Done before I even began...

[MSilvia]

I am going to be snorkeling on vacation...I'm going to try to dive down as deep as possible and see how my ears respond.

Don't let it get to the point of being painful. Equalize the pressure in your ears early and often by pinching your nose and trying to exhale through it. It works best if you do it well before the pressure hurts.

 

[hecker-the-wrecker]

Did you call Dan yet? I've heard they can help when others say "no way". My step-son was told "no-way" due to asthma. Dan helped him. Give them a call. Don't lose out on something you might love. It sounds like you really want to dive. Good luck!!

 

[mempilot]

I have narrow eustachian tubes as well. I fly for a living, and dive every week on my days off. I have suffered a baratrauma to the eardrum in the past, but I just have to equalize more often during both activities.

Don't let one ENT tell you that you can't dive. Get another opinion, and do the pool test. The first 10-15 feet of a recreational dive is the biggest pressure change per depth.

Heck, if I can go up and down to 8000 feet (cabin pressure altitude) all day long and then come home and dive to 200+ feet deep by equalizing a lot more frequently than most, then I'm sure you might have that chance too.

 

[Kriterian]

I was told NO you will never dive after the Dr found out I had three sinuous ops,
I have now been diving 31 years. Get a second opinion.

I agree but would like to add something. Call DAN (the Divers Alert Network) at 919-684-2948 Mon-Fri 8:30am - 8pm EST. Ask them to recommend a diving ENT (or an ENT experienced with diving) near your area, then get a second opinion.

 

[lorien]

The weird thing was, I didn't even mention diving to him. I went to the ENT in the first place because I am going on vacation in a couple weeks, and I always have trouble on the plane. Last trip I took, my right ear was pressurized for about 50 hrs.

So I described the plane problem to him and outta the blue he said "Don't ever try to dive". I told him it was weird he said that because that was my next question.

I am going to be snorkeling on vacation...I'm going to try to dive down as deep as possible and see how my ears respond.

Just bear in mind that free diving down and trying to clear your ears is much harder than trying to do so when using scuba. In freediving you are holding your breath and looking for that next breath of air and you will have trouble maintaining any depth without either starting to float back up or going further down and that will mess up your attmepts to clear you ears. So do not despair if you have a problem with this as it is much easer when using scuba gear as you can stop at whatever depth you need to clear your ears and take your time while breathing to get your ears cleared. I think a 2nd opinion would be well worth it. I was worried when I first started that I would not be able to celar my ears.

 

[Firebrand]

I agree, get a second opinion by someone who actually dives!

 

[DET]

My heart is not text book perfect and when I spoke to a doctor about diving he said, "absolutly not, it will crush your heart". Well, I didn't persue it for 10 years after that. I got another opinion with doctors familiar with diving. And well, I wouldn't be here on this board if they didn't approve. (Crush my heart, sheesh.)

 

[boulderjohn]

I am going to be snorkeling on vacation...I'm going to try to dive down as deep as possible and see how my ears respond.

I suggest you do this in stages. Don't dive past the point where you feel pain. Go down as far as you can comfortably. Try to stay at the barely comfortable level as long as you can, hopefully long enough to try that nose pinch method (valsalva) described by someone else earlier. You will almost certainly have no success at all at first, and you probably won't get very deep. Be patient. Do it again. And again. Eventually, you will find yourself getting deeper, and the valsalva may suddently work, enabling you to go even deeper. Again, be patient. It will take you a while to get the results you are looking for.

Don't be a hero and dive with pain--it just makes things worse.

One thing that will help is improving your breath hold time.

One way to do that is to hyperventilate before you dive. This means breathing in and out very deeply at least three times before you dive. (Don't overdo it to the point that you risk blacking out!) The goal is to get rid of carbon dioxide, the buildup of which is what gives you the frantic urge to breathe. (Lack of oxygen, surprisingly, gives little warning.)

The other way to extend your dive is to dive gently, with minimal body movement. Begin your dive with a simple pike (90 degreee bend at the waist). Don't use your arms, and don't kick until your fins are underwater. Kick gently and casually while you are under water, swimming calmly with your arms folded.

If you eventually find that you can get down to 15-20 feet, then I think you should be able to dive. The first 15 feet are the toughest to deal with in a dive. Once your ears are equalized past that level, you can usually go to almost any depth without too much difficulty.

 

[StSomewhere]

I have narrow eustachian tubes as well.

I have been told that I have "kind of oddly shaped" eustachian tubes, Equalizing can be a challenge but you get better at it. I have to tilt my head from side to side or all the way back, but my ears do clear and then they are fine.

Add me to the "Get a second opinion from a diving ENT" camp.

 

[justleesa]

When I first started to dive my ears were clogged and couldn't hear a thing for days . I went to the doc and he told me my nose is too small and that he could preform a simple painful operation to correct that problem. Otherwise I could forget about diving

...I also got the famous 2nd opion and now have somewhere over 400 dives to my name. I have learned to equalize properly and now have no problem with clogged ears.

So ask around, call DAN, find a Dr that dives and see what they have to say! Good luck!!