Diving congested

[MobileMike]

How do you pre-pressurize your ears?

Thanks.

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"

 

[Tim GGD]

I broke my nose a long time ago, so naturally I have sinus problems.

The best advise that I can give is the day before you dive, start equalizing your ears the same way as if you were diving. (I call it warming up your ears) If you can't equalize both ears the day before your dive DON'T DIVE.

 

[drdaddy]

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.

First of all - don't dive with congestion!!! This video will help you understand the damage you can do to yourself.

This video covers things like "pre-pressurizing" and all kinds of things one can do to help with equalization.

This is a board certified dive physician who is a scuba instructor giving a lecture/video on equalizing. I clicked the first choice/streaming video:

Doc's Diving Medicine Home Page

drdaddy

 

[ligersandtions]

How do you pre-pressurize your ears?

Thanks.

Same way you would equalize while diving. I just plug my nose and blow gently until I feel my ears pressurize. You can try other techniques like Frenzel, but I just use Valsalva because it's simple and works for me.

 

[Scubagolf]

For minor congestion, I often use Sudafed. You need to make sure the timing is right so that it does not wear off before the end of the dives. If there is really significant congestion, I don't dive. It is not worth the risk.

 

[BellaBeachGirl]

Thanks everyone. Some of you had some really gross stories! I ended up feeling better by the weekend, not 100% but i didn't feel congested. We did 4 dives that day and the 3rd dive my nose was running and all stuffed up but I just blew it for like 10 mins and felt fine again. I wouldn't have gone if I was still congested, I definitely would not have wanted blood coming out my nose! I had told my husband that and he understood. I had a bit of a problem equalizing on my way down, like a ringing sound in my ears, like a squeak. But it didn't hurt, all the same I went up a few feet and started equalizing again. My dive instructor said to equalize every two breaths even if you didn't feel you needed to, but I know myself, I have to equalize constantly. Is that just normal for some people or maybe I have some kind of sinus condition?

 

[dpaustex]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone been diving just after doing a sinus rinse? I feel like I can equalize, although my sinsuses have drainage (minor amount). I am doing the nasal flush, the drainage isn't "green" (bad sign for infection), and seems to be on the mend.

But back to the original question: has anyone been diving (like on a vacation) while actively managing a sinus issue? The results?

 

[Hatul]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone been diving just after doing a sinus rinse? I feel like I can equalize, although my sinsuses have drainage (minor amount). I am doing the nasal flush, the drainage isn't "green" (bad sign for infection), and seems to be on the mend.

But back to the original question: has anyone been diving (like on a vacation) while actively managing a sinus issue? The results?

The salt water will drain from the nose for about an hour after a sinus rinse, so you may want to rinse at least an hour before diving.

Adam