holstin
Registered
Is there a trick to getting water out of my inner ear. I have had what I think is water in there for a while now.
Inner Ear
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you better get to a ENT specialist
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I usually get water out by shaking my head with the ear in question facing the ground--Quick thrusts-don't hurt your neck. Q tip will help with the outer ear, be careful.
Best not to put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear.
People Buy Q-Tips for Ear Care - and Why You Shouldn't Use Them for That, Usually - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
People Buy Q-Tips for Ear Care - and Why You Shouldn't Use Them for That, Usually - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
bleeb
Contributor
Suggest the Original Poster ask a Moderator to move this thread to the Dive Medicine forum, where several knowledgeable medical types hang out, and where it would be more likely for them to see your question.
joe8mofo
Contributor
My wife experienced this after our checkout dives in October, she went to the doctor on 2 different occasions as it ended up getting infected and antibiotic #1 didn't work (Cephlex) so antibiotic #2 did work better (Zithromax), after Zmax she was still having issues so I had her use some hydrogen peroxide in each ear and it cleared up the remaining infection
I would go to the doctor to confirm that your eardrum is complete and in good shape and then go with antibiotics or hydrogen peroxide to fight the inevitable infection. The water will clear out of your middle ear eventually but your main concern is infection.
Dave1981 is correct, DO NOT use q-tips in your ears, they disrupt the wax distribution in your ear and scrape up your ear canal and will make you susceptible to multiple ear issues, especially when diving. My wife previously used q-tips on a daily basis and has since stopped because of the 2-3 week ear infection that resulted from water in her middle ear. Since she has stopped using q-tips she has had no further ear problems.
I would go to the doctor to confirm that your eardrum is complete and in good shape and then go with antibiotics or hydrogen peroxide to fight the inevitable infection. The water will clear out of your middle ear eventually but your main concern is infection.
Dave1981 is correct, DO NOT use q-tips in your ears, they disrupt the wax distribution in your ear and scrape up your ear canal and will make you susceptible to multiple ear issues, especially when diving. My wife previously used q-tips on a daily basis and has since stopped because of the 2-3 week ear infection that resulted from water in her middle ear. Since she has stopped using q-tips she has had no further ear problems.
There is often a lot of confusion among divers about ears, water in ears, and ear infections. To help clear this up, I wrote a little article about the difference between outer and middle ear problems in divers. In addition, Dr. Kay's video on the diver's ear is a superb resource.
Barotrauma of the middle ear looks, on exam, very much like an ear infection. Since ear infections are what primary care physicians are used to seeing, they are very likely to treat barotrauma with antibiotics, even when no infection is present. The lack of improvement with treatment is not a sign that the infection is resistant, but rather, that it wasn't infection in the first place. Nothing you put into the external ear canal is going to affect a middle ear condition of any kind (unless the eardrum is perforated).
The sensation of fullness and muffled hearing, with crackling or popping sounds, which is persistent for more than a few hours after diving, is almost always middle ear barotrauma, with fluid accumulation there. It takes days to weeks to resolve. This is a very common problem for new divers, who get distracted by the demands of buoyancy management and forget to clear their ears as often as they should.
Barotrauma of the middle ear looks, on exam, very much like an ear infection. Since ear infections are what primary care physicians are used to seeing, they are very likely to treat barotrauma with antibiotics, even when no infection is present. The lack of improvement with treatment is not a sign that the infection is resistant, but rather, that it wasn't infection in the first place. Nothing you put into the external ear canal is going to affect a middle ear condition of any kind (unless the eardrum is perforated).
The sensation of fullness and muffled hearing, with crackling or popping sounds, which is persistent for more than a few hours after diving, is almost always middle ear barotrauma, with fluid accumulation there. It takes days to weeks to resolve. This is a very common problem for new divers, who get distracted by the demands of buoyancy management and forget to clear their ears as often as they should.
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