Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
The format for this episode is a little different this time.
Graham and Ashkahn received an anecdote about someone who floated with ear tubes in. The float ends with extreme discomfort and pain when the floater gets epsom salt water in their ears.
The guys highlight this issue as a warning to the industry that this is something that can happen with floating.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Alright Hey everybody-
Ashkahn: Hi there
Graham: I’m Graham and-
Ashkahn: And-
Graham: That is actually shockingly close to how we make intros. Funny part We do say ship it at every time at the ending too. That was a little-
Ashkahn: Yeah
Graham: Your in our world now.
Ashkahn: Yep
Graham: You can use that at home too-
Ashkahn: Sometimes lick it and stick it.
Graham: That’s what’s written on our checks. That is what’s written on our checks-
Ashkahn: Yeah
Graham: But that’s not what we say at the end of sentences.
Ashkahn: I made Jake put that as a little tagline on our checks.
Graham: Every step of the way everyone was like “are you sure you really want that written on your checks?”
Ashkahn: Yes
Graham: The banker, Jake –
Ashkahn: Yes lick it and stick it.
Graham: Alright so we don’t have a question today. Instead we have a really long statement that felt like an answer to a question we’d ask. So I figured we’d ask the question and then-
Ashkahn: Turn the tables
Graham: And then maybe let the form submission answer it this time. So today’s question from us after the fact. Is, “is it okay to let someone if they have tubes in their ears and they want to float?”
Ashkahn: What’s the answer?
Graham: The answer is-
Ashkahn: I’m just gonna sit then.
Graham: Story time “I went for my first float this past Saturday and I didn’t think about the tube in my ear.” Ew, already off to a bad start. “A few months ago I lost all hearing in my right ear. After oral steroids didn’t do anything we moved on to steroid injections straight into my middle ear. After the improvement plateaued the ENT decided to put a tube in my ear. So I could continue with the steroids at home. He gave me an RX eye drop that had roughly the same solution as the steroid that he was injecting. We never got the hearing back to enough to use a regular hearing aid.
But we left the tube just because there was no reason to go in and get it. So fast forward to float. I had been really looking forward to it. I practiced my meditations beforehand so I could get right into it. When I first got in the tub I was very tense trying to keep afloat. Once I realized I could float with no work I relaxed. I put my hands on my chest and crossed my feet at the ankles. I was just getting into it. My breathing was calm and I had the perfected position to open up my airway. Then I felt something in my ear. I reached up to feel my ear, when I discovered that the ear plug that they had provided had come out.
I sat up and the pain hit me like a truck. My ear and the entire sinus cavity was flaring up with pain. It took almost thirty minutes for the pain to subside. The poor guy working nearly had a heart attack. He called a paramedic at my request and by the time they got there I was still in extreme pain. But I could tell that it was going to go away. But it was going to take some time. The next day I woke up sleeping on the ear in question and felt salt crystal had formed in my ear.”
Yeah, so first of all I think they mistakenly sent this to us instead of an actual medical website or something. But that was just the straight question form submission that we got and it did seem worth sharing.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I mean this you know there are people out there that through whatever reason or another. Like this person is talking about end up with these tubes in their ear canal. And I really haven’t heard of a good float story as a result of something. And then you know honestly something just like this has happened at our float center many years ago-
Graham: Yeah
Ashkahn: Someone came in and they floated and the salt water got in there and the exact same thing. And they even tried to put vinegar in there afterwards and that just stung-
Graham: Even worse
Ashkahn: Even worse
Graham: Oh my god
Ashkahn: Its a huge mess and I personally have never met an earplug that is flawless.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: You know? Like those foam earplugs-
Graham: At least like the water side of things. You mean like actually being able to keep water out of your ears?
Ashkahn: Yeah, yeah Like the foam ones, I don’t think any float center personally should be using those foam ear plugs. Those just fall out of people’s ears so easily.
Graham: And they just let water in.
Ashkahn: Yeah So, like if your using those definitely at least upgrade to something that’s meant to be in a wet environment. But even those silicon ones like the Macs or there’s little Christmas tree shaped ones or there’s other ones like.
Graham: Or there that third variety.
Ashkahn: They work, you know I float with earplugs in because for some reason its like-
Graham: You’re a freak?
Ashkahn: Yeah I’m a freak. Yeah Its my independent streak, you know? I gotta have my own-
Graham: Yeah let it fly man fly that ear plug flag.
Ashkahn: And I’m pretty good at putting the ones we have, the Macs silicon ones in. And I’m pretty good at molding them and getting a nice seal in my ear. And really it does work most of the time. But even after years of this I still every once in a while just don’t quite get it and it just a little bit in one ear has a tiny gap and that’s enough for a little bit of water to get in. Its not like my whole ear is getting flooded but sometimes it gets uncomfortable to the point that I just take it out. Or once some water gets in there it kind of breaks the seal enough to pop the whole thing out after 5-10 minutes. You know these things just aren’t flawless and when the consequences are something like this. Like in this story that you hear and when its someones first time and their just learning how to put ear plugs in. It took me a while to learn how to get these ear plugs in so they would fit right and be good. It’s kind of risky. It’s kind of risky to get in there with ear plugs and think that it will be fine when this could potentially happen.
Graham: And yeah, when the by product is excruciating pain it just. It sounds like a risk you don’t want to take.
