Depth Training Question

[Merit]

Greetings Folks,

First let me say this site is amazing I have learned more in 1 hour than I do in a month of weekend warrior diving.

And now to my question.

I've been diving both Saturday and Sunday for the past month. Initially staying in the shallows and just enjoying the view. I have great friends who have been diving for 4 or 5 seasons now who are excellent at letting me learn at my own pace.

The past two weekends I have been working on my depth diving. Initially 12 to 15 feet, now I find myself in 25 to 25 foot deep water. I typically stay out for 1.5 to 2 hours each time we go out. And something I've noticed while doing depth training is I'll have blood in my saliva. Being slightly startled at first I asked my friends if they had experienced this before and they said no.

I'm wondering if anyone could explain to me the possible causes of this, I feel no pain no headaches or anything like that. No recent ear infections or sinus/cold issues. I guess I should mention I do smoke which may and likely does add additional possibilities.

-Merit

 

[cdavis]

Only a guess, but it could be from your sinuses. How much blood? How easy is equalization for you? Are you straining to clear? Some, fairly rare, divers don't seem to have much feeling in their ear drums and can rupture them without much warning. That is the only thing I would worry about. Otherwise, in that depth and having no feeling of discomfort, you are unlikely to be doing anything seriously bad. I'd suggest keep very close attention on how your head, ears and lungs feel, and clear frequently. Back off if you feel any discomfort.

Hmm, just saw the smoking part. That does nasty things to your lungs. Ordinarily, lung squeeze, or other lung damage would be an extremely remote possibility at that depth. Not sure for a smoker. Maybe someone else can answer that one.

Connor

 

[tylerz]

Merit, do you find that you only notice the blood near the end of your session? Do you find you are struggling to equalize or hold your breath significantly more near the end of the session?

I have often had blood in my saliva as well, in trace amounts, generally after sessions where I was diving aggressively and often finding equalizing getting more stressful. The depth did not matter. I have determined, that it is almost certainly from somewhere along the oral airspace or above. I began watching myself and noticed that as I get tired I also start straining more with my tongue against the back of my throat and my oral airspace has become less moist. I suspect that this is causing more friction at the back of the throat and mixed with the pressures being exerted is causing micro tears or bursting capillaries back there. I also noticed I was easily getting infected with viral colds at this location, more often than normal it seemed. This stopped happening as much when I lost my snorkel I believe. I just recently purchased a snorkel and noticed how dry my throat gets. It gets dry without but not quite as easily.

Maybe try taking freshwater with you, to rinse your mouth between dives. Try to relax your tongue and epiglottis while diving and equalizing. Pay attention to what it feels like in your oral airspace as you progress throughout the dive.

Another thing you can try, if it is from pressure in the oral airspace or the nasal airspace, is to learn how to perform continuous equalizing. This will maintain equalized pressure in the airspaces and therefore may minimize strains throughout the airspaces. When you equalize momentarily and then wait to equalize when your ears require it again, there is opportunity for strain to occur in areas of your airspaces for various possible reasons.

 

[Merit]

Thanks for the input guys. Equalizing for me is tricky. Every day we go out I spend likely the first 30 minutes relaxing and just getting used to diving and feeling the pressure, following this equalizing gets easier. Besides, the occasional bad pop. (I am not sure what else to call it when one of your ears doesn’t clear properly)

The blood is just trace amounts, I only notice it when I'm back on the beach trying to get my heat levels back up. I was coughing up a considerable amount of phlegm, (which has always been normal for beach going) however this time it was pink not dark red or anything but just enough to warrant the question being asked. I failed to mention that I do not dive with a snorkel; the more training I can give my lungs the better I'll do in the future I suppose.

 

[kronek67]

Sorry about such a late reply, I just came across your post. I have known people with the same problem. It sounds like the blood is from your sinuses. Witch can be caused by force clearing. Try equalizing a little sooner than normal for you. If you wait until it hurts, its too late. Even if you don't have the need to clear your ears, you may still need to clear your sinus cavities. In most people, they clear automaticly. Some people need to clear them the same as their ears. I went diving yesterday, and was having sinus problems before I ever got in the water. I normaly clear my ears about every 10-20 feet, but yesterday I had to clear my sinuses every 3 feet. My suggestion, clear on the surface just before your dive, clear sooner and more often than normal and just slow down. Take your time back to the surface. If you have to force air into your sinuses then it is going to take longer for it to come out on the way back up. Air expands as you surface. If the air expands faster than what it is being released, then it will cause some damage to you sinuses, witch results in bloody mucuss and saliva. Well I hope this helps. Good luck with your diving.

 

[portinfer]

From my limited experience def. equalising.

I had the same problem a while ago - posted under 'orange stuff' or something like that - try a search - seem to be more relaxed and have the equalising better this year.

Edward