Ears!

[NWDCGUY]

Many of dives are in cold water... so I think the cold definitely could be a factor (It can't help). Thanks for all your replies... although sucking massive amount of salt water up my nose sounds a little iffy.

But I'll give it a shot. I'll probably also spray some stuff up there for good measure.

I've begun to notice that I don't breath very well through my nose, and I am constantly a bit congested. I probably have poor sinus flow, which leads to blockage and thus I can't get enough air up to my ears.

 

[Axewizard]

I have the same problem from time to time, only what I hear is a weird "bubbling" sound. I got checked out and had a tympanogram ran and it was normal. Fortunately, our doc is a diver and knows of the problems.

What I do is "warm up" my ears a few days before I dive. I make sure that I can clear and then I equalize, equalize, equalize my ears before and during decent and ascent. It makes life easier.

Another thing that seems to help is my new Pro-ear mask. It doesn't solve the eq problem but makes it a buttload easier. I also don't have water in my ear canal, which I hate anyways.

 

[NWDCGUY]

How about proplugs anyone try those?

 

[gert7to3]

Re: Proplugs

I use them. They help in colder water, less thermal shock. They won't keep your ears completely dry, but you won't feel water swirling around in there either. They are slightly challenging to emplace and can be displaced by your mask strap, wave action etc. so you eventually buy two sets if you are dependent on them. Be very carefull about occluding the hole in the middle with ear wax or bottom muck. They also reduce your hearing, nice if you're sitting next to an outboard motor, bad because you won't hear the divemaster in the bow of your panga.

 

[srbsep]

You don't mention where you are from or where you usually dive or what kind of exposure protection you are wearing. Are you in warm water or cold? My husband starts having clearing issues when he starts to chill which causes the muscles in his neck and around his eustacian tube (among others) to tense. Your post makes it sound like each dive it's harder to clear than the last dive, this could be consistent with getting chilled even though you don't realize it's happening....
Ber :lilbunny:

Interesting. I've been doing some reading around on barotrauma and haven't seen this yet. I am going into my third month with a nagging ear ache/fullness that happened during the coldest dive I have ever done (68 F !!). I've been to an ENT twice and both times they have looked at my ear and said it all looked good from the outer ear all the way to the inner ear, but sometimes is hurts and is all stuffed and I always have to clear it (this is out of the water...I've only done 2-3 dives since it happened, and I had a really hard time clearing during those dives.) Anyway I am waiting for my HMO to refer me to an ENT with diving experirence...it stinks not being able to dive