Equalizing and sore ear

[Chris66]

3 weeks ago I went for my certification dives. The first 3 were to 40 ft with no problems in equalizing. The last one went to 65 feet. At about 40 feet I started to get pain in the L ear. I think I reacted to slowly and inadvertantly kept descending - perhaps another 3-4 feet will trying to equalize. That did not help and so I stopped and ascended 10 feet or so equalized and then continued to descend equalizing frequwntly and getting to 65 feet with only minor bother. After the dive I felt the feeling of fluid in my ears but went on a further dive and this time stayed at 45 feet but with no problems in equalizing. A few days later after feeling fluid in my ear for 3 days I went to the doctor who looked in my L ear and he said I had a small amount of blood behind the ear drum. He thinks I might have had a little blood vessel rupturing and that is where the blood came from. My question to all of you is -

Was that purely my fault for not equalizing often and early enough and if I on future dives equalize every couple of feet I will be fine or am I destined to have ear problems and therefore no future as a diver as although I was in pain for about 30 secs while descending stopping and reassending I am hopping that the fact that I got to 65 feet after that means I can equalize but unfortunately the damage had already been done.

Thanks and my apologies for rambling

 

[MyDiveLog]

My first instinct is for you to ask the same question to your doctor. Blood behind the eardrum is nothing to mess with, because blood is a great breeding medium for bacteria.

Having said that, my bet is that you will be allowed to continue diving after a few weeks, but will need to be even more careful than most when descending. You didn't mention how you descended or how much weight you were wearing, etc. Being kind to your ears means:
- Make sure you equalize BEFORE you begin descending
- Descend feet down. Air wants to rise and keeping your head up will allow the rising air to open your Eustachian tubes as you equalize. Too many divers use poor technique, flipping head down on the surface and swimming down the first 5 or ten feet. Equalizing in this manner forces you to blow the air down your Eustachian tubes, which stresses them out. They get swollen and irritated, making you have to clear even HARDER on the next dive, making them MORE SWOLLEN .... you get the idea.
- Descend slowly...which is one reason weighting is important. Most divers are about 10 pounds overweighted, so when they deflate their BC they sink like a stone.
- Equalize BEFORE you feel the need to do so.
- Equalize gently when you do so ... I know of a person who actually perforated their ear drum while equalizing.
- Practice equalizing often (20 times a day) on dry land to get your Eustachian tubes used to it.

Let us know how things work out!

 

[Chris66]

I was carrying about 26 lbs of weight and was in a dry suit. I was descending horizontally along a line as we were swimming and descending ath the same time. I think the problem was as you put it that I did not equalize in time even when I got pain. As a new diver there were so many things I was thinking about and so when I started to get pain was when I equalized. I guess from here on in it is going to need to be slow slow descents with frequent equlizings every few feet - thanks

 

[stangd1909]

I have a problem Equalizing sometimes.....I have to ascend and sometimes sit there for alittle while untill they Equalize. Every time I dive I get alittle better at it.

 

[TSandM]

You were a brand new diver, with a lot of things to think about on descent. Almost certainly, you were just tardy in equalizing. Stills happens to me, if there's too much to do on descent (I got caught in some kelp the other day, and let far too much pressure build up in my ears before I cleared them.) There is no reason to think that this is an omen for your diving future. We all get better at managing multiple things as we get more experience.

 

[TXScubaBear]

Indeed, on my 3rd dive I forgot to equalize before descending and then descended too rapidly; I had to get a lung full of air to stop, then propel upwards about 4 feet to stop and try to equalize. This is where your training/instinct kicks in- it was my first and foremost thought- stop, ascend a few feet and try again. Took 3 tries before I was able to fully descend. During the cert dives there is a lot of excitement mixed with anxiety because we all want to pass, we just need to be careful as new divers and remember our training.