Ear / Sinus Squeeze

[soitstorms]

Hi there -

I was on my 12th dive (ever) and my first of this vacation, and I didn't equalize often enough on my descent. I had pain in my right ear, ascended some and was able to clear without a problem. During the dive I had no trouble, but I felt like there was some water in my nose. As I ascended my ears had trouble equalizing at first, but wet clear by the time I had my gear off. It was then I discovered that it was some blood and mucus in my nose / mask. I never felt any sharp pain in my sinus cavity. My nose stopped bleeding very quickly, it is only uncomfortable to the degree of feeling like I had water in my nose. My right ear still feels some very minor discomfort about an hour later. I had a lot of ear infections as a child due to allergies so there is some scar tissue on that eardrum. I would like to continue diving this trip, is this an awful idea to give it another shot tomorrow?

 

[Mouse51180]

Just reading your post. Cover my butt statement.. I AM NOT A DOCTOR. THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION..Now that we got that out of the way. Im curious if you continued to dive or not. The nosebleed could have been from your mask riding up on your face and pushing against the lower part of your nose. I dont suspect that this would have been due to your ear issue. I had several ear infections as a child when I was growing up as well..

My next set of questions would be if you currently or recently have had any allergies or cold\flu symptoms before you left on your trip and what was your dive profile for the dive you went on? Depending on the discomfort of your ear after the dive later in the day...if it was not too bad, I probably would have gone diving the second day, but planned for a shallower dive to test it all out. If it bothered me at all...I would have canceled at that point.

Should probably hop in to just get a quick check out by a real doctor anyway... just to be safe.

 

[GlennL]

Scuba Dive Nosebleeds (Sinus Squeeze) — Medical Dive Article — DAN | Divers Alert Network

I experienced the same issue. I attributed it to sinus congestion because a had a head cold a few days before. I kept diving with no ill effects. Should I have sought advice of a doctor? perhaps. but I don't run to a doctor for every little thing. Perform your own risk analysis and make a decision based on you and your what you are comfortable doing and not doing.

 

[Bubblesong]

Is there a "Doc in a Box" walk in clinic nearbye that can check you out? Worth the money to be safer. you have a lifetime of diving ahead! So protect your health for all those future dives.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Lots of discussions like this over on the Dive Medicine forum too. You might want to do a bunch of reading. But if at all possible, seeing a doctor would be ideal.

By the way, how hard do you squeeze your nose when equalizing? Sometimes new divers squeeze so hard that they break tiny blood vessels in their nose.

Remember, equalize early and often. Equalize in your room before the dives (gently the way you would on an airplane), on your way to the boat, on the boat and again just before jumping, start equalizing as soon as you hit the water. Keep ahead of a squeeze. Equalize gently, early and often.

 

[Resqdivemedic]

I had the same problem along with a constant popping and muffled hearing in one ear after the dive. Saw a doctor that night and found out I had an ear infection I didn't even realize I had.

 

[TotDoc]

As a doc, I can say there are several things that can get you a nosebleed in that context. I can also say that going to a doc in the box is NOT the best way to sort out what happened, nor the best way to determine if it's safe for you to get back in the water.

Urgent care docs are rarely up to date on diving medicine, but most docs are pretty aware of liability related to their advice. I would be willing to bet that most would tell you not to dive, because even though they don't know what happened to you, they don't want the liability of having you get hurt by something they don't know much about, and then have you come back after them for giving you the go ahead.

I think a much better plan is to give a call to DAN (Divers Alert Network). They are a great source of good advice for stuff like this. And FYI - if you're not already carrying their insurance, you should talk to them about that, too.

 

[Bubblesong]

. I can also say that going to a doc in the box is NOT the best way to sort out what happened, nor the best way to determine if it's safe for you to get back in the water

A local medical clinic to treat symptoms, and tell the guy, "no diving today buddy", while on vacation and contemplating diving again day after injury is WAY better than continuing to dive with these symptoms just because he feels since he is already there, and already spent the money.... He certainly can call a dive specialist as well, although that may not be immediately available wherever he is vacationing.

 

[TotDoc]

A local medical clinic to treat symptoms, and tell the guy, "no diving today buddy", while on vacation and contemplating diving again day after injury is WAY better than continuing to dive with these symptoms just because he feels since he is already there, and already spent the money.... He certainly can call a dive specialist as well, although that may not be immediately available wherever he is vacationing.

Please reread my post. I never advocated skipping the clinic because they are more likely than not to tell him not to dive. In fact, please consider the flip side of going to a doc in the box. They may look at him, see no currently treatable issue, and tell him diving would be fine, even though there may be potential problems. Now he's encouraged to go diving by someone who really doesn't have the proper info regarding the potential problems he may have.

I advised that he call DAN for advice if he has questions about his safety. It's a stronger move than seeing a doc who likely doesn't know much about dive medicine, or polling an online scuba website.

But on that note, if he was able to get online and post this question after his injury, I bet he'd have been able to make a toll free call the dive medicine experts at DAN. Who knows, they may have advised he to go the doc in the box, too... But I bet they'd give him additional information, too.

Also note that the timing of my post occurred at a time after which he had already gone diving.. Or not. This was meant as future advice, not advice for this particular instance.

My formal stance: if access to DAN advice was unavailable, and I was concerned that I may have an injury that would be impacted by diving or would prevent me from diving safely, is that I simply wouldn't dive.

I'll happily get treatment for any minor injury or illness at any medical professional, but when it comes to getting advice from someone that doesn't know much about dive medicine regarding my ability to get back in the water safely, I'd rather ask someone who does dive medicine.