acclarent balloon dialation for eustachian tube dysfunction

[gregl83]

backstory:

diving since 1997 (100 dives or so) without any noticeable problems clearing my ears. perhaps here or there it was more difficult but never a show-stopper.

4 months ago i tried to start freediving just after healing from bronchitis. in the heads down position i found it almost impossible to equalize. i had snorkeled in the past with deep dives but never in the same position taught to freedivers. what followed for the next few months was many attempts to freedive and then subsequent trips to the ENT due to the same ear getting blocked.

finally, my ENT said he was confident that I have eustachian tube dysfunction and recommends acclarent balloon dialation to resolve the issue.

questions:

1) anyone have experience with acclarent balloon dialation for equalization problems?

- if yes or knowledgeable on the subject -

2) does surgery help with equalizing?

3) has the treatment lasted (permanent)?

4) how long was it before being able to dive?

any tips, links, are questions answered would be greatly appreciated

thanks in advance!

 

[Kodama]

Have you tried exercising your Eustachian tubes with the Otovent? You may want to consider doing this for a while before resorting to surgery.


Sent from the abyss

 

[gregl83]

I've done a bit of manual exercising via frenzel holds.

I'll definitely checkout the Otovent but did discuss exercising vs the surgery option w/my ENT. He seems to feel confident that the exercising will only get so far.