Middle ear infections from dives this week

[divers4life]

My wife and I just had a wonderful four day dive trip, where we dove at the Mill Pond Saturday-Monday, then dove Madison (Godzilla Room) and Peacock I (Dark Water tunnel + Well) on the 4th, and we felt great after a wonderful extended dive trip. However, on our 6 hour drive home, our ears both started feeling odd so we did our standard alcohol/glycerin ear drop regimen, and it seemed to go away for the most part. On Wednesday morning, my wife's ears were killing her, so she went to our doctor. She has a middle ear infection in both ears. On Wednesday night, my ears started acting up, and I went to the doctor on Thursday with the same diagnosis - middle ear infection in both ears.

Anyone have any idea what's going on here? One of us occasionally gets an outer ear infection that can be treated by antibiotic drops, but rarely do we get a middle ear infection, let alone both of us in both ears at the same time!

We're both on antibiotics and various decongestants as prescribed by the doctor, and it seems to be helping somewhat.

We didn't dive through any algae blooms or noticeable bacteria in the water, so we're at a complete loss as to why. Has anyone else experienced anything like this in the past? Anyone noticed an increase in infections lately?

[Daedalus]

I got the same thing after diving in Orange Grove Sink a couple months back. I put a bottle of ear salad (50% Isopropyl alcohol 50% Vinegar) in my gear bag now and put a few drops in each ear when I am done diving for the day.

[DiveTrain]

Me and 3 friends were taking Cavern/Intro to Cave 2 weeks ago at Peacock and Orange Grove. 3 out of the 4 got ear infections. If you dive those areas you will want to make sure to use ear drops after every dive.

CJ

[Genesis]

I have a bottle that's got equal parts of vinegar, isopropyl alcohol and peroxide in it labelled "Ear Beer". It lives in my truck.

I use it after diving in fresh water. I don't know why I don't get nailed when diving in the ocean, but I don't - but if I forget after cave-diving, its a good bet that I'll get a nasty ear infection a day or two later.

[stairman]

I use the same recipe.equal parts alcohol,vinegar and peroxide.The secret is to tilt your head sideways completely so it makes a pop and you can almost feel it behind your eye.That gets to the inner ear better than just putting it in a slightly tilted ear.Im sure there are microscopic algae in the water especially in summer.Interesting name[ear beer]never thought of that.Occasionally I get a short throb even after use of the ear beer,and I just keep adding it several times during the day and havent had to see the doc about it.Q-tips are the doctors best friend,keeps em in buisness for ear ache prescriptions so they tell me.

[Me]

Yes, ear tonic is part of my travel ditty bag too. Every night before turning in while diving, each ear gets a shot for 5 minutes.

With regards to ocean vs. fresh, I asked this same question of Dan a few years back. I was told that fresh water had infintely more bacteria and crud than sea water has. The salt content of seawater keeps the bacteria level much lower than fresh......hence ear infections are therefore more prevalent in fresh.

Two years ago I got a raging case of swimmer's ear in both ears while diving in Akumal. (pain, pressure and incredible deep inner itch) Woke me up in the middle of the night before the last dive day. To say the least, I didn't get to dive the last day of our trip. It was totally my fault as I had slacked in my "ear tonic" a few nights. Fortunately another diver had a bottle of ear meds with her just in case. Now I do the same. Every couple years I get a script from my doc for swimmer's ear meds to take on vacation. When the bottle expires, I get a new script. So far, I haven't had to use them as I've stayed faithful to my preventive ear tonic.

There was a doctor on that Akumal trip that told me to take Advil for the itch and pain. I knew it would help with the pain, but amazingly it relieved the itch too. I could tell when it was time for another dose of Advil and ear drops as my ears would start to pain and the itch would creep back up. Lovely two days of my vacation!

Moral? Take ear tonic (beer, salad) with you as a preventative and use it every night of diving....DAN recommends 5 minutes in each ear. Also, get a script from your doc for drops if you happen to get an infection so you don't have to go hunting around in a foreign country, or go out of network in the US.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

TIP: Use white vinegar instead of apple cider....you'll smell less like a salad!

[wingman]

The current (july/august) issue of DAN's "Alert Diver" has an excellent discussion of all the diving related issues associated with the ears...your problem sounds like otitis externa (external not middle ear infection). According to one of the articles this is caused by your normal ear bacteria that is able to penetrate skin that has swelled iside your ear due to frequent iimmersion in water, hence the common term swimmer's ear. The article also provides a number of "home brew" mixes you can use to prevent the infection. The mix is supposed to remain in the ear a full five minutes to be 100% effective. Also solution should be used only in a normal ear with an intact eardrum. Bill Huth

[divers4life]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but here's the odd thing... We did use our ear concoction after every dive this trip... and it is a middle ear infection (Otitis media) - pain, fluid behind the eardrum, fever, etc... not external which is what we have experienced in the past. Very odd.

[wingman]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but here's the odd thing... We did use our ear concoction after every dive this trip... and it is a middle ear infection (Otitis media) - pain, fluid behind the eardrum, fever, etc... not external which is what we have experienced in the past. Very odd.

Well the dan article discusses this as well....they say that otitis media is "not a diving malady, but may look the same as middle ear barotrauma to a medical practioner not trained in dive medicine." Did you give dan a call maybe they can explain the oddity. Bill Huth

[amphipod06]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, but here's the odd thing... We did use our ear concoction after every dive this trip... and it is a middle ear infection (Otitis media) - pain, fluid behind the eardrum, fever, etc... not external which is what we have experienced in the past. Very odd.

yes, odd indeed.
But having the OM (otitis media) is not far fetched, if you valsalva too forcefully it is possible to "blow" whatever is in the back of your throat through the Eustachian tubes and into the very cozy bacteria-breeding conditions of the middle ear....
Like when in Mexico, do not drink the water (or gargle with it...), be careful of when you valsalva and how you do it.
Hope you are well soon.

Celia