Equalizing-holding breath

[freediver]

I apologize if this question is stupid or absurd but something I read on another thread made me think about it.:shakehead :shakehead

The first rule of diving is never hold your breath/close your airway. How can you not hold your breath while tryng to clear your ears?

It is virtually impossible to equalize using any technique available, without momentarily suspending your breath. I believe the key is to focus on the equalization that works best for you and become proficient in that technique, ensuring that your airway stays open at all times.

 

[Jasonmh]

... If you are holding your breath for whatever reason and simultaneously being yanked upwards by the movement of the boat in the waves, it could force gas into the arterial side of your cardiovascular system and could potentially result in an arterial gas embolism (AGE). This precise scenario is suspected in the recent death of a diver...it is not a purely hypothetical probability.

... It isn't holding their breath that kills them...its the bubble that can occur as a result on the wrong side of their cardiovascular system and then expand in their brain as they ascend that kills them. It is not a non-issue at all. He was 35 years old and a good guy, and we buried him two weeks ago...

Doc

Sorry to hear that Doc. Is what you are talking about holding your breath while ascending? Or is it clearing (valsalva) or something else in conjuction with a PFO, that lets a bubble pass without hitting the lungs? Are there other ways to get a bubble to the wrong side of the cardio system without a PFO?
Thanks.

 

[TheRedHead]

I believe he is referring to a deco stop where you are pitched up and down by surface waves. Since you are trying to hold a certain depth with breathing, I can see how this could happen. You can ameloriate the bouncing by using a jon line.

 

[Jasonmh]

I believe he is referring to a deco stop where you are pitched up and down by surface waves. Since you are trying to hold a certain depth with breathing, I can see how this could happen. You can ameloriate the bouncing by using a jon line.

Yes, I see what you mean.
After reading the phrase "wrong side of the cardiovascular system", I started wondering about the ways a bubble could make it to the wrong side, besides a PFO that is.

 

[ClayJar]

The easiest way for a bubble to get to the wrong side (besides a PFO) would probably be for the bubble to be coming *from* your lungs in the first place. Barotrauma leading to direct injection of gas into the veins leaving your lungs would send said gas the long way around before it ever got back to the lungs.

Never hold your breath, but if you must use a breathing-incompatible ear-clearing maneuver, certainly don't suck down as much gas as your vital capacity allows and then hold that breath. Breathe normally; don't take an extra-deep breath, as your inspiratory reserve volume does provide at least some cushion... from a purely physics perspective, that is. I am *NOT* a practitioner of any medical discipline, of course ( "consider a spherical horse in simple harmonic motion"), so do what the docs tell you.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Clay Jar and Red Head are correct.

So is Freediver.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a medical doctor either.)

Just be aware of the issue, and be situationally aware of your circumstances the entire time you are underwater (clearing your ears or otherwise).

Dive safe,

Doc

 

[miketsp]

Hold your breath equalizing in a second....
please give me advice how you equalizing..thanks

On practically every exhale while descending I momentarily squeeze/hold my nose while exhaling both through my nose and mouth.
The key is to not let the pressure difference build up.
By anticipating the equalisation it is easier and faster and I don't have to force anything.
I just tried it while looking at a chronometer and my equalisation time is something between 1/2 second and 3/4 second.

I personally have a lot of difficulty equalising in a head down position but I can equalise easily in a horizontal position provided my head is angled at least 30 degrees up.

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
Most divers hold their breath momentarily when they perform a valsalva to clear their ears, and as Miketsp stated is generally for less than a second...but recognize that it is NOT a non-issue, and that divers have potentially died from holding their breath, even for very short periods, while diving.
..snip..

To qualify what I said, as it may not have been quite clear, I considered that a less than 1 second pause during exhale is a non issue.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Thanks for your adviced

On practically every exhale while descending I momentarily squeeze/hold my nose while exhaling both through my nose and mouth.
The key is to not let the pressure difference build up.
By anticipating the equalisation it is easier and faster and I don't have to force anything.
I just tried it while looking at a chronometer and my equalisation time is something between 1/2 second and 3/4 second.

I personally have a lot of difficulty equalising in a head down position but I can equalise easily in a horizontal position provided my head is angled at least 30 degrees up.

 

[mudchick]

Thanks all for your insights. I guess it wasn't as dumb a question as I'd thought. I was a bit embarrased to ask which is why I did it here.