STicky ear?

[jephre]

I posted this in the general board if any of you can comment:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=140317

Hi there-
Just curious about something--
During my tortuous certification process, I endured a couple rounds of medial barotrauma.

Now that I've got about 15 dives under my weightbelt, I think I've got the problem clearing my ears (usually just my right one, for some reason) manageable by using a battery of ALL of the following:

-sudafed
-flonase
-afrin
-clear-ease tablets (not sure these do a darn thing)
-doc's pro-plugs
and this weekend i added post-dive ear drops to dry them out

nowadays i don't think i feel barotrauma-- my ears aren't "full" like they were when my ENT checked me out and pronounced me injured-- but sometimes in the days after a dive-- usually 1-2 days afterwards, they feel a bit "sticky"-- gummy. I can valsalva them clear, but the right one takes more effort.

The weird thing is that this doesn't happen the day OF the dive-- usually it's afterwards.

just wondering if this is common? i feel like i'm making MAJOR progress in as much as i'm not freaked out about barotrauma every time i dive, but because my first dives were so injurious i'm nervous and not clear about what is "normal" for divers.

thanks one and all for your input and advice-- look forward to your responses.

jeffrey in Los Angeles

 

[maggs_the]

I posted this in the general board if any of you can comment:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=140317

... I think I've got the problem clearing my ears (usually just my right one, for some reason) manageable by using a battery of ALL of the following:

-sudafed
-flonase
-afrin
-clear-ease tablets (not sure these do a darn thing)
-doc's pro-plugs
and this weekend i added post-dive ear drops to dry them out ...

Jeffrey,

I am not familiar with the term you use, but I too had problems clearing my ears. Mine was (is) due to seasonal allergies and sinus congestion. Even if it wasn't enough to make me "sick", it would be enough congestion that popping a sudafed cleared it up and allowed me to dive. I did this AGAINST the warnings of others more wise than I, and last week in Cozumel it finally caught up with me. I had a reverse squeeze. I could equalize going down, but coming up the pain caught me so off guard that I couldn't register what it was. By the time I descended to stop the pain, I had a very sore ear on my hands. Lucky for me I was able to sit out one afternoon dive and get back into the groove the next day.

They tell me the concern with using decongestants like Sudafed (my personal drug of choice) is that if you RE-congest at depth, you will have problems equalizing on the way up, hence.. reverse squeeze. I'm sure others can be more specific and informative, but when I saw your list I had to take the time to tell you that I have removed the Sudafed from my dive gear and will make every attempt to equalize by beginning while still on the boat and with every exhale on the way down to depth.

Hopefully you will not have the same problem I had, and you will eventually be able to equalize without your kit. There are a lot of people on this board with LOADS of experience and tricks to help you figure something out. Best of luck!!

 

[Kalla]

I have exactly the same problem.
Sudafet does not help for me. When I take sudafet it open my E tube nicely but after the dive the sudafet works out my tube is more closed than it was before.

The only way I can get around it is 3 days before I go diving I start using a nasal spray called Flomist twice. It has a very light cortisone in it, and it opens the tubes and keeps them open. I also pinch my nose and blow lightly until both ears pop 2 - 3 times a day before the dive.

Some people are just lucky that their E tubes are wide open and don't even have to equalise, unfortunely we are not that lucky.

 

[Damselfish]

I posted this in the general board if any of you can comment:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=140317

You might want to ask a mod to merge your 2 threads together and move the whole thing to the Diving Medicine forum. Duplicate threads are frowned on and it usually works better to have all the discussion about something in one place. (Don't worry, people are just as likely to see your question, most people just look at new posts rather than looking in each forum.)