common cold

[Z Gear]

If you have a cold and fly the chances are pretty good that it will get worse once you land. Probably a good idea to see how you feel the next morning and if you are not up to par do other fun things in Hawaii. There is plenty to do and places to visit. Try surfing or if you want to see sea life go snorkeling! Its still a lot of fun.

 

[dmaziuk]

If you have a cold and fly the chances are pretty good that it will get worse once you land. Probably a good idea to see how you feel the next morning and if you are not up to par do other fun things in Hawaii. There is plenty to do and places to visit. Try surfing or if you want to see sea life go snorkeling! Its still a lot of fun.

If you're on the big island, watch the sunset from Mt Kea. You'll have to do that before you dive anyway -- or after your 24-hr no fly period.

 

[NateS]

Yep! We are indeed going to Big Island. We'll land, have dinner, sleep, hike Pololu Valley at sunrise, go up Mauna Kea just before sunset and do stargazing, sleep, then leave at 7am for our first 2 boat dives. The next day we relax in the morning and do an easy twilight dive and a manta ray night dive. The next day we relax, no diving. The day after that we have 2 boat dives in the morning and a blackwater dive at night. We're super excited!

 

[dmaziuk]

go up Mauna Kea just before sunset and do stargazing

:envious: Take dinner with you and eat it at the visitor centre on the way up. They have hot water and instant coffee and miso. Take at least an hour before you continue up. They'll close the gate when it gets dark even though there's still plenty of sun up top, you need to time it so you go up from the visitors centre while it's still light down there. On the way back they'll let you out at any time, of course, and they should have telescopes out at the VC unless there's cloud cover. Oh, and take all your warm clothes with you.

 

[NateS]

We'll do a guided tour, just to make it less stressful. They drive us up at the right time, feed us while we acclimate to the altitude, provide parkas, telescopes, etc. It's going to be super cool! I just hope the weather cooperates.

I went to OW class yesterday. I hoped there wouldn't be any problems since the pool is 14 ft max and the entire time I've had my cold it has never stopped me from being able to equalize. Also the cold was maybe 90% gone, I felt good enough I didn't even feel the need to take a Sudafed before class. Descending to 14ft / 4.2m was mostly fine, though on one descent it took a little longer to equalize. When we did fin tip pivots my head was very near the floor of the pool and I felt some pressure on my ears, but it wasn't painful. I always ascended slowly and had no problems there.

After class my right ear hurt a little bit. It's now been 14 hours and it still hurts. It's a mild ear ache and the pain feels like it's coming from the ear drum. I've had a bad ear ache before (not from diving) and that was a horribly intense stabbing pain, but this is much more of a dull ache, though still localized at the ear drum. I'm still able to equalize just fine. I also have a light headache, but I get those sometimes so I'm not sure it's related. I took Sudafed but it didn't seem to help. I used a neti pot and my sinuses seem to be clear, at least from one nostril to the other. The cold is very close to being gone.

Google seems to think the ear ache is either from equalizing too frequently (having a cold, I was hyper aware and equalizing a lot) or that I had a blockage in my sinus that couldn't be equalized, so the trapped air expanded and injured something.

I have another OW class tomorrow. I hope the ear ache is gone, but either way I'll tell the instructor I want to take it easy. Maybe I can stay at 7ft or less.

 

[chadmeister]

Good Luck!!

 

[NateS]

Thanks!

I came across this video: https://youtu.be/sXx3S74XPhY

He explains anatomy and different techniques to equalize. He looks into ears live and explains things. It helped me understand better how the ears work and how to equalize correctly. Anyone can equalize, it's just a matter of proper technique.

Now I know exactly why my ear hurts: I descended without equalizing and the water pressure pushed the ear drum into the malleus (hammer), bruising it. Hopefully that is the extent of the damage. I don't have hearing loss, just a bit of pain.

I know how it happened too: my equalization technique has been to open my Eustachian tubes, which I can easily do at will, but what I failed to do is force air through the open tubes. Usually just opening them is enough, but I should have had better technique. I heard the crackling sound of the tubes opening but equalizing didn't happen. I'm sure in the past I was blowing, but it's been a long time.

 

[vincent54]

Yesterday I did 2 deeper colder water(48 degrees)dives with a cold. We stayed above 80 feet. I felt good enough to go, could clear ears, and used some afrin nose spray. Dives went well until I finished the second dive. I was wore out. Normally I climb out without taking the gear off, but this time I decided to take BC off in water, just plain fatigued. Guess what? I forgot I was wearing 14 pounds of weight. I shot to about 10 feet before taking belt off. Went down so quick I really had a sore ear. Amazing how you can't kick without fins. Moral of the story is to DON'T dive with a cold and keep the BC on until you shed the weight.

I am not sure the fatigue was from the cold or the afrin, but truly was in a daze. Cheers