kids- snorkling and ear tubes????

[jeanie]

Hi,

My son has had ear tubes since he was 6 months... he is now 10.(long story and I am not looking for lectures on the dangers of having tubes in this long....

Anyway....anyone have any experience with kids snorkeling with tubes? He is pretty sensitive to ear pops.... (He has no function in his eustatian tubes, so even with tubes, his ears can pop...)

We were looking at the seahorse snorkel and was wondering how deep you actually go and do you feel any pressure in the water while snorkeling???

 

[CRB#33]

I didn't think you could go under water at any depth with ear tubes???

When my son had them, he had to wear these plugs when he went swimming.

When I went snorkeling, I just floated along the top, but my ears did go under.

 

[RKB]

He can snorkel pretty much on the surface and still see fish, etc... while looking down. I would be worried about him getting water in his ears though. I know when my son had his tubes in we had to stick waxy earplugs in his ears at bath time.

 

[CAMICKEY]

I only offer this advice as I have had chronic eustachian tube dysfunction for about 25 years. Any thing I say here is pertinent to me only, and I recommend you check with your ENT doctor to see if it will cause any further damage.
I do not have tubes in my ears as even the permanent ones tended to pop out after a week. I also get frequent perforations when flying or driving in the mountains (no longer painful to me after all of these years) from the pressuer on my ear drums. Ok - thats my backgroud, now for your question:
I do go snorkeling but mostly stay on the top. I find that if I do dive, I only go about four or five feet under before I start feeling some pressure on my ear drums. This depth seems to work for me, but as I say, each case dealing with middle ear disease is different and best left to a doctors advice.

 

[Tandyc]

When my son had tubes we got a neoprean(sp?) sleeve to go around his head and ears. This helpes the water stay out and he said "the popping is not so bad, with the Rambo band." I don't know if this will help your child, but it sure did ours.


Good luck!

 

[jeanie]

Camickey, my son's condition sounds pretty similar to yours...

He has perforated his left ear drum 3 times now... The tubes he has now have stayed in over a year now with the hope that when it does fall out it will leave a permanent hole. Without the tubes he has almost 50% hearing loss. He says it's like walking around with a barrel over your head! With the tubes his hearing is pretty normal..

And yes, he always wears ear plugs when he goes in the water which is why I was concerned about the pressure (the holes are now sealed, no where for the pressure to release....)

He has an ENT appointment on Friday so I will ask but his dr always errs on the side of caution and if it were up to him he wouldn't be able to fly (as long as there is no ear infection going on, he is actually fine in the air)

So it sounds like as long as he doesn't go too deep (3-5 ft) he should not feel any pressure??



Thanks again for the quick replies!!!

 

[CAMICKEY]

To Jeannie

I am sorry to hear about you DS's condition. Keep the tubes in as long as they stay there by themselves. If he does have hearing loss (I am moderately deaf in my right ear and mildly deaf in my left ear), you might even consider a course on lip reading. When I was in the Army (I had a no flying/swimming profile), I was sent to Walter Reed for several surgeries (All for naught) but they did send me to lip reading school and I find that it has helped my over the years when communicating with others - he might even get good enough to read lips from people across the room depending on how well the person uses their lips to articulate the words(Talk about a run-on sentence). I can only offer this advice. Your son is young and will grow accustomed to the Eustachian tube dysfunction. Hopefully you have a good ENT doctor that will provide good advice. I believe your son will be fine snorkeling as long as he wears ear plugs, mostly says on the surface, and does not go very deep when diving - but this is the question I can not answer - how deep is too far? Maybe your ENT doc will be able to offer some advice but most Otolaryngologists will most likely be extremely conservative in their advice they give you. EMail me off line if you want to discuss any further chronic Eustachian tube dysfunction questions and I will be happy to try to provide you with any knowledge I have. Enjoy your cruise and don't let your son's condition limit him any more than is medically necessary to ensure no further damage is done. - Mike

 

[mobetsy]

The issue of the water getting into his ears/tubes is something for you and the ENT to decide about. I can tell you that when my 8 y.o. ds did quite a bit of snorkeling this last summer (w/o tubes being an issue), he stayed on the surface virtually the whole time and still had a blast. The snorkel allowed him to relax, float, and not have to keep turning his head around to breathe (he's a beginning swimmer, so he doesn't do that smoothly at all). In other words, I don't think you have to dive at all to have a good time snorkeling; there's still plenty to be seen from the surface, and the snorkel lets you enjoy doing that in the easiest possible way. I hope you figure something out that works for him!

