Hi everyone! I'm not new to freediving and I know quite a bit on the theoretical side of things, I EQ using Frenzel and I've done a lot of troubleshooting and as it stands my personal theory that I've come up with is that I probably have a bit of excess mucus or something that eventually blocks the eustachian tubes as I'm up side down. Sometimes if I EQ on land up side down one ear will feel and sound "stuffed" and it will no longer react to EQ/swallowing for say an hour.
Recently dived with a line and this time it was at around 9-10 meters one ear would get harder to EQ and start to squeak during EQ until not possible anymore. Sometimes one ear can squeak on ascent as well. A few times one ear would get stuffed and I can't even get to the bottom of a pool.
I recently visited an ENT specialist and there was no problem other than deviated septum but knowing the physiology, this shouldn't affect my tongue from pushing air up the eustachian tubes. I was also cleared of "Polyps ,chronic infection , post nasal drip caused by an over production of mucus ,due to allergy or too thick mucus . " which I personally requested(an Instructor told me to get these things checked). Did an allergy test as well and that was all clear except for a minor reaction to grass.(It's snow outside now though).
Half a year ago I did a level 1 course and the first three days I could not go below 5 meters, same problem as above. My Frenzel technique on land was indeed correct. On the fourth extra day I was told to EQ slowly instead of my usual "gentle but assertive". This method allowed me to go deeper, but with a dramaticly reduced descent speed to 17.8 meters after which the time was up and only the fun dive remained, I went down to 8 meters and got a reverse block, ruptured my left ear drum. Funnily enough no-one at the school have had a student rupture an eardrum from a reverse block before. After several months it had finally healed, I of course want to do more courses, would even want to become an instructor if I could but first I need to find the root cause of my problem and honestly, I'm running out of ideas..
Yes I have air in my mouth and I'm relaxed(don't want to lock away possible solutions but I'm almost certain my technique isn't at fault, especially at these shallow depths) and it's usually just one ear that causes problems, it has currently been the right but it's the left one I perforated. I've tried doing BTV and on land I can successfully open my left tube, never my right so that's interesting. I don't eat dairy, milk etc.(lactose intolerant). If nothing else, I'll stay away from gluten as well but it won't be fun.
I have access to around 14 meters of depth to experiment with but it's currently 7 degrees at the surface(air temp around 2) and pitch black below 6-7 meters, I have a powerful light at the bottom so it works but my wetsuit is only 3mm and it's getting colder everyday.
I hope someone has had a similar experience, this is getting as you can imagine .. quite frustrating. That said, I very much appreciate any ideas you have to throw at me!
Recently dived with a line and this time it was at around 9-10 meters one ear would get harder to EQ and start to squeak during EQ until not possible anymore. Sometimes one ear can squeak on ascent as well. A few times one ear would get stuffed and I can't even get to the bottom of a pool.
I recently visited an ENT specialist and there was no problem other than deviated septum but knowing the physiology, this shouldn't affect my tongue from pushing air up the eustachian tubes. I was also cleared of "Polyps ,chronic infection , post nasal drip caused by an over production of mucus ,due to allergy or too thick mucus . " which I personally requested(an Instructor told me to get these things checked). Did an allergy test as well and that was all clear except for a minor reaction to grass.(It's snow outside now though).
Half a year ago I did a level 1 course and the first three days I could not go below 5 meters, same problem as above. My Frenzel technique on land was indeed correct. On the fourth extra day I was told to EQ slowly instead of my usual "gentle but assertive". This method allowed me to go deeper, but with a dramaticly reduced descent speed to 17.8 meters after which the time was up and only the fun dive remained, I went down to 8 meters and got a reverse block, ruptured my left ear drum. Funnily enough no-one at the school have had a student rupture an eardrum from a reverse block before. After several months it had finally healed, I of course want to do more courses, would even want to become an instructor if I could but first I need to find the root cause of my problem and honestly, I'm running out of ideas..
Yes I have air in my mouth and I'm relaxed(don't want to lock away possible solutions but I'm almost certain my technique isn't at fault, especially at these shallow depths) and it's usually just one ear that causes problems, it has currently been the right but it's the left one I perforated. I've tried doing BTV and on land I can successfully open my left tube, never my right so that's interesting. I don't eat dairy, milk etc.(lactose intolerant). If nothing else, I'll stay away from gluten as well but it won't be fun.
I have access to around 14 meters of depth to experiment with but it's currently 7 degrees at the surface(air temp around 2) and pitch black below 6-7 meters, I have a powerful light at the bottom so it works but my wetsuit is only 3mm and it's getting colder everyday.
I hope someone has had a similar experience, this is getting as you can imagine .. quite frustrating. That said, I very much appreciate any ideas you have to throw at me!
