Problems with ear??

[Great8]

Hello all,
I posted this in the new divers category, but someone suggested I post it here too, which makes sense, so:

This weekend I performed my open water certification dives here in VA (was freezing cold and visibility was around 2-3 feet... good times all around!). Unfortunately, I've been having ear problems since the last dive of the 1st day. After the first day, my ear hurt like hell for about an hour or 2 directly after the second dive, then that went away, and it just felt like I had a blockage of fluid in my ear... I also have bloody drainage. Well, since I was desperate since I wanted to complete day 2 of the certification, I went to an urgent care place, and they told me pretty much nothing - that my eardrum looked red and there was probably fluid behind it but who knows, and to not dive. He threw a prescription for antibiotics at me, 'just in case.'
Well, I dove today anyway, maybe stupid, but I had no pain in my ear and the blockage was lessened. I tried to be careful with equalizing, and never had any problems with it that I can remember. Anyway, after the diving today, I had the same symptoms (a little less pain though...), now am still feeling fluid in my ears, have some bloody drainage, a little bit of pain but that is going away. I told my instructor, he guess perforated eardrum or something along those lines, but told me to see a Dr. (ENT) if it doesn't get better in a day or so. I plan to do do this, but wanted to see what you guys thought of the situation - does it sound like a perforated eardrum, or just an extreme squeeze, etc? Thanks for any help.

Note: I just scheduled an appointment with an ENT, but it's not til next Thursday. I'm hoping though no one will be able to diagnose me, may have some idea of what it could be. It doesn't hurt today (the day after the 2nd dive) but it still full of stuff. I'm not sure about the perforated eardrum because my hearing comes and goes according to the fluid (never TOTALLY there though), so that doesn't sound like a perforation. Agh, I don't know.

 

[doctormike]

Hey, Great8...

Sorry that you are having problems!

The thing about ear stuff is that there is no way of giving a diagnosis without someone with experience looking in the ear. And I know that this sounds obnoxious, but having done this for a long time, I will tell you: with some exceptions, non-ENT docs have a very hard time with ear stuff.

Now I am not an arrogant guy, I believe that most general doctors (internists, pediatricians, etc..) are far smarter than me, and manage a huge range of complex, life threatening conditions that I wouldn't even dare to discuss. But the ear is sort of a "black box" in this regard. In fact, in many cases, without the ability to clean out the blood, earwax and other debris with a microscope in the office, you may not even be able to get a clear look at the eardrum, let alone distinguish between middle ear fluid, acute otitis media, tympanic membrane perforation, swimmer's ear or a combination of these problems.

So since even an experienced general doctor who is actually looking at your ear may not be able to give you an accurate diagnosis, the chances of getting useful information through a forum like this is pretty small. Don't get me wrong - as a medical moderator, I have seen some terrific and very useful discussions here sharing general information about the physiology of the ear and diving, and there are some great resources available once a good diagnosis has been made. But you should NOT do anything based on guesses by forum members - there is just too much at stake. If you have a significant ear injury (and bloody drainage certainly counts as a potentially serious problem) do not dive until you have seen the ENT doc.

Feel free to keep us posted (or PM me if you have specific questions)..

Good luck!

Mike