Diving congested

[DiverBizz]

I caught a cold during my OW class. In the middle of January, outside pool blah, blah. I had read all the info. and knew that diving was a no-no but this was the pool dives, not deep or open water. I had slight sinus congestion but no runny nose or anything. My first slow descent equalizing and all hurt like a ..... I missed the open water dives with my class because of severe earache. Just be careful, I had to make up my dives by myself.

 

[bmrwizard99]

I seem to have some trouble almost every time I dive. I find it hard to equalize usually but after taking my time, asending a little, fighting hard I'm ok. One thing I've noticed is that water rarely enters the outter cavity of my ears so if I turn my head so my ears are vertical on each side, it allows that air to clear and then I have much better luck. In general, I use Sudafed just before hitting the water and things are ok (although rarely easy). I have dove one time with a minor cold before and had a small reverse block / blood on resurface. Now, if I have even a little congestion, I simply DON'T do it. Not worth it for the class or for the risk to yourself.



JMO

 

[ligersandtions]

I seem to have some trouble almost every time I dive. I find it hard to equalize usually but after taking my time, asending a little, fighting hard I'm ok. One thing I've noticed is that water rarely enters the outter cavity of my ears so if I turn my head so my ears are vertical on each side, it allows that air to clear and then I have much better luck. In general, I use Sudafed just before hitting the water and things are ok (although rarely easy). I have dove one time with a minor cold before and had a small reverse block / blood on resurface. Now, if I have even a little congestion, I simply DON'T do it. Not worth it for the class or for the risk to yourself.



JMO

Try pre-pressurizing your ears. It has really helped me. I used to struggle to get down to 30 feet (it would take me like five minutes, when everyone else could pretty much just drop straight down).

Anyways, pre-pressurizing my ears has been my little "trick" and has helped immensely. On the day of a dive, I pressurize when I wake up (make sure they're all good to go), again on the way to the site (maybe a couple times), while I'm gearing up, on my surface swim, just before my descent, and just after my head breaks the surface of the water....and then as needed on my descent.

It has really chanaged my diving and people rarely have to wait on me anymore. Give it a try and see if it works for you. I find that it works WAY better than the Sudafed trick, which I tried for a little bit before I discovered the pre-pressurizing technique.

Gives new meaning to "equalize early"

 

[GatorJoe]

Here's the problem- I have stuffy sinuses, not really a stuffy or runny nose, sometimes it is but mostly I can breath just fine. But i can feel it in my face, and I sound nasally. My husband and I are planning on finishing out AOW dives this weekend. It's really important for him because he's in the military and he goes away A LOT, and it's hard for his schedule to match up with our instructors, and mine. If we don't get this done this weekend, we can't until mid-march. He's deploying in less than 6 months, and really wants time to dive. We're the only ones in our class, so it's not like he can go without me. I want to go too, but I'm not stupid and I know diving with congested sinuses sounds like a bad idea. So how bad is it really to dive like this? Will I just be uncomfortable or could I do harm to my ears and sinuses? I've read that it's harder to equalize, but I could take my time... Please give me some advice from experience if you have any. I want to hear the truth. Thanks everyone.

:sos:

my open water cert was quite interesting. lots of delays due to scheduling and vacations etc...when i finally went to take the OW test, i had a stuffed up nose....breathing the scuba air actually helped. not sure why but my instructor said he's heard of that before. maybe cause it's clean air? anyway, over time i got worse and worse. i was chugging cough syrup like mt dew...i finished and went home and slept for 18hrs...didnt even shower..just collapsed on the bed. i woke up, took my temp causei was having chills, turned out i had a temp of 104...

 

[highdesert]

This is a chronic problem for my wife, who has very unusually shaped sinuses. There is a prescription nasal spray called Flonase that works great for her. Use it for a few days prior to diving, and every day of diving. Stuff is not cheap, but works great for her. She's never missed a dive since using it.

 

[Hatul]

Here's the problem- I have stuffy sinuses, not really a stuffy or runny nose, sometimes it is but mostly I can breath just fine. But i can feel it in my face, and I sound nasally. My husband and I are planning on finishing out AOW dives this weekend. It's really important for him because he's in the military and he goes away A LOT, and it's hard for his schedule to match up with our instructors, and mine. If we don't get this done this weekend, we can't until mid-march. He's deploying in less than 6 months, and really wants time to dive. We're the only ones in our class, so it's not like he can go without me. I want to go too, but I'm not stupid and I know diving with congested sinuses sounds like a bad idea. So how bad is it really to dive like this? Will I just be uncomfortable or could I do harm to my ears and sinuses? I've read that it's harder to equalize, but I could take my time... Please give me some advice from experience if you have any. I want to hear the truth. Thanks everyone.

:sos:

Question is what's the cause? If it's allergic rhinitis you may want to use Nasocrom or steroid nasal spray on a long term basis. If the problem is in your sinuses and it does not clear up it could cause problems with diving.

You can always try taking an oral Sudafed and Affrin Nasal Spray an hour before diving and make a test dive.

Adam

 

[wreckchick]

I had a really bad sinus infection that I was having problems kicking and I had a couple vacationing open water students and could not find anyone to cover me, so I dove. I had problems equalizing on the way down and coming up got a massive reverse block in my sinuses. I felt the fine bones in my sinus cracking as I ascended, got a black eye and was in intense pain for about three days.

Not worth it.

Rachel

 

[stanw]

What types of food can cause one to get more congested?

What types of food can help alleviate congestion?

 

[TimAZ]

What types of food can cause one to get more congested?

What types of food can help alleviate congestion?[/QUOTE

Getting tested for food allergies is a good idea. A good short answer though is to lay off the dairy for a week before diving. A lot of us are just a little lactose intolerant. Milk is natural to drink if you're a very young cow.

 

[MobileMike]

If you are congested and have a hard time equalizing through your nose, why not just wiggle your jaw?