Crowell
Guest
First off, I'd like to reference this thread in the basic forum:
http://www.scubaboard.com/t74301-ear-equalization-issue.html
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And as a quick summary -
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I used to dive in the late 90s for Sikorsky aircraft as part of their crash/recovery team. No issues. When I left Sikorsky, I didn't dive for 5 years, and recently re-started this year.
I visited a new ENT yesterday (my prior ENT retired in 2002), and he picked up very quickly that I'd had a UPPP (uvulopalatopharyngoplasty) done (circa 2001 for UPPP). After some poking around, he determined that I have some residual scar-tissue from the UPPP that's obstructing one of my eustacian tubes, and that post-UPPP even the musculature and structure of the muscles around the eustacian tubes functions differently.
I haven't had any problems equalizing at the surface, and always pre-equalize before I go in, and equalize a lot on the way down via modified val-salva (sp?), and when asked about that, the ENT told me that even if I'm not seeing any problem on top, as I go down - I can still have a lot of problems from the scar-tissue with some squeeze as I go deeper, or with even extremely minor amounts of blockage that I may not even notice.
He told me to take 4 of 5 squirts of Affrin about 20 minutes prior to getting in the water "until I can taste it in my mouth", and see if that helps me. He also said if it doesn't, then there's basically nothing that can be done and I'm - in his own words - S.O.L.
And that's not exactly what I was hoping to hear... any further comments, discussion, or recommendations from you guys?
http://www.scubaboard.com/t74301-ear-equalization-issue.html
========================
And as a quick summary -
========================
I used to dive in the late 90s for Sikorsky aircraft as part of their crash/recovery team. No issues. When I left Sikorsky, I didn't dive for 5 years, and recently re-started this year.
I visited a new ENT yesterday (my prior ENT retired in 2002), and he picked up very quickly that I'd had a UPPP (uvulopalatopharyngoplasty) done (circa 2001 for UPPP). After some poking around, he determined that I have some residual scar-tissue from the UPPP that's obstructing one of my eustacian tubes, and that post-UPPP even the musculature and structure of the muscles around the eustacian tubes functions differently.
I haven't had any problems equalizing at the surface, and always pre-equalize before I go in, and equalize a lot on the way down via modified val-salva (sp?), and when asked about that, the ENT told me that even if I'm not seeing any problem on top, as I go down - I can still have a lot of problems from the scar-tissue with some squeeze as I go deeper, or with even extremely minor amounts of blockage that I may not even notice.
He told me to take 4 of 5 squirts of Affrin about 20 minutes prior to getting in the water "until I can taste it in my mouth", and see if that helps me. He also said if it doesn't, then there's basically nothing that can be done and I'm - in his own words - S.O.L.
And that's not exactly what I was hoping to hear... any further comments, discussion, or recommendations from you guys?
