OK this happened 12 days ago, just had the second ENT visit and want to share to the Deeperblue knowledge base.
I too scanned DB with my symptoms, and saw a great post from Eric Fattah that gave me hope.
So: shaved head, open cell suit. No ear holes in suit. Lovely day, new place, camera, only one hour to dive, rushing, clear water. Had a few shallow dives, left ear feels a bit strange, but those first few dives always do until the snot is blasted out. About the 4th dive, arrived at bottom 15m looked in a cave and "shhhhhhooooooooooopp" noise in felt ear. Then it felt great.
No pain, no vertigo, no water inside head feeling. Just felt strange. I carried on diving for 30 mins without problems (unwisely). Hoping in the boat, I take my hood off and blood in left ear. Bad, I was sure I had blown an ear drum. Again, no pain, no dizzies, but quite some blood. Never happened before.
I call a buddy doctor and he tells me not to rinse and not to wet ear at all. I even FB Carla thankyou huge thanks and respect) and she tells me not to worry. Next morning I wake up with quite a bloody pillow.
ENT visit 1 on (5 days after): he cleans dried blood and looks, can't see much
ENT visit 2 (12 days after): he confirms was NOT a busted drum :friday
Conclusion: bad suit hood squeeze, the suction effect was released when I twisted ny head, and the blood vessels near the ear drum burst. Eric had this too.
It was a very scary week, that could have been the end to my deep dive plans (bahamas in July and Vertical Blue in 2012) but it ended up well.
The ironic thing is all my older suits were given the hot nail treatment. I guess I had got cocky: and hand full of humble national records and an AA instructor title. I really should have known better. I just "forgot" to let water in my hood. I do it all the time spearing, but this time I had a camera and no gun. That's my excuse.
Hot nail holes in all suits. ALL. I was dumb, I confess, I hope this post makes someone less dumb.
I too scanned DB with my symptoms, and saw a great post from Eric Fattah that gave me hope.
So: shaved head, open cell suit. No ear holes in suit. Lovely day, new place, camera, only one hour to dive, rushing, clear water. Had a few shallow dives, left ear feels a bit strange, but those first few dives always do until the snot is blasted out. About the 4th dive, arrived at bottom 15m looked in a cave and "shhhhhhooooooooooopp" noise in felt ear. Then it felt great.
No pain, no vertigo, no water inside head feeling. Just felt strange. I carried on diving for 30 mins without problems (unwisely). Hoping in the boat, I take my hood off and blood in left ear. Bad, I was sure I had blown an ear drum. Again, no pain, no dizzies, but quite some blood. Never happened before.
I call a buddy doctor and he tells me not to rinse and not to wet ear at all. I even FB Carla thankyou huge thanks and respect) and she tells me not to worry. Next morning I wake up with quite a bloody pillow.
ENT visit 1 on (5 days after): he cleans dried blood and looks, can't see much
ENT visit 2 (12 days after): he confirms was NOT a busted drum :friday
Conclusion: bad suit hood squeeze, the suction effect was released when I twisted ny head, and the blood vessels near the ear drum burst. Eric had this too.
It was a very scary week, that could have been the end to my deep dive plans (bahamas in July and Vertical Blue in 2012) but it ended up well.
The ironic thing is all my older suits were given the hot nail treatment. I guess I had got cocky: and hand full of humble national records and an AA instructor title. I really should have known better. I just "forgot" to let water in my hood. I do it all the time spearing, but this time I had a camera and no gun. That's my excuse.
Hot nail holes in all suits. ALL. I was dumb, I confess, I hope this post makes someone less dumb.