i probably have more room than most folks, but it’s one o’clock in the afternoon, and i still have water rolling around in my head due to my swim this morning. any recommendations?
This is going to sound stupid but it works.
While standing place your hand over you ear and lean you head parallel to the floor with that ear facing down. Then, jump on one foot for a couple of seconds. It works for me.
jaretj
what does the hand on the ear do?
Stops your brain falling out!
Sorry couldn’t help myself.
It sounds like you may have watter trapped in your ears which could be a result of a buildup of debris from day to day life or possibly even some kind of medical condition that has allowed water to get trapped in your middle ear. Earlier this spring, I had the same problem as each week I seemed to be retaining water. I flushed my ears with a squeeze bulb from the drug store, peroxide, and warm water and although that did improve things slightly, it did not totally solve the problem. A week later I ended up making a trip to the GP (doctor) who suggested that I was suffering the effects of a mild allergy and the swimming was simply making the symptoms more pronounced and water was not able to properly drain from my ears. His prescription was a cortisone shot in the backside and a cortical steroid nasal inhaler that I think helped eliminate the allergy problem as within a day my ears where clear. Finally, based on advice from this forum, after that little problem was solved, several people here advised that it is a good idea when you exit the pool to lean your head to one side and then rather violently, shake/bounce your head up and down a couple times to help expel residual water that may be trying to work its way into your middle ear - repeat for the other ear!
Michael
Just pick up some Swim-Ear (or equivalent) at your pharmacy and put a few drops in each ear after every swim. I’ve been doing this for years and it works great.
Another alternative is a 50% alcohol 50% water mixture in a bottle. Put in ear with a dropper at end of each swim. Cheap and effective; Navy uses it with all of their pool activities; survival, helo dunker, etc.
Larry
“water to get trapped in your middle ear.”
I had this happen when on a scuba diving holiday in Cozumel. It became infected and I had to get an antibiotic perscription when I returned home.
for the longest time I wore Mack’s Wax ear plugs whenever I went in the water. I thought they were mandatory. I have a minor hearing problem from an explosion close to the left of my head. I don’t want to ruin the hearing in my right ear.
Even with the ear plugs I continued to have water related problems. Someone suggested I just stopped using them. I did and I haven’t had a problem since. They just seem to drain naturally now.
Swim ear or equivalent.
Don’t clean your ears every day! I just got into the habit of cleaning my ears daily and then found out that having your ears too clean leads to infections. Now, I clean my ears out probably 3 times a week and have not had any more problems.
I usually use earplugs for training. I race without them, usually the water does not come out until the run. Even in Half Ironman races I have felt the water drain out as I start running. Any instructions from race officials during the bike may as well be in Chinese.
It just keeps you head steady.
jaretj
This could play as a Seinfeld thread spin-off
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I used to get water in my ears all the time. Now I wear Speedo ear plugs in the pool and in races and never get any water in my ears. They’re the ones that look like little Christmas trees and you can trim them to fit. They are easy to take out and put in so you can hear any instructions at the race start. I usually just put them in my swim cap at T1.
Richard
A little isopropyl alchohol will displace the water, and then evaporate.