Using Afrin

[afdgf]

Did your insurance cover the balloon dilation both timeas? I'm going to see an ENT about a chronically clogged eustachion tube. I'm actually able to equalize while diving without much issue but it's annoying to walk around with this feeling all the time and I feel my hearing is even diminished.

I am on Medicare and have supplemental, so if you are still young, this may not apply to you. The first time Medicare paid everything except for the actual cost of the balloon because I was having a septoplasty with it and was doing anesthesia in the hospital, and the balloon dilation procedure was not an accepted procedure yet. The second time I did it in the office the balloon dilation was now an accepted procedure and Medicare paid for everything. For the second time, if I would have gone into the hospital and done the anesthesia like I did the first time, then Medicare would not have covered that because Medicare does not consider anesthesia to be necessary if you are just having the balloon dilation procedure by itself. The ENT just injected the numbing agent into my nose.

 

[hiker11]

I always use Afrin right before the first dive of the day. I usually do 2-3 dives/day. Out of 250 dives, the only trip I didn't use Afrin, I got a mild reverse block. Our last trip was 10 days of diving in Raja Ampat and 3 days in Komodo. No problems with rebound. I have seen an ENT and allergist regularly over the past year due to a perforated ear drum last year and allergies that cause congestion at night. I expected them to tell me the Afrin was a bad idea. But neither of them were the least bit bothered by my my use of it before diving each day and assured me it wasn't a problem if it seemed to help-- even on long trips. The allergist said the way to mitigate any rebound was to use a steroid spray (like flonaise) right before the Afrin. I get congested when I sleep so the allergist prescribed Ryaltris which I can use nightly.