Equalizing/sinus/ear problems......HELP

[Whiskeytrain]

I love diving, however, I have trouble with equalizing my left ear. I’m sure it’s a result of a sinus issue. When I do finally equalize, I have ear discomfort and while ascending, I start getting vertigo about 5 feet before hitting the surface. In the past, I also have had small amounts of blood in my mask. I try and take Sudafed the night before I go and it seems to help somewhat. Even free diving yesterday, I was having problems with equalizing my left ear in 12ft and was getting vertigo upon ascending. I am hoping someone on here has had these problems and I am interested in hearing what you did to resolve them. Whether it be an ENT visit or a procedure being done. I am super frustrated I have these problems and as a result, I don’t enjoy diving too much and do not go very much. I also have the same ear trouble when flying.

Hoping to find an ENT doctor who dives or is familiar with diving problems.

Thank you for any input.

Matt

 

[TripleA]

I love diving, however, I have trouble with equalizing my left ear. I’m sure it’s a result of a sinus issue. When I do finally equalize, I have ear discomfort and while ascending, I start getting vertigo about 5 feet before hitting the surface. In the past, I also have had small amounts of blood in my mask. I try and take Sudafed the night before I go and it seems to help somewhat. Even free diving yesterday, I was having problems with equalizing my left ear in 12ft and was getting vertigo upon ascending. I am hoping someone on here has had these problems and I am interested in hearing what you did to resolve them. Whether it be an ENT visit or a procedure being done. I am super frustrated I have these problems and as a result, I don’t enjoy diving too much and do not go very much. I also have the same ear trouble when flying.

Hoping to find an ENT doctor who dives or is familiar with diving problems.

Thank you for any input.

Matt

I had very similar issues when I first started diving and feel your frustration and pain. I talked with a ENT while I was getting my ears checked after a day of diving and luckily he and his wife were divers and his wife had issues with her ears as well. He suggested Sudafed about a half hour before the dive and nasal spray just before entering the water. This helped but I still had some discomfort. I continued working through any techniques I learned about. What I really think helped was just going very slow and equalizing throughout the entire decent. I would get blood in my mask as well but that was from equalizing to hard. The more dives I got under my belt the better things got. With practicing equalizing techniques and slowing way down on ascent and decent I was able to work through it. No I can decent head first at the same rate as my buddies without any ear issues and no more blood in my mask. Good luck getting it figured out and I would try to see a ENT get checked out and ask for their opinion!

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Good call on seeing an ENT. Hopefully you can get that done soon.

As @TripleA said...slow down your descent and ascent rate. “Listen” to what your ears are telling you. Stop for a second and let them “catch up” to you if you have to.

When ascending...take your time coming up from your safety stop. You don’t have to shoot from ~15’ to the surface like a rocket.

I did three dives this past Saturday. I had no issues dives one and two. Dive three, I had to take extra time to descend, as my ears just weren’t clearing as fast as they normally do. I stopped for ~5-10 seconds a handful of times on my way to 96’ and was good to go for the remainder of the dive after the last brief stop.

 

[AustinV]

I used to have a ton of issues with my ears, the ears seem to "learn" over time how to equalize properly, but definitely don't force it. The things that helped me mainly to the point where I very rarely ever have an issue anymore:

-Equalize before the dive. If I am doing a shore dive (less often) I will equalize several times while I am getting my gear ready. If I am on a boat dive I will equalize every 10 minutes or so on the way out and at least once right before I splash. Could be in my head, but I feel it kind of primes the ears.

-On descent when equalizing try different positions. I have found I can equalize easiest on the left side (right clears instantly with even slight pressure) by rocking my head all the way to the left side then back to center/right. Everyone is different so there may be a certain position for you that helps.

-Remember the saying "equalize early and often" - focus on the early part. Equalize on descent before you feel you need to, I may even equalize 3-4 times in the first 15 feet. May be excessive but there's no harm and I would rather not deal with reascending to ease pain. Be patient and don't rush to the bottom, your ears will clear.

 

[Belzelbub]

Good advice so far.

ENT is a good idea to make sure there aren't underlying issues.

Equalize well in advance of your dive. If you can do it a few times in the day or days before your dive, that can help to make it easier during the dive. Also, if you run into issues during the dive, ascend, and try again. Also try changing your orientation. It's often a lot easier to clear in a head-up orientation than head-down.

 

[BlueTrin]

I have often a runny nose due to allergies. I don’t know if you have the same problem but I rinse my nose with either water or a spray like Sterimar to clear my nose prior to the dive (like when I wake up on the day of the dive).

If my nose is bunged up it is sometimes harder for me to clear it. However this problem disappear soon after a few minutes in the water as water gets in my nose and loosen anything blocking my nose.

I am not very experienced but I second other people advice: don’t wait to have pain or that you need equalising, descend slowly and equalise often.

When you go back up same thing: ascend slowly.

 

[gr8jab]

Flonaise + Ibuprofen + sudafed + prednisone

I can equalize without touching my nose

 

[wnissen]

The Divers Alert Network is absolutely the place to start for help finding an ENT.
DAN: Divers Alert Network - Scuba Diving and Dive Safety Association

If you read around, diving with equalization problems can cause severe pain, hearing loss, balance loss, and worse. I would not dive unless you can properly equalize. I also would be wary of taking medications without a doctor's supervision, especially since if the nasal spray wears off mid-dive you could get a painful reverse squeeze.

That said, you sound a lot like me. Difficulty equalizing, vertigo on ascent, slight nosebleed when diving deep. Regular Valsalva equalization did nothing for me, but like @AustinV said, turning my ear to the sky really helped. Slow ascents really helped. That takes good buoyancy, which can be hard when you're struggling with vertigo.

The main thing is to listen to your body, though. Sure, it's frustrating to have to ascend multiple times to equalize when you see your buddy plummet to the bottom seemingly without effort. But your limits are your limits.

 

[Whiskeytrain]

Thanks for the advice guys

 

[chillyinCanada]

I was pleased to see Bezelbub has already given you some of the advice that I often offer.
Indeed, practice ckearing your ears in the days, hours and minutes before your dives. (The way you would on the airplane, waggle your jaw,vyawn with your mouth closed etc., do you hear your ears open?)

Also, are you taking 12 hour Sudafed?

As others have said, take your time on the way down as needed. Turn the ear that won't equalize to the surface, now stretch out your neck, take your index and middle finger and rub down from below your ear, tip back of jaw, and pull those fingers down along your neck moving towards point of collar bone.

As has also been said, once you've completed your safety stop, practice rising as slowly as you possibly can to the surface. Try to keep your ears open as you ascend.

Hopefully, these insructions will make more sense when you're next back in the water.

Of course, you should still see an ENT.