Bubblewell
Registered
I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I would really appreciate some advice on how to improve or change what is happening when I equalize. Before I describe the current problem, I will fill you in with a little background information.
I started the PADI open water training in pool last September. As I had suffered hypertension 12 years ago, I had a medical with a recognized diving doctor who is also an experienced diver and no problem was found. So I started with the course. The first session was a disaster so I just got to swim underwater and they gave me another session after to do this. I then passed the next 3 modules in consecutive sessions, practiced the 3rd again, then completed the 4th and 5th in the next 2 lessons. Over the course of 3,4 and 5, I noticed that I wasn't equalizing so well so began practicing my technique in the free time at the end of sessions after the skills. My ears were taking a couple of days to feel 'unfilled?' after each dive.
There was never a time when I thought I really hadn't equalized, until in 5 I had to ascend quite a bit to equalize then re-descend. I felt comfortable at this point. However, as I was kneeling on the floor with all the gear off, at a point I could not ascend, I felt and heard 3 quick vibrations in my ear followed by what felt like bubbles escaping. Each vibration was accompanied by a split second of pain but there was no further pain. Even so, I completed the parts on the surface and called the rest of the session.
By this point my ears felt a constant fogginess and it didn't go, so I visited my GP. It turned out I had a throat infection probably for 3-4 weeks (possibly due to a dirty swimming pool), which was news to me as I could feel no swelling or soreness. This had caused blocked eustachian tubes, inflamed the blood vessels in my ear canals, built up fluid behind my ear drums and caused a slight displacement of my left ear drum. I took a course of anti-biotics, a million lozenges to create negative pressure in the eustachian tubes and drank a lot of steaming drinks. This cleared the throat infection but I required an extra dose of Otosporin drops. Basically, with regular check ups, I waited from Mid October to Mid January to resume diving once all the inflammation and fluid had gone and the ear drum was back to place.
So now I descend very slowly on all occasions, equalizing every couple of feet:
Valsalva Maneuver - This isn't working for me after about 6 feet but no matter how gently I do it, I break my mask seal under the nostril.
Frenzel Maneuver - I can do this, just sometimes it is hard to keep breathing for a couple of seconds which I know is a problem. The more immediate problem, is that no matter how gently I do this, it causes a negative pressure in my mask and water sucks in to my nostrils. From then on I get a light mucous, which makes equaliazing more difficult. This week I reached a point where I was trying to clear my mask and just one nostril was clear to do so, so I just waited at the surface for the session to end (I'm just practicing buoyancy etc on my own now until it is warm enough for open water check outs). I try Tonybee too but this is causing the same problem.
The mask I use is Oceanic Shadow. The fit is great out of water, it sticks to my face like a hoover. None of the instructors seem to understand what is going on. I put this down to my first time in the pool where I couldn't mask clear due to breathing co-ordination. Since this point everybody seems to think that my problem is that I get a residual amount of water in my mask and don't like it and I get the impression people think I am exaggerating as an excuse to cover for this. I have changed the strap to a silicon one and this has helped a little. I CAN handle residual water in my mask, this isn't a problem in it's own right, just when I try to equalize when it's there. Obviously there is no way I can go to much deeper depths in the open water check outs if I can't equalize correctly.
The last thing I need is to be out of the water for months again, I just can't figure out what is happening so I can rectify it?
I started the PADI open water training in pool last September. As I had suffered hypertension 12 years ago, I had a medical with a recognized diving doctor who is also an experienced diver and no problem was found. So I started with the course. The first session was a disaster so I just got to swim underwater and they gave me another session after to do this. I then passed the next 3 modules in consecutive sessions, practiced the 3rd again, then completed the 4th and 5th in the next 2 lessons. Over the course of 3,4 and 5, I noticed that I wasn't equalizing so well so began practicing my technique in the free time at the end of sessions after the skills. My ears were taking a couple of days to feel 'unfilled?' after each dive.
There was never a time when I thought I really hadn't equalized, until in 5 I had to ascend quite a bit to equalize then re-descend. I felt comfortable at this point. However, as I was kneeling on the floor with all the gear off, at a point I could not ascend, I felt and heard 3 quick vibrations in my ear followed by what felt like bubbles escaping. Each vibration was accompanied by a split second of pain but there was no further pain. Even so, I completed the parts on the surface and called the rest of the session.
By this point my ears felt a constant fogginess and it didn't go, so I visited my GP. It turned out I had a throat infection probably for 3-4 weeks (possibly due to a dirty swimming pool), which was news to me as I could feel no swelling or soreness. This had caused blocked eustachian tubes, inflamed the blood vessels in my ear canals, built up fluid behind my ear drums and caused a slight displacement of my left ear drum. I took a course of anti-biotics, a million lozenges to create negative pressure in the eustachian tubes and drank a lot of steaming drinks. This cleared the throat infection but I required an extra dose of Otosporin drops. Basically, with regular check ups, I waited from Mid October to Mid January to resume diving once all the inflammation and fluid had gone and the ear drum was back to place.
So now I descend very slowly on all occasions, equalizing every couple of feet:
Valsalva Maneuver - This isn't working for me after about 6 feet but no matter how gently I do it, I break my mask seal under the nostril.
Frenzel Maneuver - I can do this, just sometimes it is hard to keep breathing for a couple of seconds which I know is a problem. The more immediate problem, is that no matter how gently I do this, it causes a negative pressure in my mask and water sucks in to my nostrils. From then on I get a light mucous, which makes equaliazing more difficult. This week I reached a point where I was trying to clear my mask and just one nostril was clear to do so, so I just waited at the surface for the session to end (I'm just practicing buoyancy etc on my own now until it is warm enough for open water check outs). I try Tonybee too but this is causing the same problem.
The mask I use is Oceanic Shadow. The fit is great out of water, it sticks to my face like a hoover. None of the instructors seem to understand what is going on. I put this down to my first time in the pool where I couldn't mask clear due to breathing co-ordination. Since this point everybody seems to think that my problem is that I get a residual amount of water in my mask and don't like it and I get the impression people think I am exaggerating as an excuse to cover for this. I have changed the strap to a silicon one and this has helped a little. I CAN handle residual water in my mask, this isn't a problem in it's own right, just when I try to equalize when it's there. Obviously there is no way I can go to much deeper depths in the open water check outs if I can't equalize correctly.
The last thing I need is to be out of the water for months again, I just can't figure out what is happening so I can rectify it?