Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bulsajo]

My sympathies to all- ear trouble is no fun at all.

While diving in Israel I got a reverse pressure squeeze.

You how your ears change pressure when the plane changes altitude? same thing for diving. Usually if you have a problem it's going down- if you can't equalize you can't go down any further and that's that- your dive is done. A REVERSE pressure squeeze is somewhat rare- your ears refuse to equalize ON THE WAY BACK UP- but of course you can't stay down forever, so...

It just felt like I had a cold and my ear was plugged up- uncomfortable but I figured it would eventually clear up. I woke up in the middle of the night in screaming agony and my Dad drove me to the nearest hospital. The doctor there said he wasn't a specialist and all he could do was give me a painkiller (You have to love this about Israeli hospitals- they're set up to deal with horrendous casualities at any time and don't mess around when it comes to painkillers); He handed me a cup of yellow liquid- I drank it down and he told me- "That's liquid morphine, it should see you through the rest of the night". Boy did it ever. The next day I was prescribed some strong antihistamins and decongestants and it cleared up.

[Juggertha]

well I'll throw in on this. I too have had bad ear/throat infections. what irks me is the 2 days perscriptions they always give.

[mack the knife]

There's a reason why you're given only a 2 day prescription. The pills here are stronger than the ones you would receive in Canada or America. The dose is higher, therefore you don't need to take it over the period of a week. No worries.

[ThreeDogNight]

Lemon's sounds the worst. I'm just wondering, after experiencing these health problems myself, ie., dizziness, inner-ear infections, whether or not you're looking for prevention?

My belief is that dust storms and air pollution are to blame. I happened to get a terrible inner-ear infection after the yellow-dust storm of 2001. I woke up one morning nauseaus, dizzy, and whirling. Had to take antibiotics to clear it all up.

The downside is, once you get an inner-ear problem, from what I've heard, you're prone to ear infections for life. As for being in Korea, I think the dust has a lot to do with it. I think too that you might want to use cotton balls during yellow-dust storms, and wash your ears frequently.

Another problem is some of these infections, if left untreated, can cause microscopic organisms to attack the core of the brain and cause inflammation of the cranium and swelling of the head like some 'Big Heads' you see walking around here in Korea.