Delayed chronic dizziness after freediving

[ishuyi]

I went freediving on 17th September (Sunday) and it was a little more intense than my usual. I was practicing being a safety diver so I had low surface interval times. I equalize Hands Free and did notice, as usual, my left ear equalizes more slowly compared to the right.

It was fine and I went home, but the next morning, I woke up to dizziness. This dizziness happens with quick movements to my right. And it felt like motion sickness when I am walking. It generally feels worse when I'm off balance, like carrying a bag on my left side. But when I'm motionless or focused, it doesn't affect me.

When I did statics closing my eyes, I felt like I was rotating on the water in an anti-clockwise direction at a consistent comfortable rate. But yes of course I wasn't moving at all. The next static, I kept my eyes open and there was no spinning.

The dizziness did seem to reduce, though still there, and I went for another dive yesterday on the 30th of September (Saturday), almost 2 weeks later. There was no issue descending on my first dive, but when I ascended, I experienced a full-blown vertigo, like I felt the world spinning around me. But remembering my pool experience, on the second dive, I intentionally kept my focus on the line and told myself I was not spinning, and thereafter I experienced no more vertigo in the water and continued my dives as usual.

When I got out of the water, miraculously, I felt my land-based vertigo completely cured. There was no more heaviness in my head or loss of balance when I tilted and moved to my right.

Yet this morning when I woke up, I felt mild dizziness return to me. When I lie on my right side and close my eyes, felt motion sickness. But again opening my eyes and focusing helps me. Though again there's this dull heaviness in the head. And dizziness when I move around.

Has anyone ever experienced similar freediving induced delayed chronic vertigo/dizziness/loss of balance/disequilibrium? And has any suggestions on what is happening? And how possibly to prevent and treat this?

The ENT specialist told me what I have is not BPPV and gave me Betaserc to eat.

 

[xristos]

That's scary, hope you get well soon, take care !

 

[SubSub]

I have experienced intence cases of vertigo on a few occations, and that is not a pleasant experience at all! I was sittning on a chair but had to keep hold of the table not to fall off!

Maybe nothing of value to you, but I know how you feel and hope the best for you!

 

[ishuyi]

That's scary, hope you get well soon, take care !

thanks xristos!

 

[ishuyi]

I have experienced intence cases of vertigo on a few occations, and that is not a pleasant experience at all! I was sittning on a chair but had to keep hold of the table not to fall off!

Maybe nothing of value to you, but I know how you feel and hope the best for you!

thank you SubSub!

 

[hteas]

You probably got enough mucus in your middle ear that the estachean (sp) tubes got blocked. That leads to infections in the middle ear and the dizziness you experienced.

 

[Texstralian]

I’ve had the same issues in get past. Happened to me after freediving most days when I lived in Maui. Seems to have all started after being sick with an upper respiratory infection and diving anyway. Seemed like I would dive for a couple of hours and when I would get out I would have fairly severe dizzyness and fatigue that would last the rest of the day and would generally resolve by the following morning. The problem is this still seems to happen when I dive, now 10 years later, though less severe. I have had an MD look me over, ears, etc, and nothing has stood out. He said I should try doing a nasal steroid and Zyrtec before a dive. I’ll try next time. If no help, I’m headed to the ENT.

 

[ishuyi]

I’ve had the same issues in get past. Happened to me after freediving most days when I lived in Maui. Seems to have all started after being sick with an upper respiratory infection and diving anyway. Seemed like I would dive for a couple of hours and when I would get out I would have fairly severe dizzyness and fatigue that would last the rest of the day and would generally resolve by the following morning. The problem is this still seems to happen when I dive, now 10 years later, though less severe. I have had an MD look me over, ears, etc, and nothing has stood out. He said I should try doing a nasal steroid and Zyrtec before a dive. I’ll try next time. If no help, I’m headed to the ENT.

How has your diving and vertigo been? Do you have equalisation issues? What you have described seems to me more like acute barotrauma, rather than the delayed onset vertigo that I experienced.

 

[ishuyi]

I am going to write here what I believed actually happened to me just in case anyone else experiences something similar and is looking for answers. So what happened was I had an intense day of freediving and no barotrauma or any acute injuries to my ears. But something was amiss with my sense of balance. And I started developing vertigo that lasted a few months, most intense the morning after that dive and gradually improved over the months. It was always worst the first thing when I woke up in the morning.

I believed I had a case of "inner ear decompression sickness". During that dive, I was rapidly ascending with very little surface recovery intervals and putting my body under a lot of stress, even though I was doing shallow dives of less than 18 meters. I want to write down what I think I had because few people think decompression sickness can happen to a recreational freediver, and what more a mere (panicky) beginner. But I hope a case like mine can help people keep an open mind and even conduct more research on this.

So how am I today? Here's an update from me. Looking back, I felt that I had permanently "damaged" one of my inner ears from that day's of diving. And luckily it was only one ear. I spent many months relearning how to balance. Taking yoga classes and being in many weird positions and staying in them while the world spun around me, helped accelerated my relearning of my balance. I think by the end of last year, after 4 months, I was mostly back to normal balancing function. Though I still had to relearn how to regain my balance after watching a movie in the cinema as well!

To avoid this: Be careful when you have pressure, fear and panic during diving causing you to rapidly ascend and quickly descend without adequate rest.

If you unfortunately developed this: No, contrary to your intuition, lying on your bed to rest and avoiding normal life is not going to cure your vertigo. You have permanently tilted your sense of balance and what you really need is time to relearn and regain your sense of balance. The tip is to not be afraid when you feel giddy or the world spinning. Tell yourself that nothing is really spinning and if you stay there long enough, the spinning will stop. Make use of your mind and other senses to teach your brain what is reality, because the balancing instrument in your ears at the moment cannot be trusted. Remain calm and give yourself time.