Well, if you think about it, the largest proportional pressure changes are in the shallowest water!
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Yes, absolutely, this is possible, and given what you describe, you're probably right about what happened. You will want to develop some strategy for dealing with this--different people have different preferences. I also have allergic congestion, and I use long-acting decongestants on every dive day to facilitate equalization (and even on non-diving days like today when I wake up congested).Somebody earlier said they got vertigo from a reverse squeeze. Would this be possible to get in an 8ft pool? I have pretty bad congestion due to allergies. During my OW class, I was kneeling on the bottom of the pool (head was probably around 5ft max), we did our ascent skills and when I got to the surface I had extreme tunnel vision and dizziness. It lasted about 5 seconds (seemed like forever though). On later (slower) ascents, I could hear my ears equalizing. At the time I figured it was a minor reverse squeeze due to swollen nasal passages, but in less than 8 ft of water?
I don't know about vertigo, but if you can't hug yourself you can't very well expect anyone else to...
I have an doc appointment for next Friday. I'm going to get an RX for Flonase (sp?). I'm not sure, but I think it's some kind of steroid. It takes about a week of prescribed use to build up and have a noticeable effect for me. After that, just 2 squirts each nostril in the morning and you're good to go.Yes, absolutely, this is possible, and given what you describe, you're probably right about what happened. You will want to develop some strategy for dealing with this--different people have different preferences. I also have allergic congestion, and I use long-acting decongestants on every dive day to facilitate equalization (and even on non-diving days like today when I wake up congested).