Constant Headache after my first dive

[unocat]

Maybe this is related to diving and someone can help. I have a very light persistent headache that comes and goes but is monstly there most of the time in my front left or right temple area.

I was in Costa Rica last week and had the opportunity to dive with one of those intro to diving courses. I had always wanted to dive so I did it.

After a very brief course on hand signals and using the equipment we went out for a dive. The first dive was aborted after about 15 feet because my girl firend was sea sick from the rocking boat. I did not know they aborted and was lost sight of every one so I just put a little air in my bcd and floated to the surface... My left ear felt like air bubbles were coming out of it and made a wierd noise. No one ever told me how to ascend so I just did what I thought was right. Ok now the second attempt was successful and I spent about 30 minutes at 20 feet(meters? not sure it said 20 on my guage). It was cool although my left ear was killing me during the decent and took a long time to equalize every few feet. I acended correctly but there was no safety stop due to the shallow depth.

The next day (precisely 27 hours later) I was in a NatureAir (cosat rican) small plane flying from liberia to San Jose for about 1 hour at about 10000-12000 feet with little to no cabin pressure. My bag of plantain chips exploded at alttitude and my bottle of coke shrank to half it size on landing. The last three days in costa rica I had this headache and the last four days back in texas I still kind of have it.

Is this related? Did I screw myself up and have a slight decompression symptom?

Thanks,
Marshall

 

[timle]

Its most likely not a decompression symptom but you should call DAN.

Sounds like a possible barotrauma in your ear(s). You should equalize your ears before you feel any pain. You should seek an ENT doctor. My ears make noise as I ascend that is the sound of the air coming out of them.

Normally you dump air from your BC and swim up to surface, as your rise in the water the air in your BC will expand providing more and more lift as you go higher. This can result in a runaway ascent that excedes recommended ascent rates. This is why you dump in your BC while surfacing. Then immediately inflate on the surface.

Hope all is well and you recover full. Prehaps you liked scuba enough to seek certification? Anyway have fun and be safe.

 

[RumBum]

Unocat,
This does not sound like DCS but it does sound like you messed up your ear. I am guessing it feels like a headache b/c it is probably a problem with the inner ear. Divers call the noise you heard a squeeze. You may have an infection there and should go see a doctor.
Diving a second time when you were having ear problems might not have been such a great idea. Doesn't sound like the instructors you went with did a very good job with the training. My humble opinion is go see a doc, have them get a good look at the ears, and if you plan to dive more in the future then take a full length course at home.
Good luck!

 

[Baachus]

Err on the side of caution when it comes to your health and you'll probably not only live longer but better.

 

[Xanthro]

Also, many people on those types of dives do not breath properly, and this can cause long lasting headaches as well.

You didn't equalize your ears properly on either dive, not your fault, nobody told you how, the plane trip did not help at all, you spent a good deal of time down on your second dive, so your breathing may have been off.

All this can lead to a major headache. Like others said, go see a doctor as a precaution because you may have hurt your ear.

 

[unocat]

Cool (or not cool depending on how you look at it).

I'll have my doc friend stick his magical light in my ear today and report back what he sees.

Thanks to all!
Marshall