Blood in phlegm

[dtdesola]

I guess this is a bit disgusting, but as I'm a little concerned about it, I thought I'd go ahead and post.

Yesteday I went diving on what I'll call a series of shallow dives in New England. A series because on several occaisions, about three, I surfaced in order to discuss the balance of the dive with my dive buddies. The dive was about 21' maximum with most of our time spent around 15 feet.

Upon surfacing for the last time, I spat out the junk that had collected in my nose. I noted to my horror that some of the sputa was red. I am confident that this was coming only from my sinuses/nose and not from my lungs.

Some things to mention. Submerging was a little less than ideal yesterday as I was unable to sink by simply releasing air out of my wings and descending. Rather I had to go head first and gently kick. I noticed my right ear hurt a little but quickly stopped after the usual nose squeeze and head roles I do to equalize.

This morning I blew my nose fairly hard and it began to bleed. At first I thought I was going to have a serious problem because the blood seemed to be coming heavy and thick, it was dark too, not the typical bright red of a nose bleed.

During the day I've felt a bit light headed.

I was wondering if any of the above registered as something someone's heard of before, and what if anything I should do.

Thanks for your input.

 

[DarkWaterDiver]

David, I too had a similar experience this past saturday in 32ft of water. I noticed equalizing my ears was difficult as I went down and did feel a little pain in my left ear which eventually moved to my right ear. When I came up I felt dizzy and noticed blood/phlegm in my mask. When I got on the boat my dive buddies told me I had the same mess coming out my right ear.

I'm not sure what caused this, but I was advised it may the start of a cold causing this disruption in the sinuses. I was advised to take sudafed non-drowsy 2 hours before diving ( I know they don't recommend this ) to help dry it up some. My ear continued to pop for a couple of days and just today has stopped.

I know this isn't much help but just wanted to share this with you. Good luck,

Tim

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Nose bleeds are not that uncommon and seem to result from a sinus squeeze.

Blood coming out of your ear is definitely not normal, DarkWaterDiver, and I strongly encourage you to have this checked out by a doctor before diving again.

 

[WaterWayne]

Although my case was not as severe as yours, I also noticed reddish phlegm after diving. After reading some of the ear-related advice on this board, I very much eased off pinching-and-blowing for equalization, and that cured the problem. The advice was that too many divers blow too hard.

 

[fmerkel]

Nose bleeds and bloody phlegm indicate sinus squeeze (assuming no otherwise more serious lung truama). The phlegm is from post nasal drip with blood in it.

Blood out the ear is indicative of a ruptured ear drum. This could be from pressure squeeze OR from aggressive clearing. Either one can exceed the bursting pressure of the ear drum.

There is nothing wrong with the time honored and easy "pinching-and-blowing for equalization". The problem is when it is done too late and too aggressively. Clearing should NEVER be hard or painful. If it is you've waited too long. Go back up until you can clear easily or scrub the dive. Don't dive if you can't clear. Near the surface clearing needs to be done about every 2 feet, 4 feet is too much and at 6 feet the eustachian canal closes up and needs excessive force to open-enough to damage the ear drum just by clearing.

If these are common problems a consultation with an ENT should be sought. Good review of clearing methods would be worth reviewing.

Fritz Merkel
Sinus sufferer. I know how it feels.

 

[fmerkel]

Addendum: the dark red blood from the next morning is the old blood from a squeezed sinus cavity draining. Be watching for infection (fever, odd drainage other than the old blood, malaise). The sinus is damaged and more prone to this. A couple of days of Afrin and pseudofed with help with the drainage and healing.

Ear clearing and sinus clearing are often related but don't have to be-they are separate spaces but often respond to the same problems (colds, allergies, etc.). Even though it was a shallow dive the first 30 feet goes through the biggest pressure swings. I've locked up and gotten sinus and ear squeeze that I couldn't clear in as little as 6 feet and knew it was coming at 4. I scub a dive like that knowing the biological apparatus is just not up to the task.

Power diving if you have sinus or ear issues is not a good idea. Being upside down aggravates the issue. Inversion puts more blood in the nasal and ear mucosa capillaries and makes them swell more.

Fritz

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

you might want to check this sight out too has some good info on it too.
http://www.proear2000.com/pages/table.html#Anchor-Ear-5993