Stop diving?!?!

[HakoFugu]

Ditto on the drying agent. Turns out that a saltwater-filled human ear is the perfect environment for starting your own little bacterial ecosystem in short order. I had a terrible problem with it until I started using a drying agent after every dive, which completely eliminated the issue. There are a number of commercial ones cheaply available, or you can make your own. Search the board for the recipe.

 

[don Francisco]

Old joke - -
Patient, "Doctor, I get tremendous pain whenever I do this", demonstrates.
Doctor, "well, stop doing that!"

You can't blame ENTs for telling folks to stop diving. As a regular part of their practice they see tons of mild to sever cases of barotrauma in divers. From their standpoint the solution is obvoius -- no diving, no barotrauma.

Get another medical opinion, but then solve the problem by being highly motivated not to continually subject your ears to barotrauma.

While diving and water pressure are always blamed for ear problems, they aren't the cause, just the mechanism. If you're plan to continue diving, you'll have to accept the fact that the underlying problem is your own failure to equalize effectively.

As to the link between diving and infection, we need to distinguish between outer ear infecrions of the ear canal which can be prevented or cured by rinsing or drying the ears with a variety of comercial or home brew solutions, and inner (more precisely middle) ear infections. Barotrauma doesn't directly cause middle ear infections, but causes fluid to accumulate in the middle ear, which creates a greater risk of infection.

Regardless of any medical or biomechanical problem, it boils down to this: if want to dive and not destroy your ears, either clear faster or descend slower, and if you can't clear on any given day, abort the dive.

 

[Keith & Sharon]

Two weeks ago, I just finished up with my second ear infection of my life after diving a sinkhole here in FL. It was very painful this time. I went to the ENT and he asked the same thing. "Did I use a drying agent like Swim Ear containing alchohol/?". He told me I was crazy for not using it because the ear is full of bacteria and a wet ear is wonderful bacteria growing condition that leads to an unhappy diver.

He perscribed some medicated ear drops which cleared my ear problem up in 4 days. I just dove in the Bahamas last week without an issue and now use Swim Ear after each dive.

See, an old dog can learn a new tricks. Again, this was my problem from not using a drying agent. I am not a doctor, but I did see one.

Good luck and happy diving.

 

[firerescue434]

Do you use a drying agent (swim ear or similar) ?

If I dive our local lake without drying my ears afterwards they WILL hurt the next day

I have not tried a drying agent, but i will now! thanks

 

[DocVikingo]

I have not tried a drying agent, but i will now! thanks

You indicate the physician diagnosed barotitis and that there have been two subsequent infections of the ear after diving.

The word barotitis as most typically used means a middle ear problem due to changes in atmospheric pressure.

"Drying agents" are designed for use with conditions of the outer ear (primarily the external auditory canal). Given an intact eardrum and otherwise anatomically normal ear, such drying agents will not pass into the middle ear space, which is a very good thing because if they did the pain would be considerable, not to mention that they likely would further harm middle ear tissues.

In medicine, before any treatments are suggested one must first arrive at an at least reasonable working diagnosis, a fact that a number of responders to your inquiry seem not to grasp.

And on the subject of questionable advice, the acidifying action of appropriate external ear solutions is at least as important in preventing infection as is their drying properties. As such, products like "Swim Ear," the active ingredient of which is entirely isopropyl alcohol, are not the best choice for preventing infections of the external canal, and in fact can cause problems of their own.

In any event, making the differential diagnosis between external v middle ear infection (otitis externa v externa media) usually is not complicated. The following article from a relatively recent issue of DAN's Alert Divermagazine may prove informative in this regard (and touches on the potential problems of too much alcohol in an ear mix):

Preventing Swimmer's Ear
Doc Vikingo's Preventing Swimmer's Ear

Please let the board know how your condition resolves.

Helpful?

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[HakoFugu]

In medicine, before any treatments are suggested one must first arrive at an at least reasonable working diagnosis, a fact that a number of responders to your inquiry seem not to grasp.

And on the subject of questionable advice, the acidifying action of appropriate external ear solutions is at least as important in preventing infection as is their drying properties. As such, products like "Swim Ear," the active ingredient of which is entirely isopropyl alcohol, are not the best choice for preventing infections of the external canal, and in fact can cause problems of their own.

Doh!

I have no defense. The Doc's points are all well taken.

In any case, good luck with your ear problem. I hope it's resolved as easily and completely as mine was!

 

[John_B]

Preventing Swimmer's Ear
Doc Vikingo's Preventing Swimmer's Ear

The Sahara DryEar seems to work well. Isn't that a better solution (no pun intended) than the various ear-beer recipes that are out there (albeit a more expensive one)?