Ear clearing question?

[SuSexFulDiver]

I have not dived yet, but I have bad allergies, so I often do sinus rinses and when I do them, it has an affect on my ears. So I get a lot of practice equalizing my ears without even diving. The sinus rinse works great at clearing out any congestion, and now im comfortable with water going up my nose. LOL

Check it out at

www.sinusrinse.com

 

[Richesb]

Clear early & often. Get in the habit now! As you dive deeper it gets easier if you practice. Early, often - don't force it.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Flatliner,
How did it go today? Can you hear me now? Seriously, let us know how it went.

During my open water certs, I came home almost in tears! I ate Advil on the way home from the lake like M&M's otherwise, I might have cried. My neck was killing me so bad that I didn't know if I would be able to get through the next day. I logged on
here at SB and some seasoned folks told me what I was doing wrong. It was nice to have someone to type to while I was waiting for the Advil, Ben Gay, and heating pad to kick in! This is a great place to get great advice. Welcome to the board.

Leah

 

[Jamie_r]

I used to have to take nasionx (i know i know)... before a dive and if not then i just couldnet equalize. to go down 10 feet it'd take along long time inch by inch. Then i learned a new way to equilize, pinch blow and at the same time swallow. hard to try at first but it works for me every time. I guess sometimes everyone is diffrent

 

[trucker girl]

Curious question on a tangent... since there has been very good advice given and we're all waiting to see how the next dives went...

I've had a cold over the past week and I'm pretty sure it's gone now- though I'm going to take 12-hr sudafed just in case anyway...
I'm here in Hawaii (FANTASTIC place to have a cold LOL) and getting ready to book my boat dives.

My question comes here: I've NEVER had a problem equalizing. But the last time I went diving at the quarry, we did 4 dives. On dive #4, my buddy thought I was saying I wanted to go up, so he started to ascend and I, being his buddy, followed. When we cleared up the misunderstanding (ha ha- get it? cleared up- oh, man, am I funny!) and went back down, I had a real hard time getting past 15 feet due to my ears. I haven't been diving since- that was a few weeks ago.

Any thoughts on what I can expect? Is it normal to have just ONE doozey and then no other problems? I know, I know- way too many factors to make a good guess and I'll have to see when I find out. I'm a little reluctant to pay all my money up front for 3 days of diving when I'm concerned I may have developed an ear problem...

 

[captain girl]

to the original poster: My daughter often has trouble equalizing. Try a squirt of nose spray before you dive, and remember to look up and stretch those eustachian tubes out as you clear. Equalize often.

To Trucker girl: My bet is, you do NOT have an ear problem. Sometimes equalization problems happen when I change depth frequently in shallow water. I can't account for it, but once it begins, I'm done. I surface for awhile and try again, but have never had problems on subsequent dive. Good luck!

 

[ScubaTrav]

What kind of nose spray? I don't have problems eq'ing...but my fiancee does.

 

[captain girl]

Any kind of spray that clears congestion...like when you have a cold. That ensures everything's open as it can be before you hit the water.

 

[Flatliner]

Hi Everybody, I am sorry I didn't post on Monday but I was traveling. Diving went really well on Sunday. I am now officially an Open Water Certified and Dry Suit Certified diver. I still found it difficult to clear my ears a couple of times but using the "adams apple bob" from the video worked about 200 times better than what I was doing the day before. My ears still hurt a little at the end of the day but not remotely like the day before. On a side note, two days later I think I might be coming down with a slight cold also.

Thanks for all of your help, you guys are awesome!!!

Robert

 

[Jamie_r]

Congrats! i am jellous of your drysuit though.

Welcome to Scubaboard , Ive found lots of help and great advice here and you will too