Ear problem ascending?

[sgj99]

i was having a conversation last night with my husband about our upcoming trip (roatan) and we started talking about different things and it made me want to come and get some opinions/suggestion from scubaboard. here's my situation: i hardly ever have ear problems descending and if i do i do a little pop-up, clear, go down, and repeat that pattern until i can get to the desired depth. i have trouble at the end of the dive on ascending. sometimes it's so painful i want to blow through my safety stop (but i don't). i've gotten to where i do the opposite of popping up (bouncing down a little), clearing, go up a little, clear, repeat. i'm curious: does this happen to anyone else? is there anything i can do? the only kind of medicine i take on a dive trip is maybe tylenol at night (and that's only if it's really needed) but i do take bonine. i don't think it's the bonine because it has happened when i didn't take it.

 

[Blackwood]

It happens to a lot of people, myself included on occasion. I don't think your medication has anything to do with it.

 

[Phil G]

Hi,

I've heard about reverse squeezes too, and felt them also.

In my case, it affected my inner ear: I've had so much equilibrium problems that I would not have been able to tell up from down in water and had lots of trouble walking. I had a bit of nausea too - painted the surface water with my last meal.

I found that swallowing by going up alleviates the problem.

Phil

 

[DivingPanda]

We actually just returned from an otherwise great week of diving in Roatan, except that Mrs. DivingPanda started coming down with a cold mid-week and ended up with a reverse squeeze, ultimately leading to a Grade 1-2 barotrauma that kept her out of the water for the rest of the week.

If this is a frequent problem for you, though, I'd suggest going to see a good ENT that is familiar with diving, especially since you say it's painful.