 

[CAMICKEY]

I absolutely agree with Mobetsy. Staying on the surface and looking down can also be an extremely fulfilling way of snorkeling.

 

[jeanie]

Thanks but I was more concerned with the pressure of being underwater and not some much about getting water in his ears...He always wears plugs in the water..

The deeper you go in the water the more pressure on your ears. I was trying to get an idea of whether it was worth snorkeling if you can only go so deep....but it sounds like a lot of people stay on the surface...and still see stuff...

Thanks !

 

[mobetsy]

From what I've read, the ocean visibility in much of the Caribbean is phenomenal, especially compared to what many of us are used to (for example, off Catalina Island, where I'd think 15 feet was clear). As a result, it's easy to see pretty far right from the top of the water. I think most people do stay on the surface to snorkel; if you were looking at scuba it would be a different matter. Have fun!

 

[MrsPete]

Does he swim at home? I mean really swim, not just splash around in a pool? My daughters both had tubes when they were younger (thankfully, their ear problems cleared up around the time they started school), and they were NOT allowed to put their heads underwater at all. Do older children with tubes perhaps have a different type?

I'll echo what other people have said: talk to your ENT about snorkeling. If your son is anything like my two daughters, you probably still have your share of ear infections. I'd suggest asking the doctor for a round of antibiotics to talk along. My daughters ALWAYS used to get ear infections out of town.

 

[tommysmom]

My son is 5 and is on his 2nd pair of tubes. He is a great swimmer for his age. He does have ear plugs that were specially fitted and molded for his ears by his ENT...a bit price ($80) but well worth it. As long as he has them in, he has always been able to swim without a problem. (getting water in his ears can lead to nasty infections). He has also never had a problem flying, although I do use earplanes on him.

He has, though, complained about going deep under. During swimming lesson he never would go to the bottom of the pool, the pressure seems to bother him.

I though, would just confer with your ENT...see what he says...everyone is different

 

[CAMICKEY]

Jeannie - Hope you hear good news on Friday from the ENT doc. Keep us informed if you do not mind. - Mike

 

[jeanie]

Thanks everyone for caring!


We just got back and his hearing is still within normal range, no infections and one tube did fall out and left a tiny hole...hearing is somewhat less in this ear but not noticibly to him...this is a good thing..if the tiny holes stays it means no more tubes!! (this is his 6th set...)

Now the bad news....the doctor recommends that he NOT snorkle.
Not only because of pressure but because even with plugs he feels that he has more of a chance of getting water in his ears....


I don't really understand because he does swim whenever he has the chance, and has used the head bands when he was little and the wax plugs. The doctor has no problem with this ... I asked if he stayed at the surface would it be ok to snorkle since swimming was OK (what's the difference???) He said swimming, yes....snorkling no.... and left it at that....

I hate when doctor's do this because I am thinking that since this would be his first time snorkling it could be like swimming, right??So we should go...but on the other hand if something happens its not worth it..

I know that so many ENT's say different things about this subject that it makes me crazy!! My nephew's Dr told my SIL that he didn't need to use the plugs in that bath or shower only if swimming... My DS wears them anytime he is near water. It so hard to know what the right thing to do is...But I do like his doctor very much so I will be good and take his advice....


I am sure we can find something else to do on Castaway Cay

 

[AprilsZoo]

I'd be willing to bet that this ENT is confusing "snorkeling" with "diving."

I, personally, would clarify this further, and ask *specifically* "if he does not dive underwater, and stays at the surface, can he use a mask and snorkel to allow him a view of the underwater world?" If the doc still says no, then I would ask for his reasoning behind this.

Also, whenever my son (14, perm. t-tubes) goes in water where there is a chance of an earplug being dislodged because of horseplay or whatever, (even tho they are custom molded) he wears an "ear-bandit" headband so we dont have to search for or worry about a lost plug.