Question Is it normal that I don't need to equalize?

[Barmaglot]

I got certified about five years ago, and initially, I was equalizing like most everyone - pinch my nose and blow into it. However, at some point, during a liveaboard in the Philippines, I got congested after a few days of diving and found myself completely unable to equalize. Fortunately we were near Dumaguete and there were a couple other divers on board with ear problems, so we took a ride to a local hospital where a doctor saw me and prescribed some medicine - don't remember what it was. After another day, I was able to equalize again, albeit with significant difficulty - I was blowing into my nose with every little depth change, both up and down, and I could hear squeaking inside my head as air was getting forced from one cavity to another through barely-there openings. Fortunately, after a week or so, this cleared up completely, and ever since then, I found myself not needing to equalize at all anymore. I can drop like a rock from surface to thirty meters, or seesaw between twenty-five and five meters as I'm chasing down a photo subject, and all I feel is a tiny hint of pressure in my ears that immediately releases by itself with a barely audible puff. Am I just fortunate, or could this be an early sign of some other problem?

 

[Degenerate]

Always been able to equalize passively, except for during spring when I am congested beyond belief due to pollen allergies.
Large dose of cortisone the day before a dive and that problem will be gone, not a huge fan of doing it that way but god damn it works better than anything else available.

 

[scubadada]

I'm also lucky to have auto-equalization . The only times I have had to actively equalize was with significant congestion. I have taken pseudoephedrine a few times in more than 2,100 dives

 

[TMHeimer]

You are equalizing, just not the way that you use to do.

Yes, you're doing it internally without realizing it. Like what I do.

 

[Hojo in SC]

I too use to equalize by pinching my nose and (gently) blowing but then realized I didn't need to, just simply swallow or move my jaw just a bit. It is very similar to when I am riding my motorcycle at speed in the mountains, I have no issues whereas my wife, she struggles to equalize.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yawn (not underwater...) and hear the crackling sound. That, I believe is you equalizing. Now hold that position. It will muffle your hearing. This I believe is how equalizing internally happens without any other motions.

 

[Jimchris]

Unless I'm recovering from congestion/cold/etc. I very rarely need to actively equalize/think about needing to. Repetitive dives in relatively shallow water (think warm water vacation) my ears/sinuses will start to give me grief. Maybe its my body saying its time for a shower, food + drink, and a hammock

 

[chillyinCanada]

Wrong thread post. My apologies to all.

 

[dmaziuk]

Fortunate, but don't count on it. If I dive a lot my ears seem to equalize themselves, if I can't dive for a month or two, I have more of an issue equalizing until I get re-habituated. Equalizing is acquired trick.

My ears pop at a "slight puff" or when I wiggle my jaw, always have, but there was this one dive in a local lake where I had a painful squeeze in the top couple of feet. Completely out of the blue, never happened before. And I was wearing a hood, too.

So @Barmaglot don't get complacent.

 

[dmaziuk]

brane fart, wrong reference, nothing to see here

 

[Blackcrusader]

I'm also lucky to have auto-equalization . The only times I have had to actively equalize was with significant congestion. I have taken pseudoephedrine a few times in more than 2,100 dives

for the last 20 years I have lived up in the mountains. On occasions I drive up to around 8000 to 10000 feet altitude and back down to lower altitudes. I too auto equalize and even when I am driving to the city at sea level I do notice that I equalize quite a bit. I do believe it helps me for diving as I never need to worry about it.