Should I see an ENT?

[AndyDavies]

Just hoping to get a bit of advice for a new diver, I'm sure that the question is simple really but I'd like to know what you guys and girls think as more experienced divers.

I learnt to dive in June and ended up with an ear infection and equalisation problems. I've been to see my GP on my return who has me on nasal spray to try and clear my eustachian tubes. The thing is I'm not convinced that the infection was the cause of my equalisation problems; perhaps there is something wrong with my ear? Should I go to see an ENT and is it worth tracking down an ENT who specialises in diving?

any help very much appreciated.

[iainmsmith]

I learnt to dive in June and ended up with an ear infection and equalisation problems. I've been to see my GP on my return who has me on nasal spray to try and clear my eustachian tubes. The thing is I'm not convinced that the infection was the cause of my equalisation problems; perhaps there is something wrong with my ear? Should I go to see an ENT and is it worth tracking down an ENT who specialises in diving?

Novice divers often have difficulty clearing their ears. It takes quite a bit of diving before it becomes truly easy and a couple of hundred before you start doing it without being aware of it. For some reason, people often tend to get "sticky" ears a few days into a sea-diving trip. I'm not quite sure why, but it makes clearing harder.

From the sound of your post it's not clear exactly what sort of infection you had, but it sounds as though the ear infection came first, the equalisation problems afterwards. In which case, there it is almost certain that the infection caused the problems - anything which causes inflammation of the Eustachian tubes makes them narrower and harder to equalise.

It's obviously impossible to make a definite diagnosis over the internet, but what makes you suspect that the infection was _not_ the cause of the problems? (Indeed, what makes you think you had an infection? Not trying to insult you, but it's sometimes surprising what non-medical people think constitues an "infection")

FWIW, I'd be tempted to trust your GP. From a completely unscientific survery of the patients I see in A&E who have seen their GP and been diagnosed with something relatively minor or non-urgent but have turned up "so that you can check me out too, Doctor", the score is currently GPs 100%, Patients nil. [Not that any sort of doctor is infallible ...we are all human...but they've been practising medicine rather longer than either of us and have seen most things before.]

Regards,

Iain
(Dr and AD/OWI)