Ashkahn: Yeah
Graham: And especially pain that doesn’t go away immediately. In our case it was almost weirder because the person didn’t even know they had ear tubes-
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So there is no scenario we could have put in place really to prevent that. You know its like even screening people ahead of time. You know which we’ve kind of started to do as well. Like its one of those weird things where if you can put it in an email or something ahead of time as just a little footnote on contraindications of floating. Its one of the few conditions where I would recommend you not hop in a float tank at least until you get the okay from your doctor. Or flat out just get your ear tubes removed.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I mean, I could almost see it being an actual medical concern. Or at the very least a sanitation concern. You know that’s probably gonna be a very vulnerable spot. In terms of where the salt water is gonna go too and how its gonna interact with your body. To potentially give you like an ear infection or something like that.
Graham: Yeah and I guess were, I have no idea if there’s even different kinds of ear tubes or ones-
Ashkahn: Yeah there, I don’t know much about the specifics of them.
Graham: I mean I’ve heard horror stories from at least one other center. Besides this one and us too, of someone coming in with ear tubes and having exactly the same reaction-
Ashkahn: Yeah
Graham: So at least every time I’ve heard it in conjunction with float tanks this has been the story. And its been awful for everyone involved-
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So-
Ashkahn: So don’t be a newb reject the tube. I think is, that’s a saying you hear around a lot in the float industry and it’s justified.
Graham: Classic, yeah. Alright if you have your own statements you’d like to provide us or you’d like us to provide a question for head on over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast and well answer them or read them.
Ashkahn: Or whatever
Graham: Or just read them out loud.
Ashkahn: Yeah
Graham: Yeah We’re here for you guys.
Ashkahn: Were pretty much just sitting around waiting for you-
Graham: We’re easy
Ashkahn: So
Graham: Yeah
Ashkahn: Okay, well we’ll just be here until tomorrow so talk to you guys then.
Graham: Write in soon.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Best Insulation for Soundproofing – DSP 259
This is another fantastic episode that challenges the question on its face.
Graham and Jake (still no Ashkahn, unfortunately, but he is in the intro) talk about soundproofing basics and what type of insulation is a good idea for your float rooms. As it turns out, insulation isn’t doing much of the heavy lifting though, so soundproofing probably isn’t the highest priority when selecting insulation.
How to Make an ADA Float Room – DSP 258
Graham and Jake are in the studio again while Ashkahn plots his marvelous float industry event.
This time the guys are talking about how to make a float room ADA compliant. Lots of it is going to vary from state to state (and sometimes even city to city) but there are some useful tips and tricks for making sure you hit all the right marks for compliance when planning your build out.
Jake and Graham share construction ideas, ways to think about ADA requirements, and some fun stories about Float On’s own adventures in making their building accessible.
Best Quietrock for Float Rooms – DSP 257
While Ashkahn is off doing whatever it is Ashkahn does when not on the podcast, Graham sits down with Jake Marty the Float On construction guy (and co-owner of Float On), to talk about Quietrock.
Now before you rush to the Resources section to see which ones are best, this episode lays out the reason to use Quietrock, when (and how) to compromise for more affordable options, and where you may not want to use this when planning your build out.
Marketing to Older Demographics – DSP 256
Some communities have a much higher retiree population than others. It can be difficult to reach customers who don’t utilize social media as much, so how do you get their attention?
Derek and Graham strategize on how to market to the retiree community for float centers. This episode is filled with bingo jokes, rambling examples, and solid advice for reaching out to any demographic that may not spend a lot of time on social media.
Our Top 10 Marketing Book Suggestions! – DSP 255
Alright, this is a dense episode. Ashkahn is busy planning the Float Conference still, so Derek and Graham nerd out on marketing books (and blogs, and podcasts) to give the industry some of their top recommendations for marketing books that might be helpful for the float industry (or anyone, really).
Check the resource in this episode for links to all their recommendations!
Latest Blog Posts
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #20
We now follow the trail of our ancestors, Meriwether Lewis & William Clark, whose expedition started in St. Louis and would, eventually, lead them to Oregon – just like us.
Except, unlike them, we didn’t actually start in St. Louis, don’t have a tour guide from the Lemhi Shoshone tribe, and aren’t carrying flintlocks (except for Graham).
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #19
Chicago is home to one of the oldest float centers still in operation – SpaceTime Float Tanks.
We had the misfortune of timing our visit as they were moving to a larger location, the only time in 34 years that they have ever been closed. It is with great regret that we were unable to see their historic float center in operation.
They were trailblazers even before there were trails to blaze – so many float centers in the entire Midwest trace their roots back to a single float at SpaceTime.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #18
We made it back to America, everybody. It was a harrowing experience being in an uncivilized country where they think gravy and cheese curds on french fries is a meal but, thankfully, we’ve crossed the border back to a country where we know that chili and shredded cheese on french fries is a meal. Civilization.
Quite honestly, we might be in love with Canada. We’re definitely making another trip up there. For now, it’s about to MPH not KPH.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #17
We hosted our second Float Tour Workshop here in Toronto and stayed in town a bit longer than we normally do, allowing us to get acquainted with the city. The sprawling metropolis is an amalgamation of old world pioneering days and modern multiculturalism. It was founded in 1787, and some of the currently standing buildings pre-date even that. Ancient architecture stands next to contemporary monoliths, weaving a tapestry of antiquity and avant-garde in this fair city.
