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Greg - 5/24/2013 11:58 AM 
YES! You have an ear infection! I used to get them all the time, especially if I didn’t clean out my ears after a dive.
To clean out my ears, I use a solution of 50% distilled vinegar and 50% isopropyl alcohol. Just fill your ears with the stuff and let it sit about a minute in each ear before you tilt your head to pour it out. It acts as a drying agent and it kills bad junk that might have gotten in your ear.
Now that you already have an ear infection...you have two choices:
- Wait several days/weeks for it to possibly clear up on it’s own (not a fun choice and doesn’t always work).
- Go to the doctor and have them check it out. They will most likely prescribe an antibiotic and/or ear drops. If it’s real bad, you may get a shot of antibiotics.
Ear infections are not fun! Just be sure to clean out your ears at the end of a day of diving with the solution I mentioned above. Since I started doing that, I very rarely get ear infections any more.
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Greg - 5/24/2013 12:04 PM
Regarding over-the-counter meds...I’ve never had anything that worked well for an ear infection. You can take stuff to help with the pain, but to clear up an infection, you need antibiotics. And don’t stop taking the antibiotics as soon as your ear feels better. Use the entire dosage the doctor gives you until all of it is gone. I have tried to do that before, to save some antibiotic pills for the next time I got an ear infection, but my ear infection was not killed all the way and it came back!
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Huh! So that’s what an ear infection feels like! Who knew it felt like you’ve been smacked in the side of the head! If its a straight forward ear infection the doctors out here might just understand what I tell them!
Thanks so much!
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Will go first thing tomorrow and hopefully I will be fine to dive next weekend :)
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Welcome to the wonderful world of ear infections. I averaged one every 2-4 months the first couple years I was diving. Lots of bacteria in the ocean, and your ear is a direct canal (pun intended) to the inside of your body. The good news is it’s easily treatable as Greg explained very well :-)
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Outer ear infection;)
Greg has the correct advice. I suffer from inner ear infections in my left ear do to a defunct Eustachian tube. I understand your pain.
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Thanks all,
Well never had one before and the good thing is here you can buy any meds over the counter so I have some antibiotics and ear stuff so hopefully will be all good by Friday!
Water temps are finally warm enough to bering the Whale sharks so can’t miss a single day :D
Thanks again!
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I would also get it looked at by a Doc. My kid got a very tiny piece of something in his ear while diving in Cozumel. It immediately infected. Extremely painful. The Doc had to remove the tiny matter with forcepts. It was amazing how a little piece of crud could become such a problem.
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All back to normal now, thanks all for the advise!
I’ll know for next time :D
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