Dry Equalizing Over-Training?

[bolts]

I guess if you push hard enough, you could cause your eyeballs to pop out..........blood, unreal.

Guys, it's not torrents of blood I'm talking about here. I just found a few mornings after I woke up my left nostril had a bit of dried blood in it, and when I blew my nose it was a bit bloody. Since then I've taken a break from practicing and my sinuses have improved somewhat.

As for BTV...well...let's be honest here, that isn't happening to me anytime soon. If I can master the Frenzel technique I'll be happy. If it's a matter of bursting my eardrums or pinching my nose and blowing, I'll pinch my nose and blow.

My guess is that since I've been concentrating on the left ear mainly, it may have over-aggrevated the left sinuses, as suggested.

 

[LubaScuba]

Guys, it's not torrents of blood I'm talking about here. I just found a few mornings after I woke up my left nostril had a bit of dried blood in it, and when I blew my nose it was a bit bloody. Since then I've taken a break from practicing and my sinuses have improved somewhat.

As for BTV...well...let's be honest here, that isn't happening to me anytime soon. If I can master the Frenzel technique I'll be happy. If it's a matter of bursting my eardrums or pinching my nose and blowing, I'll pinch my nose and blow.

My guess is that since I've been concentrating on the left ear mainly, it may have over-aggrevated the left sinuses, as suggested.

If your ears buzz while yawning you seem to have all what you need to easily learn the BTV...well you still need the will to learn it. It is actually easier than believed. BTV is more difficult to teach than to learn and that is the reason it is not widely thaught in formal diving courses. Why is it so difficult to teach? Well... because it is hard to explain how to move some parts of our body i guess. Try to explain in words how you move your head. "Well, kind of...just do it!" type of instruction is certainly not going to teach even the most gifted student. But does that mean that moving the head is difficult? No! (Ask any pingpong referee for second opinion if you don't believe me!) Thatswhy i think that instead of trying to explain to someone how to contract some deeply hidden muscles, self teaching should rather be used. Self teaching by learning from one's own reflex movements that already involve the action of those muscles. Yawning! That is the name of the game. You can learn BTV the best way from your own yawning! And what a cheap and patient instructor is that! Ok,ok...why bother with BTV in the first place? Especially if one is not professionally interested in diving so 'hands free' is not that important issue and eventual long term effects of minor abusement of ears by non pro divers (ie less than zillion dives per year) does not seem to be a threat neither. The point is: divers who have problems with equalizing can actually benefit most from mastering BTV as in vast majority of cases problems are functional and not anatomic. Just 'pinch and blow' would hardly open anybody's Eustachian tube without difficulities. People who do 'pinch and blow' and it works easily for them are actually interpolating (often subconsciously) a discrete faringeal muscular action which seems to make all the difference. People who can't inflate are often unable to do so because there is no 'faringeal support'. The BTV simply further develops the mastery over those faringeal muscles usually used only as a part of reflexes (ie swallowing, yawning...). To practice it safely use the line to descent slowly and controlled. Descend until small pressure is felt in ears, stop and then try to induce the yawning. Imagining a yawning hippopotamus might help. As yawning kicks in (Hmmm, try not to lose your regulator :snore: ) shortly exhale in the mask. Cleared? Excellent! Not cleared?...well how about relaxing and trying it again?... You see, it is easy. After a while you'll notice that you actually don't need a 'hippopotamus' and yawning at all. All you need to do it is...."Well, kind of... just do it!"...and the rest is legend.

PS One more thing. BTV does not cause PFO opening as Valsalva manuever does. The study which showed that short and gentle Valsalva is not going to open the PFO could be of no help when stresses of an actual dive start to affect the skill. (If you are OK with pinching the nose you are absolutely right to switch to Frenzel. Frenzel's great advantage over Valsalva is that it is 'stress-dose' proof. Experienced divers should therefore respect the great Italian anatomist Antonio Maria Valsalva mainly for his other achievements and let him rest in peace.)

 

[bolts]

I have to agree, stuff like BTV is very difficult to teach, but is probably something one just "stumbles upon" after trying it for a while. Frenzel is kind of like that if you try and follow the Eric Fettah tutorial he has. It's just difficult to interpret what he means in some of the steps, and I suppose it better to learn just by trying it out, if that makes any sense.

 

[sindrulf]

If your ears buzz while yawning you seem to have all what you need to easily learn the BTV...

Wow. I now manage to pressurize my middle ear everytime i yawn. I raise the soft palate while yawning and blow out with my nose. The eustachian tubes are opened so much that I do not need to hold my nose to force air through. However, I need a powerful yawn. When I try to immitate a yawn straight afterwards, nothing happens. How can I succeed in doing the BTV without yawning?