Fluid in ears-when does it stop?

[vorra65]

Hey now,

I'm new to the board. Let me say-what a wealth of knowledge here. I'm sure I will enjoy reading this forum daily. To my problem. I'm a gold dredger, and have always had problems with my ears. I was forced out of the water this week, due to my recurring problem. Well, all of the ear pain has subsided-but when will the fluid stop draining?

I don't really want to dive again until it stops for fear of injuring my ears even more. I have ordered a Pro Ear mask and hood combo, and will be using it when I finally go out again. Can any of you give me your opinion's on this mask/ hood setup. I'm assuming that, if I can keep the water out of my ears- that will cure my problem. I did some searching here before joining, and read that stretching the neck can have adverse effects on the ear canal's. I'm wondering, if this may be how I hurt my ears this time. As I do get in some strange positions while dredging and moving rocks.

Thanks in advance for any input regarding this matter.

 

[BigJetDriver]

It's funny that this question should come up right now. A friend of mine was diving with his rebreather on some WWI wrecks in the Adriatic recently, and he was wearing that particular mask. I will query him by e-mail and report via this thread.

 

[vorra65]

Excellent, looking forward to his opinion. Thanks

 

[BigJetDriver]

This message is presented in its entirety as it arrived from a friend of mine who was using the mask on dives to WWI wrecks in the Adriatic off Croatia. The picture of him on the bottom while wearing the mask and using his Inspiration rebreather is too large for transmission by this system. I will send a copy if desired by standard e-mail if requested.


Hi Rob,
the mask works very well keeping my ears dry.
(You only have a problem, when you are wearing a hood. I recommend the
special hood from ProEar.)
With my mask I have the problem, that always some water comes into the
normal mask in the first 10 minutes or so, then this stops. Haven't found
out, what the reason is. (This was not so in the beginning.)
Except of this nuisance I would fully recommend the mask, even if you don't
have problems with your ears.

Ralf

 

[vorra65]

BigJet,

Thanks for following up on the subject. I've sent you a PM . Like I said, I have already ordered the mask/hood. I went into search mode last nite, and found alot of posts regarding the mask. Appears, for the most part people like it. Alot of the purist's referred to the asthetics- as goofy looking and felt it was just another gimmick. For a person who has chronic ear problems, I'm sure asthetic's are way down the list-as long as the product does what it is supposed to do. In my case, it's not so much clearing or depth. But the problem in my situation, is the water in the rivers and streams warms-the algae grows and then there's all your bacteria.
Gold dredgers rarely dive deeper than 15 ft. (there are exceptions) but if your'e at 3200 ft. elev. the pressures are still an issue. After I get the mask/hood and can get back in the water, I will post a dredgers review. Thanks again, I appreciate your efforts.

 

[mdr231]

BigJetDriver69 once bubbled...
This message is presented in its entirety as it arrived from a friend of mine who was using the mask on dives to WWI wrecks in the Adriatic off Croatia. The picture of him on the bottom while wearing the mask and using his Inspiration rebreather is too large for transmission by this system. I will send a copy if desired by standard e-mail if requested.


Hi Rob,
the mask works very well keeping my ears dry.
(You only have a problem, when you are wearing a hood. I recommend the
special hood from ProEar.)
With my mask I have the problem, that always some water comes into the
normal mask in the first 10 minutes or so, then this stops. Haven't found
out, what the reason is. (This was not so in the beginning.)
Except of this nuisance I would fully recommend the mask, even if you don't
have problems with your ears.

Ralf

I have the ProEar Panorama model and have had exactly the same experience as noted above. In the first few minutes of diving, the mask tends to leak quite a bit. I assumed it was due to my facial hair as the water seems to come in from my upper lip area. However, after clearing, it usually seal well for the rest of the dive. Perhaps due to squeeze. It does a very good job of keeping my ears dry. It's important to have your buddy check the ear seals before going in as the edges can get bent under and this will result in a leak. On the occassions when water does get in the ear cups, they are also surprisingly easy to clear. My instructor's jaw dropped the first time he saw me do it and he said he'd never seen anyone clear their ears, before Hood is another set of issues. I use a ProEar hood and it's a pain to get all set up. Very important to have buddy ensure ear cups are tucked under the inner hood. You can do it yourself, but its almost impossible with gloves so put your gloves on last! Clearing ear cups with hood on is almost impossible, but the liklihood of leaks is also lower with the hood. It creates a pretty good seal around ear area. Overall, I can't say that the mask helped much with equalization, although it certainly didn't make it worse (maybe a bit better). It does, however, when used correctly, keep your ears dry.

cheers,
Michael

 

[vorra65]

mdr231

Thanks for the input.