Nose Bleeds and Scuba

[mwilding]

I was in Hawaii recently and did my first dive to 100+ feet. I had some problems descending (ear pain), but eventually got equalized and had one of my best dives ever. When I came up, I had some blood in my mask. Not a lot, and a couple of sniffs and spits and I was all clear. I had a subsequent dive at less depth with no further issues.

Last Saturday, I had problems equalizing on one of my dives and experienced ear pain until I got things sorted out. When I surfaced, I had a nosefull of blood, but not nearly as bad as last time. Again, I had a subsequent dive with no issues.

Clearly, if I improve my equalization skills, I should be able to avoid this problem in the future, but I am wondering if there are any other issues here that I should be concerned with.

 

[MechDiver]

Whenever there is blood in your mask, you have issues. Whether they are meaningful or not can't be answered over a newsgroup. Go see an ENT and make sure your sinusus are okay, along with your ears. If you're having ear pain, you're not equalizing properly.

MD

 

[DocVikingo]

As this inquiry appears more related to diving medicine than "the scientific aspects of decompression," the focus of the Ask Dr. Decompression forum , I have taken the liberty of moving it here in the hope it will generate more responses.

Best regards.

DocVikingo