Barotrauma

Hi..I recently suffered a barotrauma in my left ear. My ear drum wasn't perforated..but I have constant ringing in my ears. The ENT said it will stop in its own time...and no scuba diving for 2 months...oh dear !

Has anyone else experienced the same thing? and how long did the ringing last?

Contributed by Hilary added 2005-04-12

Replies of 2

Rocky added 2005-05-24: I had the same problem about February 20th, waited 6 weeks and tried a shallow dive about 10-12m. Found I still had the same problem. Etc Dizzy, nausia and Yes constant ringing in ear. Finally went to specialist Ear Throat and Nose....wait for it. Just been told I can't dive any more. His exact words were "would you rather live or die from drowning not knowing where up or down is. An operation to fix it is 50% chance of success and the other is 50% losing sound in your altogether." If you find out more let me know because 15 years of diving are now only memories. Ohh The ringing in the ear, he said "you will get used to it because you have damage the high frequantcy nerves in the ear and soon you will not notice them because it will just blend in".
Let us know how you go or if there is light around the corner!
Good luck and I hope it's not as bad news as mine. P.s See a specialist before trying to dive again too early.
Rocky

Hilary added 2006-02-13

It's been a while since I"ve been back to this site and I wanted to thank Rocky for his message. Fortunately the ear specialist didn't say anything about not diving anymore. I've been very fortunate to continue my diving without any further problems..except that I take extra care upon descent. I go very slowly..always down the anchor chain or drop-line on boat dives. I don't worry about keeping anyone waiting anymore, and the more dives I do, the easier it becomes to equalise. On the days when it doesn't, I abort the dive. There's always another day...

I hope it might be again possible for you too Rocky.

Hilary

Replies of 2

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