Try again - School of the Boat - Medical question

[JTheotonio]

As always I am check some of the on line manuals over at HNSA and found this little fact:

Why would these two illnesses be related to a submarine?    And yes both are listed in one of the manuals on-line and occur in a specific manner on a fleet-type submarine circa 1947 and later (that's a hint)

aero-otitis media and sinusitis

[JTheotonio]

And I do believe I had one of these while on the Picuda - launched in 1943 (I was on during the early 60's)

[JTheotonio]

   Well I didn't think anyone one wanted to get into this question so let me give you at least the definitions of those two terms

aero-otitis media: An inflammatory reaction of the middle ear resulting from a difference in pressure between the gas in the middle ear and the surrounding atmosphere. Also called otitic barotrauma

sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinuses and nasal passages. A sinus infection can cause a headache or pressure in the eyes, nose, cheek area, or on one side of the head.

   Now you know what they are - the question remains what can cause these two inflammations on a fleet-type submarine circa 1947 or older?

I remember Doc having to treat a couple of guys for one of these.  Of course they could have just come up to the Forward Room and got a cup of Gilly and they probably would care less about having any inflammation.  LOL 

So come on and see if you can take a wild guess at this question.

[Darrin]

sinuitis can also cause nose bleeds if I remember correctly, I had them real bad for a while and got Doc mad enough to threaten cauterizing the nasal passages up and sadly we woke him up one night because while crushing #10 cans I sliced the tip of a finger off and they told him that I was bleeding again and he got out of his rack a little pissed until he saw it wasn't my nose.. He wound up cauterizing the finger instead of stitching due to the lack of skin material present.

Ahhh those were the days, my nose quit bleeding right after that, it musta been a little scared after seeing what happened to my finger

[JTheotonio]

  Did you have the same Doc as I did?  

Time for sea story...Now this aint no...

We pulled into Ocho Rios, Jamaica for a weekend liberty while stationed in Gitmo for a few weeks and I'm topside watch during the first day.  We tied up to this old pier that had a big warehouse.  The road is about a 1,000 feet from the pier and this old Jamaican lady sets up a big wash tub with beer right outside on the far side of the road leading into town.  So guys going off to town could start drinking right there on the road.  Guys coming back could also get one last beer.  Pretty nice set up for this old lady.

Well like I said I'm topside watch and all of a sudden I see this pale, old white guy running in the bushes right behind this old lady.  All he had on was his skivvies and boots (no it was not Jack Doyle).  He was chasing this young lady (hum), who also wearing very little clothes.  They were laughing so I guess it was a native custom or something.  At 1,000 feet it was a bit hard to make out who the guy was, but all of a sudden he raises both arms and his fingers were wide open about to catch this young lady (hum).  It hit me right there - it was our Doc!  Why did I know for sure?  Well you see some time long ago in the Navy Doc lost 2 of his fingers on his left hand.  So he was easy to spot because of his hand - one thumb and two fingers!

Now not to tell stories, but Doc had a wife and 10 kids back in Key West.  So no one saw him or said a word.  But then it must have been just a local native custom to chase a young woman by a wash tub of beer being sold by an old Jamaican lady.

End of sea story.....   I added the picture of a local cove area in case you didn't want to read my sea story

[JTheotonio]

Well the pretty girl and dolphin didn't get anyone interested    so I guess I have to give you the answer to this one also.

Snorkeling!

There is sudden but not drastic fluctuation of air pressure during snorkeling. If the top of the snorkel mast should dip beneath the water's surface, e. g. because of high waves in rough seaway or loss of depth control, there is automatic closure of the head valve to prevent flooding of the snorkel and a quick vacuum is drawn in the boat by the diesel engine intake. The head valve will again open when it clears the surface with a sudden equalization of pressure with the outside. A low pressure trip will shut down the engines automatically if they should pull a vacuum equivalent to an aircraft altimeter reading of 6,500-7,000 feet above sea level.

Rapid opening and closing (cycling) of the snorkel head valve with prolonged intermittent pressure changes can be annoying to the crew, especially during sleep hours. Resulting incidence of aero-otitis media and sinusitis is high when there is prevalence of respiratory infections; these may be controlled by mucous membrane shrinking agents and antihistamines. Isolated instances of recurrent ear pain may be due to exuberant lymphoid tissue at the Eustachian tube ostia often relieved by radium treatments after diagnosis by nasopharyngoscope.

I love that bit about quick vacuum is drawn - that should be quick and painful! But for some this can cause a difference in pressure in the ears and sinuses, which can cause either of these two infections.

Submarine Medicine Practice, NAVMED-P 5054, 1956 Chapter 18, page 269

[etkfixr]

I can't imagine how fast four big diesels would pull a vacuum.  We had one of our A-gangers forget to open the inboard induction while snorkelling and our single FM pulled a bad enough vacuum to wake me from a sound sleep.  The real joy was laying there for the eternity it took to secure from snorkelling and do the snorkelling line-up over again.  Terry