Poll: Have you ever experienced a Reverse Block?

[adder70]

How about "I have been lucky and/or prudent and never had a block"?

I had 5-7 sets of tubes in my ears as a child (Yes, they were surgeries, and I don't even remember how many times we did it. That's actually scary!) so I am very careful with my sinuses and ears. Once you have used an ear popper as a child, you learn to pop your ears, or equalize, about 5 times a day. (BTW, an ear popper is a tube that goes in your nose attached to a hand squeezer. You put the tube in the nose and squeeze the bellows firmly, which breaks the blockage and causes unbelievable pain to the ears. :icon10: :17: If you have been really bad about letting your ears get to clogged, it can cause perforations in the eardrums.)

Even though I haven't had any real ear problems for over a decade, I still remember the ear popper and general ear pain I had so many times as I child, so I am very cautious when it comes to sinus/ear health.

 

[SCUBAMedicBill]

My sinuses are a bit screwed up to begin with, but I never got a reverse squeeze. Had problems at time descending, but, knock on wood, not during an ascent. Since I've always had problems I pre-medicate with allergy meds and possible sudafeds prior to dive and I keep Sinex spay in my bag. Having a reverse squeeze is one of my fears, and I hope I don't get one.

Bill

 

[Curly]

Had one ear do it a few times. I had some trouble equalizing on the way down both times, but eventually got them right. On the way up -- slooooooow ascents each time -- my ears would get right. One did, noisily, but the other remained "plugged" for a few days. Then, one day while bending over to pick up something on the floor, it cleared. Since those times, I've resorted to taking one-half of a sudafed about an hour before diving -- no problems at all.

 

[jeadiver]

but worse than the pain for me was the vertigo! Thought I was going to puke from the spinning. This happens to me almost every cold dive on ascent, so I have learned to take it easy, stop to let things clear, wiggle my jaws and ears and work at it to keep it smooth. I've never had one last much longer than a minute or so, and usually have more problems descending than ascending. Interestingly enough, by the time I get to the second (or third) dives, or on second days of dive trips, my sinuses and ears are clearing easier both ascending and descending. I guess they limber up when used (same as other stretching other muscles)

 

[Rick Murchison]

Don't know how to edit text in poll. If a moderator can spot it and fix, that'd be great.

done
Rick

 

[coberry7]

Had a reverse ear block at 60' on GC. I'd been diving with a cold. It scared the **** out of me as I thought it would be either my eardrum or my life. Hurt like hell. Luckily trying acending slowly, backing off, trying again, etc worked. I always keep enough air around to deal with something like that again.

I NEVER want that experience again.

 

[mempilot]

but worse than the pain for me was the vertigo! Thought I was going to puke from the spinning. This happens to me almost every cold dive on ascent, so I have learned to take it easy, stop to let things clear, wiggle my jaws and ears and work at it to keep it smooth. I've never had one last much longer than a minute or so, and usually have more problems descending than ascending. Interestingly enough, by the time I get to the second (or third) dives, or on second days of dive trips, my sinuses and ears are clearing easier both ascending and descending. I guess they limber up when used (same as other stretching other muscles)

You may want to go and see an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. Vertigo is caused by cold water entering the inner ear. The difference between the temps across the ears will cause vertigo. You may have a perferated membrane.

This happened to me back in October. The doc made me sit out for a while and it healed. No problems since.

I'm not a doctor, but if you're getting vertigo on every dive - something's not right.

 

[Cudabait]

Have had a few. Worst ever was in November in Honduras. Was OK to safety stop. Problem with both ears and sinuses. Pain was mild. The extreme vertigo that accompanied was a challenge. Good vis was great help. Few minutes on deck and it cleared up.

Regards,

 

[pt40fathoms]

The worst was reverse squeeze with my ears. It happened on the last dive of the last day on a trip. Whew, at least it didn't happen on the first dive of the first day. It came on without any warning. No cold symptoms, the previous dive was textbook, the surface interval was about 2 hours, plenty of fluids. As we were ascending at about 45 feet I felt a little sharp pinprick of pain, which steadily worsened as we ascended. Our plan was to check out a wreck that had run ashore that was within view of the deeper wreck, and ranged in depth from 30 feet to surface. This was what saved me from complete agony. We arrived at 30 feet with our tanks over half full and I signaled that I had a problem with my ears and that going up was bad. My buddy understood and we took our sweet time, running our tanks down to 500psi by the time we surfaced which took almost 40 min. The poking around the wreck at least kept it interesting, and the slow rise kept the pain from getting out of control.

I must have hurt myself somewhat, as I had problems equalizing for weeks after. Normally I don't even think of equalizing, it just happens by reflex, but for a few weeks I had to pinch my nose (valsalva maneuver), which is completely out of the ordinary for me. I didn't see a doctor, and probably should have; fortunately everything is back to normal.

 

[paolov]

yes several instances, though the established procedure on returning to your former level prior to pain works perfectly.

paolov