 6 hours later and my ear isn;t sore , i can hear fantastically and no ringing..
So in all it's taken 5 months to get a resolution , not the best i know but finally i got here..
I rang the wife and she was chuffed to bits and i said the only downside now is i will be able to hear you nagging again
)
Big thank you to all those who posted info and advice you guys are great !
So i had another hearing test which came back as 20% in left ear ( the damadged one ) and 90% in right ear ( reasonably normal ) . The specialist said he would try 2 treatments today and we would evaluate if they worked.
Firsly he totally cleaned out my outer ear of any wax using drops and a suction device which literally felt like it was sucking out my eyeball through my ear lol , but he explained he was not even close to my eardrum , he then checked my eardrum carefully for any small tears or holes and said it was fine no damage to that.
Secondly he had an electronic device which he inserted into my left nostril and i had to hold my right nostril while he activated it and it would push air through my nose and i had to swallow as the same time to get the air to flow through my eustachian tubes into my midle ear . This took some practice but he was a really patient guy...
Well....after about 10 goes i got the hang of it and i couldn't believe what happened .There was a loud crackling popping noise inside my ear ( loud to me obviously not to him ) and i felt a load of gunk and fluid run down my throat and i said to him i think it worked.
He stopped the process and we waited about 10 minutes as my ear was preety sure and the tinnitus had dissapeared...and i could hear !!!! i just can't believe it , my hearing was like super sensitive everything seemed really loud in that ear apparently he said it was common as that ear has been struggling for input for months and it will setle down in a few days..
I can't begin to explain the relief i feel not from the deafness part but from the tinnitus relief , i am so happy i had a good ENT who had experience in this treatment...it's now 6 hours later and my ear isn;t sore , i can hear fantastically and no ringing..
So in all it's taken 5 months to get a resolution , not the best i know but finally i got here..
I rang the wife and she was chuffed to bits and i said the only downside now is i will be able to hear you nagging again
)Big thank you to all those who posted info and advice you guys are great !
scrane
Contributor
There is so much wax that your doctor can't see your left eardrum. Isn't that a problem?
Jack Hammer
Contributor
iamrushman
Contributor
now remember to equalize before you do another handstand in the pool....we love good endings.
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