Vertigo... reverse block?

[fjpatrum]

I dove Rainbow river in Florida last week and had an interesting experience. At one point, over one of the springs I experienced some vertigo and shot from 12 feet basically to the surface. I had no air in my BC and my max depth for the whole dive was about 28 feet, I think. At the time I was trying to stay in the column where I wanted but the vertigo made it very difficult. I had plenty of visual references though I was looking into a small cavern when this occurred.

I've read a few threads where people experienced vertigo and think I remember someone attributing to a reverse block but it seemed to me the common theme there was blue water with no visual references.

I don't think I had any congestion issues and didn't experience any kind of pain in my ears. I've also never experienced vertigo in any other activity in my life.

Any ideas? I'm not looking for a diagnosis as I'm not worried about it but hearing what causes this kind of thing in other people may give me some ideas about it.

 

[ereediver]

I have the vertigo issue contributed to my ascent rate. My ears just cant seem to let the pressure out all that fast. I think of it it as my built in ascent monitor. Decent I does not happen. Visual reference is no help either.

 

[fjpatrum]

Yeah I was thinking the "shot up from 12 feet" might have been part of the issue... seems like the most obvious culprit in this particular scenario.

 

[TSandM]

Were you ascending when it happened? There is a phenomenon called "alternobaric vertigo" which occurs when the two ears equalize at different rates on ascent. The pressure difference causes a disparity in the orientation input from the two inner ears, and vertigo results. It happens most easily in the absence of visual references, because then there is nothing to oppose the erroneous information from the inner ear, but if the disparity is big enough, it can occur even with references.

Vertigo is scary underwater, because until you recognize it for what it is, it often results in loss of buoyancy control. Feeling that you are spinning or tumbling can cause you to try to control the movement, and the kicking or flailing that results can drive you upward, where expansion takes care of the rest of the ballistic ascent.

Did you have any difficulty equalizing on that dive? Was the profile in the river a sawtooth one, with multiple ascents and descents? That can set you up for slower or asymmetric equalizing.

Sorry this happened to you. As someone who has battled vertigo underwater from day one, I empathize -- it isn't fun.

 

[lowtech]

I have experienced this problem several times.

Each time it was in relatively shallow (< 20 fsw) water with decent surge.

I'm almost certain it's an equalization issue, as I have a problematic ear.

The manifestation goes something like this.
Towards the end of a dive our group will hang out at 10 - 15 fsw
in a small kelp clearing.
Upon approaching this spot the surge will intensify,
and I'll find myself feeling like i'm in a washing machine.

I'll freeze my position in the water and exhale as much as I can,
a couple of seconds pass, and my problem ear crackles and whistles.
Once my ear equalizes, the world instantly snaps back into place.

After dealing with this, I just anticipate the problem with a little jaw wiggling,
and I can stay ahead of the equalization issue
before I feel like I'm arse over tea kettle.

 

[cloudflint]

I used to get dizziness ion ascent in the 6-7 meter range. Then i had a cold and couldn't dive for a few weeks and on my first day back i blew a lot of rubbish out on ascent and ever since then ive not had a problem with it

If I recall there is a wee hole in the bit of the inner ear that handles balance. If one ear is a little clogged up it can take longer for the air to come out one side resulting in a feeling of spinning round.

 

[fjpatrum]

Were you ascending when it happened? There is a phenomenon called "alternobaric vertigo" which occurs when the two ears equalize at different rates on ascent. The pressure difference causes a disparity in the orientation input from the two inner ears, and vertigo results. It happens most easily in the absence of visual references, because then there is nothing to oppose the erroneous information from the inner ear, but if the disparity is big enough, it can occur even with references.

Vertigo is scary underwater, because until you recognize it for what it is, it often results in loss of buoyancy control. Feeling that you are spinning or tumbling can cause you to try to control the movement, and the kicking or flailing that results can drive you upward, where expansion takes care of the rest of the ballistic ascent.

Did you have any difficulty equalizing on that dive? Was the profile in the river a sawtooth one, with multiple ascents and descents? That can set you up for slower or asymmetric equalizing.

Sorry this happened to you. As someone who has battled vertigo underwater from day one, I empathize -- it isn't fun.

Yes, the dive was a sawtooth, the river depth varies significantly throughout the drift from ~2 feet to about 25 feet depth. I often have issues clearing in the shallower regions which I'm sure contributed to this. Luckily I knew it for what it was and didn't have any difficulties with it once it passed, at most 5-10 seconds after onset. I didn't fight it much because I was in shallow water but it was disorienting and I was definitely a good 8 or 10 feet higher in the column as a result.

There was no obvious clearing/popping/crackling of either ear when it cleared, though, which is something I've come to expect while diving. My ears always squeak and make noises when clearing.

During the dive I was trying to figure out what initially caused the ascent and subsequent vertigo (or vice versa) and the only thing I came up with is I passed over a spring with high flow, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

Thank you for the typically helpful answer, Lynn!

 

[Kenny13]

Interesting topic. My son has had a few instances of vertigo on dives and they seem to fall into some of the things talked about here. They happend upon ascent from shallow dives, and where visibility wasn't very good. Also, he seems to have some trouble with equalizing at times which appears could have contributed even though he didn't have problems (that he knew of) on those particular dives.

 

[Hank49]

Were you ascending when it happened? There is a phenomenon called "alternobaric vertigo" which occurs when the two ears equalize at different rates on ascent. The pressure difference causes a disparity in the orientation input from the two inner ears, and vertigo results. It happens most easily in the absence of visual references, because then there is nothing to oppose the erroneous information from the inner ear, but if the disparity is big enough, it can occur even with references.
.

I've experienced this. I didn't know there was a name for it. Thanks Lynn. About 9 months ago I started having trouble clearing my left ear after multiple free dives (25 or so in a day). On ascending I would get almost dizzy as my left ear would clear more slowly than my right. Not much you can do on ascent from a free dive. You have to go up.
But I've found that keeping thoroughly hydrated helps a lot. I don't drink coffee (avoid the diuretic property) on dive days and gulp as much water as I can every 45 minutes or so.
If it does start to clog, I take a decongestant.

 

[CamG]

Greetings Fjpatrum this sounds familiar I an glad you are ok.
If any symptoms persist form this incident you might want to consult with your ENT.
I have had several incidents like this usually on the ascent in midwater around 10'-12' my world literally goes spinning!
So far it has only lasted no more than a minute or so but I have also learned to ascend very very slow and it has been a long time since I adopted this practice.
I also keep very horizontal with my head in the same position on my ascent.

I do not do vertical descents or ascents anymore and I really have had little trouble with it after committing to this.
I have had ear issues but slow ascent rates and being very vigilant on my preventative allergy / ear care has made great differences in my personal diving.
When training new divers the seesaw profiles can be very unfriendly to ears and it is strongly discouraged.
Ears require good care and slow ascent and descent rates.
I have learned this through many not so pleasant experiences but my ENT is awesome!

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!