Problem with ears under pressure

Question
Hi there Liam,

Sorry to saddle you with an odd question but here goes.

I swim about 2km a week and walk a great deal to stay fit.  I'd like to try scuba diving but I have a problem with my ears, while swimming I use ear plugs but this is not possible for scuba diving since the pressures involved would seriously damage my ear drums is they can not be equalised.

I have spent about 30 minutes at the bottom of a pool (about 3 metres deep)wearing scuba gear and found that after I'd equalised I had no more problems with earache but that's only in 3 metres of water, diving here goes as deep as 40 metres.

Is it possible to have an ENT specialist pressure test my ears?  A scuba course is seriously expensive and I don't want to waste my money learning to do something I'd like to do but am incapable of doing.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Nick

Answer
Hi Nick...

I also have ear problems now later in life.  When I was in High School I was fine but the build-up over the years and my bad allergies took a toll.  I actually had to quit college swimming because of the problem.  I am just telling you this so that you have some perspective.

It is a major problem for us swimmers and divers.  First of all, if you are still using ear plugs in the water, you may have an internal infection.  Maybe you can go in the water without them and just chose to wear them so what I said doesn't matter.  In any case, you definitely need to try and get your ears more accustomed to the water and the depths.  You do sound like you are doing the right thing with going down and trying it out with the scuba gear.  

As a side note, I would take the ear plugs out and see how you can do in shallow water doing flip turns.  If you are ok then I would keep doing this going deeper and deeper until you can comfortably go down to the bottom of the pool.  In this process, you need to absolutely use the alcoholic ear drops.  They will burn the first couple times but they clear your ears out and keep them free from infections.  Pressure problems sometimes exist because of infections that never got taken care of or simply because you are not clearing the canals out with the drops.

If it is more than that then yes you would need to see an ENT.  Obviously ear plugs DO NOT help pressure problems.  They would have to tell you your options.  Some people are just not wired right in the sense that their tubes can not handle that much pressure.  There is an operation you can get but I don't think you want to go to that extreme.  I absolutely agree with you that you should consult other scuba guys and a specialized Dr. before you in invest in that activity.  Sorry I can't give you specifics on a test like that but I think you are going in the right direction.

Thanks,
LM