Northwest Dive Club

Earned certification November 19th. After last dive i expected my ears to return to normal in a day or two. They didn't, i had to go into Dr for yearly blood work, so asked him about my ears, he looked and said nothing apparent is wrong, gave me referral to ENT. by the time i made it to ENT Dr, right side had returned to normal but not left, and the only way i could tell something was different was the way i sounded to myself when i would talk. After ultra sound on ears and visual inspection, ENT Dr says no inner ear damage, says my symptoms just Eustachian tubes...........Prescribed over counter Flonase for daily use, and Afrin only just before diving.........I have been afraid ever since my ears never returned to normal that perhaps my diving was over and just waited for the results of the ENT hoping.......

I live Spokane area, would like to dive Puget Sound.....Looking for Dive Buddy......i am retired...........

I also struggle with my ears. I use Flonase daily with great success. However, afrin isn't your friend if you use it over multi-day usage. It may be fine for a once in a while use. If you use it for daily use, it will plug you up. My Ent prescribed me Azelastine. Works great without the backlash. Might be worth a discussion with your Ent.
Another thing I have tried with great success is docs pro plugs for diving. If I'm diving more than one dive, these are a must or my ears are plugged just like you said.
Having said all that, welcome to the board! Watch the dive planning thread for upcoming dives, and people looking for a buddy. Also, there are dives every Thursday evening in the south sound, and every Wednesday in the north sound. These will also be posted in the dive planning sub forum. Feel free to join in on the discussions. I think you will find this board to be a great resource. Hope to see you soon at a dive site!

Welcome to the board! I'm sorry about your ears though. Hopefully the meds will help!

I pretty much don't dive without pseudoephedrine.

Thanks Penopolypants & Gdog.............Will ask about azelastine and get doc's pro plugs........look forward to the day when i can go on one of the dives..........

Thanks Desert Diver.........

sudafed aka scubafed the ephedrine based stuff. works wonders.

Thanks Jeff Pack

Welcome to the board. I am new as well. And also suffer from slow draining ears. It usually lasts 3-4 days then clears up. My first dive I didn't equalize soon enough and forcefully equalized, my ears didn't clear for 3 weeks.

Thanks Scuba Swanie.........

PM me next time your on the west side and want to dive. I can always use another dive partner.

I use flonase nearly every day, allergy meds also every day, and occasionally use affrin depending on things. But I can't recommend an otovent enough, it really helped the most with the Eustachian tubes: http://www.gluear.co.uk/how-it-works/ . it can be found on amazon.com. It also helped me really get the frenzel down, I will use it for a few days leading up to any dives and make sure that I am warming up by equalizing a lot on those days leading up. When I do that I rarely have any problems. I also dropped a few bucks on a digital Otoscope and can take a peak at my ears depending on how things feel, I picked up enough to know when things are wrong vs when they are fairly normal. I also keep a photo record for the most part when I do that. I also have found that Dairy mucks me up a bit or makes it harder to keep clear especially cheese for whatever reason (go figure) so I generally try not to eat too much of that. Also post dive if a ear is feeling a bit off I will try and sleep with that ear up, so any fluid will drain, and/or take an aleve or iubprofin. Sometimes though it takes tinkering about and trying stuff to figure out what works.

Also I am usually up for taking people out diving, I am generally the most free on the weekends.

Hi, while I'm new to diving, I'm no stranger to clogged sinuse/Eustacian tubes .
Totally agree with all the previous suggestions, had some success with many of them as well.
There's another method I found very effective that is drug free, but somewhat more invasive called the Muncie technique or Modified Muncie technique. Its essentially a finger sweep of the tubes. Recommend having a doctor or chiropractor show/teach you. If u can handle it, it takes seconds, is free, works instantly, has no side effects(other than gag refllex).

KiltedOne wrote:Hi, while I'm new to diving, I'm no stranger to clogged sinuse/Eustacian tubes .
Totally agree with all the previous suggestions, had some success with many of them as well.
There's another method I found very effective that is drug free, but somewhat more invasive called the Muncie technique or Modified Muncie technique. Its essentially a finger sweep of the tubes. Recommend having a doctor or chiropractor show/teach you. If u can handle it, it takes seconds, is free, works instantly, has no side effects(other than gag refllex).

Im intrigued. Need to know more. Thanks for the pointer!

Yes, the Muncie Technique can be very effective. As a chiropractor, I've been trained and utilize the procedure.

The technique requires a "manipulation" of the soft tissues at the Eustachian tube entrance, and it'll often open up and equalize air or drain fluid. The downside is that it invokes the gagging reflex for the 1-2 seconds it takes.

There are several muscles attached near the Eustachian tube entrance in the back of the throat and if they are in spasm, untrained, or have inflammation, the tube stays closed. Most people don't realize these muscles exist and pose problems: salpingopharyngeus, tensor veli palatini, and the levator veli palatini.

How do you do the Muncie procedure? Find a doctor or chiropractor who knows how to do it. The reason to seek a professional is that it's pretty difficult to find the right location, as it's even farther back than the uvula (that dangling thing) in the back of your throat, and the clinician has to get behind it and go up. You also don't want to introduce bacteria, so gloves are required.