Liveaboards, Preparation and Ears

[kelly7552]

All,

My teens (16 and 18) and I have now dove 2 liveaboards and we are planning another for the end of June it's been about 2 years since we dove last. I guess my question is everyone who dives a liveaboard seems to have some form of barotrauma at the end and I've worked to minimize ours. Has anything changed in the last two years?

My son and I have standard ear issues, typical clearing using the nose squeeze, my daughter uses a very slow descent and lots of ear wiggling and also a slow ascent.

About a week before we all go diving, we all see and ent, get our ears checked and cleaned. My ritual for the dive boat is to have all of us take 2 sudafed (old style, not the new non-working stuff) in the morning before the first dive of the day. If we have any issues then re-dose once more after maybe the 3rd dive. Usually, the diving ends on Friday morning, so I keep an eye on the days and one tuesday we break out the Afrin if we need it. I researched Afrin rebound effect, and we only use it if we are having issues.

So far we haven't had any issues, my question is: that was 2 years ago, is this still valid (or maybe insane)?

 

[doctormike]

All,


So far we haven't had any issues, my question is: that was 2 years ago, is this still valid (or maybe insane)?

Hi, Kelly... thanks for writing..!

There are more posts here about this topic in this forum than almost anything else, so no need to go over it all again. Bottom line is that while the official recommendation is not to dive if you need drugs to help you equalize, most people who find something that works will stick with it, and lots of people violate that "rule" regularly.

There is a bell curve for everything, including the ability to equalize...!

SO, not to open a whole can of worms here - but the answer to your question is that nothing has changed in the world of Eustachian tube physiology in the past two years. Whatever logic, arguments and answers you would have gotten here two years ago (pro and con) would still be applicable.

Happy diving..!

Mike

 

[kelly7552]

SO, not to open a whole can of worms here - but the answer to your question is that nothing has changed in the world of Eustachian tube physiology in the past two years. Whatever logic, arguments and answers you would have gotten here two years ago (pro and con) would still be applicable.

Happy diving..!

Mike

Mike, thanks for the update. Before I came up with this, I studied carefully all the sides of this, and yes I understand the wormhole that is to use sudafed/afrin or not to use any of these. Unfortunately, we haven't added a new wonder ear drug that we get a shot administered by our ENT a week before diving and we are inoculated against ear issues for as many dives as we want a day? Would be nice....

Thanks

-Bill

 

[TSandM]

I have talked to some folks who do diving projects where they are diving repeatedly for multiple days, and there is anecdotal evidence that using some type of antiinflammatory medication (like ibuprofen) can reduce the cumulative damage to the ears from repetitive diving. I now do this, because even though my ears clear extremely easily and I am pretty religious about doing it early and often, four or five days of diving will cause me problems, too.

I save the Sudafed for the end of the trip if it's needed, and I use the time-release formulation, in part because it minimizes the jittery feeling that comes with the drug, and which I truly loathe.