Reverse Block while on land?

[Yanay]

Hello everyone, I'm here desperately looking for advice.

3 years ago I got my diving certificate. Ever since I have been dealing with occasional reverse blocks in my left ear while on land. I have yet to find any pattern to when it occurs. It is highly frustrating. My voice inside my head sounds different, I can feel my breath in my ear and the whole general feeling is unpleasant. It usually lasts for about 30 minutes and even having a regular conversation feels highly uncomfortable.

Has anyone heard of anything like it before? Any idea what could cause this or how I can treat it? Any advice on who can I talk to? I have tried ear doctor before with some ear pressure lab tests without any conclusions. I have recently found the term (reverse block) but searching online seems to only being up results about having while still inside the water. I would try a diving specialist ASAP but currently on the road in Nicaragua, so trying to see maybe salvation could come from here. Help!

 

[fmerkel]

Reverse block means there is MORE pressure in the air space (whether the ear or the sinus), resulting from blockage some time on descent. The body may deal with the increased pressure by dumping fluid, blood, and/or mucus into the space. On ascent the air in the space tries to expand, there is now uncompressible material in the space also, and no way for it to get out. You are 'blocked' going up. It can hurt. It can do damage.

On land, without SIGNIFICANT altitude changes....it ain't going to happen. You CAN create.....minor....pressure differential between the inner ear space and ambient with swallowing. It can go up or down vs ambient. It can feel weird, and sound can be somewhat altered. Generally getting your ears to equalize (pop), essentially opening up the Eustachian canal you will equalize with ambient and the feeling should go away. If not, you may have something else going on. I would not call that reverse block.

 

[DandyDon]

Not knowing what country you are in, I don't know if you can obtain Actifed decongestant & antihistamine, but that should help - along with ear irrigation.

 

[boulderjohn]

I will be moving this thread to the diving medicine forum, but I am not sure it is right there, either. It's not clear from your description that this relates in any way to diving.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Hi Yanay,

Reverse block results when ambient pressure is decreased and one or more of the air-filled spaces in the body are unable to release expanding air. If you have some kind of allergy or other inflammatory process going on, it's possible that your Eustachian tubes are intermittently clogged. The ears are very sensitive so if this happens and the barometric pressure changes, you could notice mild symptoms like you're describing. As fmerkel noted, it takes more than a mild atmospheric pressure change to do damage so what you're feeling is probably very benign. When it happens, you could try a gentle Valsalva (pinch your nose and blow against a closed glottis) maneuver or a Toynbee (pinch your nose and swallow) maneuver. As Don noted, some people find over-the-counter decongestants helpful. I think that ear irrigation is unlikely to be of any benefit, but gentle sinus rinsing might help (that may be what Don meant).

@doctormike, could this be a form of pulsatile tinnitus?

Best regards,
DDM

Best regards and Happy New Year,
DDM

 

[Yanay]

I appreciate everyone's comments and trying to help. Without much knowledge in the area I will need to read up and try the suggestion before being able to comment, hopefully somewhere between those lies a solution.

Regarding the naming of the symptom, this is the only term I found that seems to describe my situation the best, but maybe it is not the right term to use. I guess what mostly got me to think this would be it was the fact that in order to release the pressure/feeling, I need to pinch my nose and try to inhale, as opposed to exhale which is usually how you'd get rid of pressure.

Thank you again for the help, will update for any change!