SeaQuestFX
Guest
Hello Everyone,
This is my first post on Scuba Board and I wanted to describe a recent diving accident that may have ended my diving career. I have been diving sporadically over a number of years and recently decided to take an Advanced Diver course through SSI, a Science Diver course through Texas State University at Aquarena, and to finally purchase all of my own diving equipment to prepare for an upcoming trip to Puerto Rico.
The two-week Advanced Diver training course went well with the exception of my primary light going out on a night dive, but the real trouble started during the Science Diver training at Aquarena. Aquarena is a spring fed lake in San Marcos with a year round water temperature of 70F and a maximum depth of 25 feet. This was colder than the water I was used to diving in during the training classes (80F-85F) so in addition to my 3 mm full wet suit I added an additional 3 mm hooded vest for extra exposure protection.
The first dive of the course involves going through an obstacle course consisting of hoops, descending on targets at a depth of 17ft, etc. During this dive my maximum depth was 17 feet and the dive profile is attached as a jpg. Around five minuets into the dive my hood started filling up with air giving me a cone head and throwing off my buoyancy which was making it really hard to perform the obstacle course. I decided to remove my hood at depth and continue the dive. The rest of the dive was uneventful and I was able to pass the first part of the science dive course.
Upon surfacing my left ear felt strange. There was no pain, no dizziness, but it felt like I had water in my ear and my hearing was only at 30% in my left ear. My right ear was fine, but I noticed that a strange ringing. However, with the noise of the crickets and other insects around the lake it wasn’t really bothersome. I told my dive instructor who was leading the class and she said that she had never experience ringing in her ears before, so I thought it was probably from slapping my ears with the hood while I was removing my hood.
I completed another dive that evening this time with a maximum depth of 23 feet. There were no problems equalizing and no pain in my ears. However, when I got out of the water again, my ears were still ringing and I still could not hear out of my left hear at more that 30%. I tried to pull on my ear lobes to release the water and a number of other methods to equalize (please realize it is very easy for me to equalize normally and I also don’t typically get water in my ears). Then I started to get nervous since I was barely able hear my hand touching the outside of my ear which seemed to be very unnerving. At this time, I was still attributing my condition to water in my ears.
I went home and put some ear wash in my ears to get the water out. I used 50% vinegar and 50% rubbing alcohol, then I went to bed, but when I got up in the morning my ears were ringing and they were ringing at a louder tone. I also still had some deafness in my left ear, but at this time it was around 50%. I still had one more dive I needed to complete for my science diver certification so I decided to call DAN and get an opinion on my condition. The person I spoke with said that my “ears did not like the cold water” and that I should have my ears checked out by a doctor at my earliest connivance, but that I was in not in any life threatening danger. I asked the doctor at DAN if I could dive again to finish my last dive and he said that it shouldn’t be a problem since I wasn’t having any pain or any problem equalizing.
I made my last dive of the class, which was a 47 minute dive at 21 feet. I still had no problems equalizing or any pain. I did notice however that while I was underwater the ringing in my ears stopped. I surface and still no change in my condition I was still hearing at 50% and there was still ringing in my ears. I again got home in the evening and made dinner, but I was having a hard time adjusting to my ears since it was really hard to hear high tones in my left ear and understand what was on the TV. I then decided to get on the computer and check out SCUBA Board to find out if anyone else had had these problems. I found a number of posts on the subject, but I had only gone down to 17 ft when my problems started. I read a post by swinchen and realized this was not going away on its own and that time was of the essence. I again called DAN and discussed my symptoms and this time the person said that I defiantly had barotrauma and tinnitus. I was instructed to go to the ER immediately (mind you this was at 10:00pm on Sunday night).
I was admitted to the ER and they did a full workup on me. I was lucky to have gone to such a great hospital since the nurse that checked me in, the doctor who evaluated me, and the nurse that gave me my medicine were all active SCUBA divers and very familiar with this condition. The doctor inspected my ears and said that the eardrum looked fine and there was no fluid in my inner ear, but that he wanted to start me on a steroid using a tapered dose and place me on an antibiotic just incase I had some fluid that he couldn’t see in my middle ear. He also said that using my homemade ear wash after I dove was one of the best things I could have done for my ears. He also recommended that I see an ENT doctor today to check my hearing and determine if there was any damage to my inner ear.
I woke up this morning and I noticed my hearing was much better and I was hearing at about 80-90%. I made an appointment to visit a ENT and he did a number of hearing tests on me which included a Basic Audiometry, Impedance, and Acoustic Reflex. He said that there was no fluid in my inner ear and that he did not have any predictions on what would happen next, but to never dive again since I could induce further injury. The doctor is not familiar with diver ear injuries, but he said that my ear should heal and to stay on the steroids. The doctor also said the result of the hearing test showed that my hearing had returned to normal. This was fantastic news for me, but he said that there was no way to determine if my hearing would stay normal or if I would continue to loose hearing. The doctor also said that he was not sure if I could fly to Puerto Rico in 12 days so I may have to cancel my trip.
Does this sound like sound medical advice or should I try to see another ENT that has more diver medical experience. Can you recommend anyone in the Austin, TX area?
