Something I use when my ears become "busy" right before a dive (happens sometimes) and makes my equalization harder - the trick is, equalize early and often.
What I do is, as soon as I hit the water, I don't let any pressure build up, I descend very slowly and keep two fingers on my nose, on an avarage I think I equalize 3 times in each feet, it sounds like tick tick tick tick... the whole time. by the time I'm at 60 (which takes about 60 seconds like that), my ears are fine, sinuses are fine and I just try not to play with the depth too much.
Again, like everyone says, don't dive while sick, don't hold your breath and do yourself a favor, find a way you can equalize quicker than usual, I've found that sometimes when I'm already at depth, needing to equalize again (hey cool fish!), trying the whole combination of all the tricks, helps, twisting your neck, head up, head down, fingers, blowing in, blowing out, I once even "cleared' my nose into the mask (and then rinse it underwater - those sunblocks are nasty to the eyes), all to avoid a possible reverse block.
Be careful, any mistake with these can render your ears useless for 3 months (and then diving not possible).. or at least thats the warning I got when I wanted to dive with a very mild cold.
EDIT: I just noticed I completely changed the subject, but the whole point was once you're equalizing very quickly, that second doesn't exist, each 'tick' takes a lot less then a second, once the pressure is built, it can take 2-3 seconds of gentle blowing to equalize.
What I do is, as soon as I hit the water, I don't let any pressure build up, I descend very slowly and keep two fingers on my nose, on an avarage I think I equalize 3 times in each feet, it sounds like tick tick tick tick... the whole time. by the time I'm at 60 (which takes about 60 seconds like that), my ears are fine, sinuses are fine and I just try not to play with the depth too much.
Again, like everyone says, don't dive while sick, don't hold your breath and do yourself a favor, find a way you can equalize quicker than usual, I've found that sometimes when I'm already at depth, needing to equalize again (hey cool fish!), trying the whole combination of all the tricks, helps, twisting your neck, head up, head down, fingers, blowing in, blowing out, I once even "cleared' my nose into the mask (and then rinse it underwater - those sunblocks are nasty to the eyes), all to avoid a possible reverse block.
Be careful, any mistake with these can render your ears useless for 3 months (and then diving not possible).. or at least thats the warning I got when I wanted to dive with a very mild cold.
EDIT: I just noticed I completely changed the subject, but the whole point was once you're equalizing very quickly, that second doesn't exist, each 'tick' takes a lot less then a second, once the pressure is built, it can take 2-3 seconds of gentle blowing to equalize.
