Hearing myself breathe...

[Beluga]

I'm a new diver who have done 45 dives. Up until the 30th dive I had never had a problem equalizing, then came spring and I had severe allergy problems. Saw the doc several times. I could still dive most of the time, but sometimes my right ear wouldn't equalize. A couple of months I got a slight barotraumain the right ear from a reverze squeeze, saw a dive doc who said no diving in 10 days. I didn't dive for one month, now my allergies are much better and I can equalize easily. But there's this new thing...

My left ear, which has always been very easy to equalize, even while I was allergic, is now popping all of the time (up to 50 times an hour). Sometimes, most often when I've been working out or taken a long walk, I get a very weird effect in my left ear. It's like I can hear my own breathing and voice, through my head... When I get it, it usually goes on and off every few minutes for the rest of the day, but when I wake up next morning it's gone...

This does not seem to affect my diving, in fact I feel better during a couple of days after diving (less popping). I have seen my general practitioner who couldn't say anything, instead sending me to an ENT specialist. In two month's time... Even though I see that this needs to be checked (I will not cancel my appointment even if i get answers here), I'd really appreciate if someone could tell me about similar problems they've had or encountered.

Thanks!

 

[NurseShark]

I too have allergies & when I get congested I can have trouble clearing. If I have congestion, I seem to be more prone to having water that enters my ears during a dive stay in my ears & this sometimes causes a popping/crackling. If I am not diving again i have found that a decongestant & anti-inflammatory usually clear it up in a day. If my ears are congested from water or bad allergies, I can sometimes get an "echo" when I talk. I think that seeing the ENT doctor is definately the right option. The concern I have is that you may have fluid or swelling in your ear that lead to an infection, which can be serious.

 

[Saturation]

If you equalize late, that is you feel some ear pain until finally equalizing, you could cause minor trauma to your ear drum, which makes it swell [edema] that recedes later on. More commonly, the external canal gets inflammed and causes some pain by altering the pH value due to the removal of wax and wash out by water.

Both problems cause diminished hearing and a strange sensation in that ear.

If you ear exam is normal, flush your ear canals with a 1% vinegar solution after a dive day. Descend slowly and equalize early.

Sometimes the ear drum swelling can cause a clear middle ear effusion that will resolve spontaneously, but causes diminished hearing that resolves within a week.