Let's start with what happened. Back at the end of March, I went diving on 2 consecutive days. 4 dives total with max depth of 70ft. These were my first dives in 2 years. Speaking in terms of pain, injury, discomfort, etc, the dives were uneventful. Nothing of that sorts happened, not even the slightest. Nothing I could point to later and be like, 'ahhhhh, it must have been that moment'. I've always had trouble clearing my left ear (I believe I have a narrow/dysfunctional Eustachian tube), but these dives were wonderful due to this not being an issue. I left the dive site around noon thinking excited for my next dive the next day. The tinnitus (low frequency buzz) manifested later in the afternoon only in my left ear — the ear I've had problems with clearing in the past. It has been persistent since. Plus I have this feeling of my ear feeling 'full' or having cotton in there. The only thing I could attribute to causing any sort of dive injury would be that the road back to my hotel and the hotel itself has an elevation of 1500-2000ft (600m).
In April, May, and first week of June, I spent going to my doctor, hearing test, ENT visit, and a head MRI. All the while after a couple weeks being back, the tinnitus started to fluctuate. Still to this day I still don't understand what makes it worse or better. I had a week in mid-June where it just vanished, but that all came to an end when I listened to music in my car.
So back to medical stuff. My primary dr's visit resulted with him telling me that there is fluid in my middle-ear and he thinks a decongestant would clear the fluid and probably the tinnitus. That didn't work. So off to the specialist I went. The hearing test was pointless in my opinion. The ENT found nothing wrong with my ear, in the exam or MRI. The thing that had me searching for more was that the ENT didn't seem to take any interest in the coincidence of my issue and my diving activity being within hours of each other. She even flat out said she doesn't think they are related. I thought then and now, this is f'ing ridiculous. I even had to press for obvious post appointment advice, 'uhhhh, well....can I ever go diving again?' I guess having a follow-up question contrary to her opinion, with attitude, she said I can still dive. But should I trust her advice since it seems she has no clue about dive physiology? Since then I've been trying to schedule an appointment with a dive physician (dive dr, dive medicine, whatever it is), but still haven't secured an appointment.
I wanted to wait until I had dive physician's visit before I came posting on here. But you know what, what's the harm. I'm sick of dealing with the medical system right now. So I'd like to hear other's anecdotes, stories, advice, etc in the meantime. I've read so many stories about how things like this just clear up and heal on their own. Like I said, we're coming up on 4 months now and I'm starting to feel like that's not the case for me. Am I even too far out to even seek a medical cure? What are my only options anyways? Wait it out for it to heal itself or surgery? Just going off the cuff here, but could there still be a saturated gas stuck in my inner ear fluids and just need to get pure O2 or go under pressure to clear it out?
Just a couple more misc. questions. Could barotrauma occur and one could have no sensation that it even did? Can a conventional ENT miss something that is dive related? Has anyone have anything to say about inner-ear decompression sickness? Or even Eustachian tube dysfunction (which i just found out existed 20 min ago and honestly would make for a perfect diagnosis for me)?
Thanks for anything you have to say. I dislike writing long rambling posts but I tried to be as concise as possible.
but yes, that only works if you accept the situation as part of your life. Ask me how I know these things.[/QUOTE]
