Damaged ear after diving?
Anyone any experience here?
Before Chirstmas I was away in the Dominican and did some "Snuba" diving. After going down 5m or so, we were told to "pop" our ears to equalise against the pressure. Which we did, and then we did it again when we went deeper still.
Anyway, on the 3rd drive down, my right ear failed to pop, it was a little painful, but that was it.
Ever since coming to the surface I've had problems with the ear "not popping". For a few days after i was horrendous, it was fucking with my equilibrium, and was causing me to squint/suffer in my right eye. It eased off over the days following, and even the flight home with ear popping then didn't put it back to normal.
No, it's just around 3 weeks since the dive, and most times I yawn, move my jaw, move my head slowly etc the ear "semi pops". It feels like I definitely don't have full hearing from it, but simply chewing gum etc produces a crackling sound/feeling through my ear/jaw with the ear almost popping.
I've tried manually popping my ear (holding my nose etc) but all that ever happens is the good ear pops and the problem ear remains the same.
Is there anything I can do at home before going to the DRs to get it checked out?
TIA.
Re: Damaged ear after diving?
Don't muck about with your hearing. Only a specialist can really check it out. Doctor. Get a appointment. You don't want to damage them more by prodding them with cotton buds and cleaning out fluid. I suspect it could just be wax pushed to the back / fluid in the inner ear.
Re: Damaged ear after diving?
Aye, I've done done any prodding yet, but have tried olive oil in the ear for 3-4 days in a row and also used an ear candle too, so thinking it needs a light and someone who knows that they're doing!
Re: Damaged ear after diving?
I use earex advance drops. They have some sort of ingredient which breaks down the lodged gunk straight away. You can hear it fizz away the minute they reach the blocked area.
Re: Damaged ear after diving?
Sounds like you either stretched the tympanic membrane (thats your ear drum) or maybe perforated it. Do not use drops! Get to an Ear, Nose, and throat specialist, or any diving doctor. Even your GP will do.
If you've been having continuous pain and dizzy spells then you may well have perforated it. Have you been swimming after the fact? If so, then worse case you might have water in your inner ear, which can be very serious.
Don't fuck about, doctors now.
Oh, and you should equalise your ears about every meter within the first 10 meters of water as that is where the biggest change of pressure is.
Good luck dude. Hope its just stretched and maybe a minor infection.
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Re: Damaged ear after diving?
Thank you bud,
I've not been swimming since so haven't really submerged it in water since the original incident. Not been having any dizzy spells to be honest, but currently it's more annoying than anything!
Will book in with a GP ASAP and let you know how I get on.
Thanks
Re: Damaged ear after diving?
I had never heard of ear candling so I thought I would look it up to see if it was what I thought it was. Wikipedia doesn't seem to be a fan.
Re: Damaged ear after diving?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Over carl
I had never heard of ear candling so I thought I would look it up to see if it was what I thought it was.
Wikipedia doesn't seem to be a fan.
I'd agree to an extent over the health benefits, but like most things it's how you apply it.
Starter kits can be dangerous if not used correctly. I always do mine with my wife, and we're there to supervise each other. We place the candle through a foil plate we use which catches any ash, and ultimately protects the whole of your face. This is probably the most dangerous aspect. It's a great sensation whilst it's bubbling and crackling away in your ear, and I can assure you, wax you didn't think you had is drawn out and into the tube.
The Wife has an obsession of cutting hers (and sometimes mine) open to see how much was is drawn out, and every time there has been a fair amount.
We never use cotton buds and generally a fan of warm water in the shower and the odd pen lid every now and again, but these do work on the basic element of wax removal.
Anything else, I'd suspect is a complete myth.