It's been a week, and still have water in my ear...

[MetalMan]

I went to Ginnie Springs in Central Florida 6 days ago and did some free diving, and I still feel like i have water in my left ear. My right ear seems ok. It doesn't hurt, it's just really, really annoying... I can't get it to "pop". The springs aren't that deep, I probably hit a max depth of around 25 ft.

Does anyone know of something I can do, other than go to an ENT doctor(I will go if it comes to it)?

 

[Crazys13]

try shaking your head with your ear facing down (rather violently) to make sure theres actually no water in there. If everything is still muffled, try taking a sudafed and continue trying to get them to pop soon after that. I'm sure someone with a little more experience (Trux?) will chime in with some more useful information. Hope this helps a little bit!

-John

 

[hteas]

Quite often that feeling of water in your ear after so long is a low grade infection in the middle ear, caused by inflamation closing off your eustachian tubes. The definitive symptom is a feeling of whirling when you close your eyes.

The tubes need to be open to allow oxygen to get to the surrounding cells.

Taking sudafed for a short while may stop the problem by drying out the tubes and allowing them to drain. If not, you should probably see a doctor. Hearing loss really sucks (I'm proof of it).

Howard

 

[sciencemike]

If you have a heavy wax buildup in your outer ear you can trap water in there for long periods of time. This is advice for outer ear trapped water.
Is it on the outside of your eardrum? If so then use the standard swimmers ear drops. They are Ethanol and acetic acid. 1:1 Or just go into your local pharmacy and ask for some swimmers ear solution. Put 5 drops in your ear, let it mix with the water thats in your outer ear canal, and wait 2 mintues and dump it out.

The ethanol reduces the surface tension of the water in your ear so it can dump out easier and the acetic acid reduces pH to prohibit bacterial growth.

 

[tucunare]

after diving put a capful of rubbing alcohol in each ear. It will soak up water and prevent ear infections. I fish in the Amazon where the water cause a lot of ear infections. This has been a great solution for us in this regiion

 

[Bill]

'Ethanol and acetic acid.'
You probably should use the navy remedy. It cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars to develop and and requires a prescription but it has almost the same formula as the one above. Of course, equal parts of vinegar and and vodka have been used for decades with great success. Heck, if you don't want to smell like a salad, one shot of tequila and and the juice from one lime would probably be close enough to the $1 dollar an ounce navy stuff.
Howard you'll have to speak up and stop mumbling.

 

[bgill]

If it's been a week already. And the "same" water has been in your ear, an infection of some sort has probably ensued already...At the least "swimmer's ear"...

Is it the "same" water still in your ear? Or are you getting new water in there...Pool, diving, shower, etc.?

Also if you're ears are TOO clean (no wax) water can get stuck inside of you're ear canal very easily. Thats how a "swimmer" or water enthusiast, gets swimmer's ear. Being so wet all of the time can "wash out" the benificial wax of the ear "canal protectant" and cause water to easily stay in you're ear canal eventually causing an infection.

There are a thousand other things that could be causing you're problem - So if there is pain or swelling I'd see a doc if you can...

And heck...If rubbing alcohol helps keep infections away in "The Amazon" where strange little creatures of all sorts hang out...I'd giver'a'go!

 

[agbiv]

I'm a former competition swimmer & had the "swimmers" ear more often than I care to count. Yes preventative drops work great but sometimes I'd start getting an out ear infection. A small squirt of Seabreeze (OTC face cleanser) would nip it in the bud. It has alcohol, camphor & other goodies. I'd put it in, wait 3-4 minutes and dump.

 

[LuckyDeep6]

Using alcohol will cause the water in your ear to evaporate faster, its used after getting out of the water. After a week, that sounds more like an infection. Otitis Externa, (swimmers ear) its when the outer ear and ear canal swells (inflammation). The best thing that i know to use is called CiproHC.

 

[Drejcha]

it happened once to me (boy, that is annoying) and only one thing helpped:
I went bach into the sea, dove just so deep my head was under water (feet down), held my nose like doing the valsalva (just close your mouth and keep your air ways open!) and shaked with my head quite rapidly (left-right). It cleared itself. ;-)

 

[PropAddict]

I have had this issue on and off for the last 3 months. Never got it before, but I have been alternating between swimming in the Gulf and a pool a lot, so it keeps happening to me.

What works? 50/50 solution of vinegar and rubbing alcohol. Works better if you use it before and after swimming. Clears out the H2O, kills the bugs, and helps stimulate wax replenishment.

If you start getting jaw/ear pain, I'd say it's progressed to swimmer's ear. Similasan drops (available at any CVS) work to clear it up, but will take time. Couple with Sudafed and Advil for improved effectiveness.

 

[billieball]

For really nasty, black water dives...we would use the 50/50 vinegar/rubbing alcohol trick.
Since you are past the initial part of this hassle, you should probably go see a doc. Have you tried diving since then? If so, can you clear? Does your ear hurt at all? Anyway, I agree with the others that at this point, it could be an infection of sorts. The longest I've had that muffled sensation was about 3 days...I took Sudafed, stayed out of the water, and it cleared.
Good luck!

 

[glubglub]

Um... OK, take it from the guy who got his ear messed up due to reverse block for 1 month... I went through this and a little scared of permanent damage, but fortunately I was proven wrong.

After a nasty reverse block while surfacing, I had my ear ringing (tinnitus) for 2 weeks, the muffled part is about 1 month. Not until 2 months it's back to normal normal. So it depends on how bad it is.

Suggestions:

a) Stop diving. Now. Full disclosure: I still swam on the pool during recovery, but not going under at all.

b) Figure out where the "water" is, that means go to your doctor, not ENT yet. I assume your tymphanic membrane is still intact else you would be temporarily deaf and I believe any open bacterial infection would smell pretty terrible...

c) If it is in middle ear (behind tymphanic membrane), yours should be bulging out a little or a lot, because the middle ear is filled in with some fluid. This is the "muffled" part since the sound sensor hairs are drowned in that fluid. Your doctor would probably prescribe you antibiotics for "just in case".

d) My doctor also prescribed me the Claritin D (anything with pseudoephedrine works) to keep the sinus clear and help the fluid drain out. She said nasal decongestant spray is not good enough.

e) Lastly, go to a doctor ASAP !! No advices given in this board is good enough without physically checking out your ear.

I wish you the speediest recovery.

Dive safe!