I am new to the forum. I went diving at Lake Tahoe CA on Monday the 20th of August. I have had problems with my balance and dizziness ever since. Being new to the sport, I didn't know about the dangers of hyperventilating, etc. I was hyperventilating a little before each dive. I was diving to about 40 ft. Resting for about 5 min. on my jetski and then diving again. About 6 dives total. After the 6th dive I notice my balance was off and dizzy to the point where I had to stop my jetski for about 5 minutes for fear of falling off. I rested for awhile and then did a series of shallower dives. For 5 days now I have had problems with my balance and feelings of dizziness. I was hoping it would subside if I waited it out but it hasnt gotten any better. Usually when I run off to the doctor I end up regretting it because the injury ends up healing itself. Any advice would be much appreciated.
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Dizziness after diving, for 5 days now
- Thread starterDeepDiverD
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Although everything is possible, five days is way too long to be caused by hyperventilation. Just like Simos suggested, it is probably due injury of the inner ear. I highly would recommend to see a physician with knowledge of diving injuries or perhaps even contact DAN if that is applicable or possible in your case.
Thank you for the advice to go to DAN. I went to their website and found this article:
http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/articles/download/DiversGuidetoEars.pdf
It sounds like I have ear barotrauma. In the article it mentioned barotrauma can cause blood and fluid to buildup in the ear. Immediately after diving I coughed up a couple bloody loogies. It puzzled me but I forgot about it thinking that the ears werent connected to the throat until I read the DAN article. And then I found this article:
How Are Your Ears Connected to Your Throat? | eHow.com
Jeesh! I will be seeing an ear doctor asap!
I think the injury occurred around 40 ft. when I overblew my nose. Because I didn't equalize early and often enough.
http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/articles/download/DiversGuidetoEars.pdf
It sounds like I have ear barotrauma. In the article it mentioned barotrauma can cause blood and fluid to buildup in the ear. Immediately after diving I coughed up a couple bloody loogies. It puzzled me but I forgot about it thinking that the ears werent connected to the throat until I read the DAN article. And then I found this article:
How Are Your Ears Connected to Your Throat? | eHow.com
Jeesh! I will be seeing an ear doctor asap!
I think the injury occurred around 40 ft. when I overblew my nose. Because I didn't equalize early and often enough.
Ears are definitely connected, otherwise you wouldn't be able to equalise in the first place.
It depends what injury you have (ear drum or inner ear, hopefully the former) but just in case, keep your ears dry until you see a doctor (to avoid infection) - there are some special waterproof ear plugs you can get for showering.
Obviously, you shouldn't dive or swim in the meantime either...
Good advice, I will get some ear plugs until I see the doc. Yeah I'm a rookie at this freediving stuff. I just found out it was a sport a few weeks ago. Ive just always enjoyed swimming and diving deep for fun. I just found out about equalizing a year ago. I have alot to learn. But Im addicted and looking forward to getting better. Thanks to everybody for all of the info and advice.
