when your body is telling you to stay out of the water.

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Originally Posted by RN

I'm a nurse and have a clear understanding of the overuse of antibiotics. They are used for viral infections when they shouldn't be.

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Yes, that is ONE way they are overused. They are also used for every little bacterial infection that one's body is more than capable of handling.

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Originally Posted by RN

It was bad enough I didn't even want to eat because it hurt to chew. The antibiotics cleared it up in 5 days.

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Mine was tender to chew, but never to the point where I didn't want to eat.

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Originally Posted by RN

Vitamin C will not kill the infection.

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True, but that's a matter of semantics. Vitamin C will (and did) help my body kill the infection.

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Originally Posted by FW

We are not talking about antibiotics, we are talking about prescription ear drops, specific to Swimmer's Ear.

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I considered that. It would have required going to a Doctor that would have told me to stay out of the water. Since I had no problem equalizing, that wasn't going to happen. The only place I was comfortable for 4 days was in the water. Also would have required a wick (don't know if there is a medical term for it) to be inserted to get the drops through the swelling to the infection.

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Originally Posted by RN

...only antibiotics will cure it as it should be cured.

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If that were true the human race would have died long ago.

I am not arguing that I HAD an outer ear infection. It is as good as gone, and required no professional attention. I am very confident in my body's ability to heal itself. When I am ill in any way, I treat it by supporting my body's natural functions, and topically if I can. I have taken antibiotics 3x that I can recall. Pneumonia, a staph infection, and as a prophylactic after having 4 wisdom teeth removed. Everything else was resolved quickly and naturally.

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Originally Posted by Greenwood_60

The only place I was comfortable for 4 days was in the water. Also would have required a wick (don't know if there is a medical term for it) to be inserted to get the drops through the swelling to the infection.

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That was the case with me, too. I also took vitamin C and used ear beer. Finally got ciprodex and auralgan and it cleared up in less than a week. No wick needed. The dex in ciprodex takes care of the swelling.

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If that were true the human race would have died long ago.

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Not true.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. Like I said, I'm not a big proponent of taking medications. I think our society is way over medicated. But there are times when it is called for and what you described is one of those times. Hopefully, you did take care of it, but if the issue returns again soon, I would advise you to seek proper medical attention.

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Originally Posted by RN

Finally got ciprodex and auralgan and it cleared up in less than a week.

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+1 on the Ciprodex. I fought OE for almost a month and the Ciprodex knocked it out in a week. It's stupid expensive, but well worth the cost.

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Originally Posted by RN

That was the case with me, too. I also took vitamin C and used ear beer. Finally got ciprodex and auralgan and it cleared up in less than a week. No wick needed. The dex in ciprodex takes care of the swelling.

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Yeah, but vitamin C is kinda like a tank fill... did you take vitamin c, or VITAMIN C? I was taking 5,000 to 10,000 mg, and it was that little because of the size of the horse pills they had at store in Williston. Generally when I am sick I will take 10,000 to 30,000 mg. Here is a little about the theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C_megadosage

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Originally Posted by RN

Not true.

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You make a very persuasive argument :)

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Originally Posted by RN

We'll just have to agree to disagree. Like I said, I'm not a big proponent of taking medications. I think our society is way over medicated. But there are times when it is called for and what you described is one of those times. Hopefully, you did take care of it, but if the issue returns again soon, I would advise you to seek proper medical attention.

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I DISAGREE! Seriously though, I am happy to see your position on medications considering your profession. My ex-mother-in-law is an RN, and would pop pills for anything and everything. You should have seen the look on her face when her daughter told her we were having our kids at a birth center, and NOT in the hospital! Priceless!

And for the record, if this becomes a recurring condition, despite the treatment, I would absolutely consider medical attention.

Adam - seek medical attention from an ENT specialist. If the USMC doesn't have one or won't approve one, go elsewhere. If they have one and you've been avoiding it, let us know why. I wasn't impressed by your earlier dealing with the doc and I'd like to know if our military is letting our guys down.

So this is the current news update. I spoke with the doctors at the dive school (actually just the DMT's) and they thought my issue was sinus related. I have dove since this first started and it has popped up here and there. I have had some dive where the tinnitus started 10 minutes into the dive, and I have had others where I dove for two+ hours with no symptoms at all. Well all this week I had to dive because of work. The max depth was 12 feet in a pool but I am staying down for 3-5 hours. Sure enough the tinnitus started the first day of diving, which was Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday I asked to just be a surface swimmer and not go on gas. Well I did that and the tinnitus started again. Yesterday I was in the water for about an hour swimming up and down (max 12 feet) on breath holds. After I got out of the pool I felt nausea and had noticed my equilibrium was a bit off. No vertigo just a bit unstable. Well today I saw the ENT. He looked at me for about 5 minutes said the tinnitus would be permanent and that at one time I had Inner ear DCS quit diving, and to go get treated at the chamber. They did a audiogram and found I have high pitch hearing loss in my right ear. They said this was due to the DCS hit he thinks I took. I think it might also be due to 7 years of combat. He also told me I have a deviated septum and that was it. I drove back to the Dive School Medical and explained to them what I was told. They do not agree with the ENT and this is why.

Symptoms happened on the bottom, not in a pressure change.
Tinnitus goes away on its own over time and is not affected by o2 treatment.
This only happens when I go under water and generally if I had a bubble it would get smaller as I go deep and not cause the problems.
The only symptom was the tinnitus and the one time of nausea (which was while breath holds diving in 12 feet)
They also said the only times they have seen Inner ear DCS was on mixed gas diving.

The doctors at the base (who are all diving medical officers) seem to think I have a Inner ear fishial(SP) or calcium deposit in my ear that is being aggravated by the pressure. They also think it may be related to my sinus and are having me get a CT scan. So In short I got put on another 30days no diving duty (which I am going in for eye surgery Monday and can't dive anyway).

Any thought on what else this might be.

I think the DMOs are more likely to be right than the ENT, for the reasons you say. Your symptoms aren't typical of anything, but I agree that an inner ear fistula (a hole in the membrane separating the inner ear from the middle ear) or an otolith (calcium deposit) are more likely than inner ear DCS. The high-frequency loss is not uncommon in professional divers, particularly military divers, so may not be related to the other symptoms. However, Ockham's razor predicts that it will be.

Inner-ear DCS can occur after air/nitrox diving, occasionally very innocuous dives. I have seen it.

Andy

Try another ENT, one who dives, if you can find one.

The navy wants to look at the ct scan. And then send me to another ent

Sent from my Eris

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Originally Posted by adam0321

The navy wants to look at the ct scan. And then send me to another ent

Sent from my Eris

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Adam can you PM the ENTs that they are sending you to?

thanks