someone lost an ear

[SteveFass]

What do you think of this?
I met a guy over the weekend at Dutch Springs. After getting friendly, he told me that he permanently lost the use of one ear DUE TO THE BENDS (sounded like this all happened several years ago). It happened on an air dive to 190 feet while doing tech training (didn't get specifics). Afterword he thought the dive went well. No skin rashes, no aches, nada except for a hearing problem. And no blood in the ear.

Weeks after the dive he went to the doctor to ask about his hearing. The doc (don't know if it was a dive doc) told him he lost hearing in the ear to the bends.

Does this make sense to you? (cause it don't to me). Think he left out big parts of the story? All I can vouch for is he truly was hard of hearing and he had knowledge of tech diving. I mentioned it to a friend and we're both dubious this can happen.

 

[ScubaBabe22]

What do you think of this?
I met a guy over the weekend at Dutch Springs. After getting friendly, he told me that he permanently lost the use of one ear DUE TO THE BENDS (sounded like this all happened several years ago). It happened on an air dive to 190 feet while doing tech training (didn't get specifics). Afterword he thought the dive went well. No skin rashes, no aches, nada except for a hearing problem. And no blood in the ear.

Weeks after the dive he went to the doctor to ask about his hearing. The doc (don't know if it was a dive doc) told him he lost hearing in the ear to the bends.

Does this make sense to you? (cause it don't to me). Think he left out big parts of the story? All I can vouch for is he truly was hard of hearing and he had knowledge of tech diving. I mentioned it to a friend and we're both dubious this can happen.

I apologize, but I loved your caption! I was like, wha? I have got to check on this one! In addition, my mom had a problem equalizing on a bad dive experience ( conducted by Roberts Grove, in Placencia, Belize) and never even got to finish the dive! To this day she has a sort of hearing problem! ( My father and I did both dives, and both were terrible, terrible!) Could it have been an equalizing problem he missed or the doc missed?

 

[do it easy]

It's not on my official list of things that can go wrong while diving, but it might happen. I don't think that depth would be a factor, but certainly ear infections can cause hearing loss.

As far as the guys story, getting the bends, and losing his hearing, it might be true. My recollection is fuzzy, but in The Last Dive, Bernie Chowdhury tells about how he was bent and temporarily lost his hearing. It's not to hard to imagine that it could be permanent.

My guess is since the guy didn't have any classic symptoms of the bends, then maybe he was getting DCS confused with an ear infection.

 

[ScubaBabe22]

It's not on my official list of things that can go wrong while diving, but it might happen. I don't think that depth would be a factor, but certainly ear infections can cause hearing loss.

As far as the guys story, getting the bends, and losing his hearing, it might be true. My recollection is fuzzy, but in The Last Dive, Bernie Chowdhury tells about how he was bent and temporarily lost his hearing. It's not to hard to imagine that it could be permanent.

My guess is since the guy didn't have any classic symptoms of the bends, then maybe he was getting DCS confused with an ear infection.

I'm just curious, since you brought that point up...What if there were no symp. of an ear infection? Would that still be a possibility?

its been, oh, abt 16yrs since my last ear infection (yummy meds tho!!!) and since my mom had the problem, I thought I would look into it!

 

[MookieMoose]

Yes, it is possible to loose you hearing to DCS. You can get DCS in your choclea - the organ in your inner ear that is actually responsible for your ability to hear. Choclear DCS can result in permanent, total hearing loss.

Cam

 

[Xanthro]

Yes, it is possible to loose you hearing to DCS. You can get DCS in your choclea - the organ in your inner ear that is actually responsible for your ability to hear. Choclear DCS can result in permanent, total hearing loss.

Cam

Exactly.

A bubble can from near anywhere, and cause serious localized problems.

 

[SteveFass]

Huh!
I knew bubbles could cause problems anywhere, but I thought they were like potato chips - you can't have just one.

 

[Xanthro]

Huh!
I knew bubbles could cause problems anywhere, but I thought they were like potato chips - you can't have just one.

You will usually have more than one, but where a bubble forms plays an key role in how much damage is done.

Imagine a burst blood vessel in your foot and the same size burst in your brain. Huge difference in damage.

 

[Spoon]

what was his business diving that deep on air?

 

[Rick Inman]

what was his business diving that deep on air?

...(sounded like this all happened several years ago).

People still do it, but it was more common in the past for people to do deep dives on air. 190' on air isn't all that unusual (based on what I've read).