bluesrocker22
Registered
All,
I hope someone on here might be able to point us in the right direction.
My girlfriend and I dive 4 weeks per year, and have been going every six months to the Florida Keys for several years. We make dives from 20 feet to 120 feet normally. My girlfriend HAS had problems equalizing in past dives (sinus congestion issues), but I never have. I use patches for seasickness (and Bonine) and my girlfriend uses Bonine intermittently. Now, we are BOTH suffering from ringing in the ears. It is very strange, we can both "feel" fluid in our ears (intermittently) when we lie down (but no liquid ever comes out of the outer ears). My only guess is that there is liquid in the middle ear? Now I have had ringing for many years due to exposure to high noise levels in the USAF, but this new level is an entirely different animal. One thing that makes this hard is one cannot "quantify" the ringing (i.e. how bad is my ringing vs. my girlfriend's ringing?). I have always assumed that if I do not feel discomfort while descending, then I am equalizing often enough? Should we be equalizing more often while descending and ascending? I am assuming that whatever has happened is probably permanent, but I hope not. I am 53 years old (my girlfriend is much younger), so perhaps I am seeing normal progression of ringing from aging? I have tried the ENT thing, but they just looked in my outer ears and said "looks fine" and charged me $100. Since this can be PHYSICAL or NERVE or the little hairs or bones in the ears, I am lost as to how to narrow this down. Any input really appreciated.
I hope someone on here might be able to point us in the right direction.
My girlfriend and I dive 4 weeks per year, and have been going every six months to the Florida Keys for several years. We make dives from 20 feet to 120 feet normally. My girlfriend HAS had problems equalizing in past dives (sinus congestion issues), but I never have. I use patches for seasickness (and Bonine) and my girlfriend uses Bonine intermittently. Now, we are BOTH suffering from ringing in the ears. It is very strange, we can both "feel" fluid in our ears (intermittently) when we lie down (but no liquid ever comes out of the outer ears). My only guess is that there is liquid in the middle ear? Now I have had ringing for many years due to exposure to high noise levels in the USAF, but this new level is an entirely different animal. One thing that makes this hard is one cannot "quantify" the ringing (i.e. how bad is my ringing vs. my girlfriend's ringing?). I have always assumed that if I do not feel discomfort while descending, then I am equalizing often enough? Should we be equalizing more often while descending and ascending? I am assuming that whatever has happened is probably permanent, but I hope not. I am 53 years old (my girlfriend is much younger), so perhaps I am seeing normal progression of ringing from aging? I have tried the ENT thing, but they just looked in my outer ears and said "looks fine" and charged me $100. Since this can be PHYSICAL or NERVE or the little hairs or bones in the ears, I am lost as to how to narrow this down. Any input really appreciated.