Newbie

[keelhaul123]

Well, there is a shadow on the horizon it seems... When we went Friday night for the trial class, after spending nearly 2 hours in the pool, we got out of there and went home. hubby complained of water in his ears, and thinking it would resolve itself soon. The day after (Saturday), he told me he still had water in his ears, one more than the other, and that he could not hear too well from that ear. He spent the weekend being like that. On Monday morning, he woke up, complaining of sharp pain in his ears, and not hearing anything from the right ear. So I called the doc and got him an apointment in the same day. They told him he had SEVERE ear infections in BOTH ears. He is now on 2 different antibiotics (ear drops and pills) since Monday, and altho it hurt less, the pain is still there.

We're not sure what caused it, if it's water in his ears from the pool or something else. He said he had a few ear infections when he was a little boy, so that was very long ago...LOL He's worried this might be causing problems if he want to dive...

Quick tip for you Twistie.....this isn't that uncommon, especially in pools where God knows what is growing if the pool isn't adequately maintained and chlorinated. However, you can get a commercial ear drying agent at any drugstore..a few drops after getting out of the water usually does the trick. It both dries the ear canal and kills any bacteria. OR...you can make your own out of a mix of vinegar and rubbing alcohol. OR....your dive shop should carry it, most do. ( I know they do at At The Waters Edge in Westfield. Hope this helps

 

[spectrum]

We also do the rubbing alcohol treatement, doctors orders, Remember to soak each ear for a full 5 minutes after every dive day, US Navy orders.

Pete

 

[MissTwisties]

We also do the rubbing alcohol treatement, doctors orders, Remember to soak each ear for a full 5 minutes after every dive day, US Navy orders.

Pete

How do you do this "home made" treatment you and keelhaul123 is talking about?

And, I don't think it's because the pool was dirty or anything, it smells like chlorine BIG TIME when you go in there, and the water/pool walls are crystal clear...we went to the Wilderness Experience Unlimited/Westfield Water Sports shop to do the class.

 

[MissTwisties]

Well, looks like we're gonna change our vacation package to spend only the first 2 days on Captiva/Sanibel Islands, and then we're gonna head down south for the Florida Keys! We bought a book at teh dive shop about the Keys, we're gonna read it and there is probably lots of info in there about local dive shops, fishs in the water, accomodations, etc. I can't wait!

 

[countryboy]

50 - 70 % Rubbing Alcohol
30 - 50 % Vinegar
Shake well before using

Use cheap squeeze bottle (like sport water bottle with pull top) pour in ear after each dive (hold head sideways).. wait a few minutes, repeat on other side, dump out excess.. Smell like salad until you shower

I use this very liberally (fill my ear?) and do this after each dive.. Never had any ear problems since. One ~12 oz bottle lasts a whole season, even sharing with friends..

*** I validated this with MY doctor, and he agrees***

Use at your own risk...!!

 

[MissTwisties]

You don't put any water in this mix?? Just the alcohol and the vinegar? Must taste nasty....ok ok I get it, it goes in the ear...LOL

 

[Damselfish]

How do you do this "home made" treatment you and keelhaul123 is talking about?

And, I don't think it's because the pool was dirty or anything, it smells like chlorine BIG TIME when you go in there, and the water/pool walls are crystal clear...we went to the Wilderness Experience Unlimited/Westfield Water Sports shop to do the class.

Ideally a pool won't smell like chlorine very strongly. What people thinks of as the "chlorine" smell is chloramines, which are what you get when the chlorine reacts with who-knows-what. So a real strong chlorine smell is not necessarily a sign of sanitation - possibly the opposite.

 

[Mark_N]

Welcome to the addiction! you can only go deeper from here.

 

[mels_2]

well i used to think a couple of pools were really clean until i took classes in them and realized they weren't so clean...... or is that just me?

 

[MissTwisties]

Well. I did it. My weekend for the Scuba diving class started on Friday evening, from 6pm and we got out of there past 10pm. Had to be there at 9am Sat. morning, got out at 6pm and Sunday 9am til about 7:30pm....I am EXHAUSTED. I am not an active person, so spending all this weekend doing VERY active stuff in the pool brought me to the ground. I never thought I could swim 12 laps of 50 feet length in the pool, but I did it. Never thought I could also swim 50 feet under water with ONE breath, but I did it.

Two of the hardest things I had to do:

1. Removing my mask under water, and putting it back on my face, while still breathing in the regulator with my mouth, NOT from my nose. Yikes.

2. My ears....when going down to ONLY 8 feet of water HURT. I couldn't equalize them by pinching my nose, so the accumulating pressure was too much. I later found out (the next day) that if I swallow instead of pinching my nose, they will pop and they'll feel better. The only problem is, when breathing in the regulator, you're breathing dry air (no humidity), so it makes it hard to swallow "on command" if you know what I mean.

Letting yourself fall backward in the pool is kinda ackward....you have about 50 pounds of weight in your back (the vest supporting a tank full of compressed air) you have to stand backward on the edge of the pool, and just let yourself fall in the water...ughhh...it's kinda fun actually!

Oh and the dive table....don't even get me started on that one. We were 4 students, and all 4 of us had a really hard time grasping it. The instructor said it's not the end of the world to not fully understand how it works, as long as when we dive, we have a good computer who will do all that calculation for us; dept, residual nitrogen in the blood, dive time, oxygen, etc.

It was a great experience. Can't wait to do our open water check-out dives in the Florida Keys at the end of April. Oh and I think I'm gonna LOVE snorkling too! (we practiced snorkel at the end of the class, it was fun!)