Thanks for your interest,
Matt
This is my first post on Scuba Board and I wanted to describe a recent diving accident that may have ended my diving career. I have been diving sporadically over a number of years and recently decided to take an Advanced Diver course through SSI, a Science Diver course through Texas State University at Aquarena, and to finally purchase all of my own diving equipment to prepare for an upcoming trip to Puerto Rico.
The two-week Advanced Diver training course went well with the exception of my primary light going out on a night dive, but the real trouble started during the Science Diver training at Aquarena. Aquarena is a spring fed lake in San Marcos with a year round water temperature of 70F and a maximum depth of 25 feet. This was colder than the water I was used to diving in during the training classes (80F-85F) so in addition to my 3 mm full wet suit I added an additional 3 mm hooded vest for extra exposure protection.
The first dive of the course involves going through an obstacle course consisting of hoops, descending on targets at a depth of 17ft, etc. During this dive my maximum depth was 17 feet and the dive profile is attached as a jpg. Around five minuets into the dive my hood started filling up with air giving me a cone head and throwing off my buoyancy which was making it really hard to perform the obstacle course. I decided to remove my hood at depth and continue the dive. The rest of the dive was uneventful and I was able to pass the first part of the science dive course.
Upon surfacing my left ear felt strange. There was no pain, no dizziness, but it felt like I had water in my ear and my hearing was only at 30% in my left ear. My right ear was fine, but I noticed that a strange ringing. However, with the noise of the crickets and other insects around the lake it wasn’t really bothersome. I told my dive instructor who was leading the class and she said that she had never experience ringing in her ears before, so I thought it was probably from slapping my ears with the hood while I was removing my hood.
I completed another dive that evening this time with a maximum depth of 23 feet. There were no problems equalizing and no pain in my ears. However, when I got out of the water again, my ears were still ringing and I still could not hear out of my left hear at more that 30%. I tried to pull on my ear lobes to release the water and a number of other methods to equalize (please realize it is very easy for me to equalize normally and I also don’t typically get water in my ears). Then I started to get nervous since I was barely able hear my hand touching the outside of my ear which seemed to be very unnerving. At this time, I was still attributing my condition to water in my ears.
I went home and put some ear wash in my ears to get the water out. I used 50% vinegar and 50% rubbing alcohol, then I went to bed, but when I got up in the morning my ears were ringing and they were ringing at a louder tone. I also still had some deafness in my left ear, but at this time it was around 50%. I still had one more dive I needed to complete for my science diver certification so I decided to call DAN and get an opinion on my condition. The person I spoke with said that my “ears did not like the cold water” and that I should have my ears checked out by a doctor at my earliest connivance, but that I was in not in any life threatening danger. I asked the doctor at DAN if I could dive again to finish my last dive and he said that it shouldn’t be a problem since I wasn’t having any pain or any problem equalizing.
I made my last dive of the class, which was a 47 minute dive at 21 feet. I still had no problems equalizing or any pain. I did notice however that while I was underwater the ringing in my ears stopped. I surface and still no change in my condition I was still hearing at 50% and there was still ringing in my ears. I again got home in the evening and made dinner, but I was having a hard time adjusting to my ears since it was really hard to hear high tones in my left ear and understand what was on the TV. I then decided to get on the computer and check out SCUBA Board to find out if anyone else had had these problems. I found a number of posts on the subject, but I had only gone down to 17 ft when my problems started. I read a post by swinchen and realized this was not going away on its own and that time was of the essence. I again called DAN and discussed my symptoms and this time the person said that I defiantly had barotrauma and tinnitus. I was instructed to go to the ER immediately (mind you this was at 10:00pm on Sunday night).
I was admitted to the ER and they did a full workup on me. I was lucky to have gone to such a great hospital since the nurse that checked me in, the doctor who evaluated me, and the nurse that gave me my medicine were all active SCUBA divers and very familiar with this condition. The doctor inspected my ears and said that the eardrum looked fine and there was no fluid in my inner ear, but that he wanted to start me on a steroid using a tapered dose and place me on an antibiotic just incase I had some fluid that he couldn’t see in my middle ear. He also said that using my homemade ear wash after I dove was one of the best things I could have done for my ears. He also recommended that I see an ENT doctor today to check my hearing and determine if there was any damage to my inner ear.
I woke up this morning and I noticed my hearing was much better and I was hearing at about 80-90%. I made an appointment to visit a ENT and he did a number of hearing tests on me which included a Basic Audiometry, Impedance, and Acoustic Reflex. He said that there was no fluid in my inner ear and that he did not have any predictions on what would happen next, but to never dive again since I could induce further injury. The doctor is not familiar with diver ear injuries, but he said that my ear should heal and to stay on the steroids. The doctor also said the result of the hearing test showed that my hearing had returned to normal. This was fantastic news for me, but he said that there was no way to determine if my hearing would stay normal or if I would continue to loose hearing. The doctor also said that he was not sure if I could fly to Puerto Rico in 12 days so I may have to cancel my trip.
Does this sound like sound medical advice or should I try to see another ENT that has more diver medical experience. Can you recommend anyone in the Austin, TX area?
Thanks for your interest,
Matt
