Should I see a doctor about this?

[emttim]

Ok, so I went to Monterey again this last weekend with kmmkiwi, and we had a dive on Thursday with no trouble then three dives on Friday with no trouble. We were going to do a night dive on Friday night, however, I couldn't get my ears to equalize at all. I'm talking not even a little bit. I could equalize fine at the surface, but the moment I was submerged in any depth, even 4 or 5 feet, couldn't equalize at all and started to get a headache from trying to equalize so much. After 17 min of trying to equalize at varying depths between 4 and 8 feet, I finally said screw it. When I came up to the surface, the moment I broke the surface of the water I got slammed by a huge wave of dizziness/vertigo and felt like the world was tilting 90 degrees left and right for about 45 seconds to a minute.

I called DAN and they said to start taking Sudafed and ibuprofen and it should resolve in 1-2 days (and they did confirm that it was barotrauma which I suspected), but they didn't mention anything about seeing a doctor. I only had that one instance of dizziness/vertigo, no discharge from ears, no bleeding, no pain, no loss of hearing, nothing else. For those of you who are medical professionals, what would you recommend? And before anyone asks why I don't just pay the $20 copay or whatever to go see a doctor, I don't have health insurance right now, so I'm paying the whole thing out of pocket if I do go...hence why I don't want to unless it's necessary.

 

[Sas]

Emttim, sorry to hear about your ear issues. Can't really suggest anything myself as I have no ida but maybe you might want to post this in the medical section too as there are a few doctors that post a lot there.

 

[hypertech]

My answer to this sort of question is always this - if it is bothering you enough to seek help on an internet forum, you really should just go see the doc.

 

[Sas]

My answer to this sort of question is always this - if it is bothering you enough to seek help on an internet forum, you really should just go see the doc.

See:

For those of you who are medical professionals, what would you recommend? And before anyone asks why I don't just pay the $20 copay or whatever to go see a doctor, I don't have health insurance right now, so I'm paying the whole thing out of pocket if I do go...hence why I don't want to unless it's necessary.

I had ear problems (different to this tho) after some of my earlier dives, and got some good advice here. Never happened again so a trip to the doctor would have been wasted for me.

 

[emttim]

See:



I had ear problems (different to this tho) after some of my earlier dives, and got some good advice here. Never happened again so a trip to the doctor would have been wasted for me.

Right, hence why I ask. Maybe a mod would be so kind as to move this to the medical forum? I wasn't aware we had one. :14:

And just because I'm asking on a forum doesn't mean it's bothering me enough that I should go see a doctor, it just means I'm poor and I can't afford to go to the doctor unless I absolutely have to.

Hell, even now I can equalize my ears fine and it's not like they hurt or anything. *shrugs* I probably could have dived today without incident but I can think of at least one person who would have killed me if I treated the injury that callously.

 

[SeaDragon66]

Ok, so I went to Monterey again this last weekend with kmmkiwi, and we had a dive on Thursday with no trouble then three dives on Friday with no trouble. We were going to do a night dive on Friday night, however, I couldn't get my ears to equalize at all. I'm talking not even a little bit. I could equalize fine at the surface, but the moment I was submerged in any depth, even 4 or 5 feet, couldn't equalize at all and started to get a headache from trying to equalize so much. After 17 min of trying to equalize at varying depths between 4 and 8 feet, I finally said screw it. When I came up to the surface, the moment I broke the surface of the water I got slammed by a huge wave of dizziness/vertigo and felt like the world was tilting 90 degrees left and right for about 45 seconds to a minute.

I called DAN and they said to start taking Sudafed and ibuprofen and it should resolve in 1-2 days (and they did confirm that it was barotrauma which I suspected), but they didn't mention anything about seeing a doctor. I only had that one instance of dizziness/vertigo, no discharge from ears, no bleeding, no pain, no loss of hearing, nothing else. For those of you who are medical professionals, what would you recommend? And before anyone asks why I don't just pay the $20 copay or whatever to go see a doctor, I don't have health insurance right now, so I'm paying the whole thing out of pocket if I do go...hence why I don't want to unless it's necessary.

emttim, As DAN told you this is probably barotrauma. If your symptoms are improving with the medications you are taking then it is okay to just watch it. Most barotrauma just has to heal on its own. The thing to watch out for is if symptoms worsened or persisted for several days. This could mean that it is going into an ear infection and you would then need some prescription medicines. By the way I am new to scuba and the board but I have been a Family practioner for 20 years and have seen this several times.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

You might want to call DAN back and ask what they reccomend.

 

[emttim]

emttim, As DAN told you this is probably barotrauma. If your symptoms are improving with the medications you are taking then it is okay to just watch it. Most barotrauma just has to heal on its own. The thing to watch out for is if symptoms worsened or persisted for several days. This could mean that it is going into an ear infection and you would then need some prescription medicines. By the way I am new to scuba and the board but I have been a Family practioner for 20 years and have seen this several times.

Ok, thank you very much for your response!

You might want to call DAN back and ask what they reccomend.

I sent a web msg on DAN's web site asking that, I'll keep you guys posted on what they say but sounds like it probably won't be an issue if I remain symptom-free.

 

[hypertech]

See:



I had ear problems (different to this tho) after some of my earlier dives, and got some good advice here. Never happened again so a trip to the doctor would have been wasted for me.

I'll stick with what I said but you are free to disagree. We choose to only carry high deductible medical insurance. It doesn't kick in unless something major happens. That means that when you need to see the doc, like my wife did this week when her ear was bugging her, you get the bill and you pay it.

If its bothering you, sometimes its worth the price of an office visit just to set yourself at ease and know nothing more is going wrong. An incorrect self-diagnosis or an internet diagnosis could cause you a lot more trouble down the road if you are wrong and really should have just gone in when it only would have cost you an office visit and a short course of treatment.

To the OP, if it isn't that big of deal, great, but if it were bugging me, I'd still find the money and go see the doc.

 

[emttim]

I'll stick with what I said but you are free to disagree. We choose to only carry high deductible medical insurance. It doesn't kick in unless something major happens. That means that when you need to see the doc, like my wife did this week when her ear was bugging her, you get the bill and you pay it.

If its bothering you, sometimes its worth the price of an office visit just to set yourself at ease and know nothing more is going wrong. An incorrect self-diagnosis or an internet diagnosis could cause you a lot more trouble down the road if you are wrong and really should have just gone in when it only would have cost you an office visit and a short course of treatment.

To the OP, if it isn't that big of deal, great, but if it were bugging me, I'd still find the money and go see the doc.

Completely understandable, and I thank you for your advice. The problem is even with going to a doctor, you can get a mis-diagnosis, so you're not completely free from that risk regardless since there's well skilled and poorly skilled people in every profession.

To get a definitive answer anyway, I would need to see a specialist, and you're talking a significant amount of money at that point just for the office visit itself. And unfortunately, it's easy to say that it's worth the money, but when I'm a starving college student and I live check to check, the prospect of a $300 medical bill isn't worth it to me.