Problem with descend

[ewen_cab]

Hi,

3 days ago, I experienced a crushing pain on the left
skull on my forehead when I tried to descend below 15
ft. The pain is so sharp and intense that the maximum
depth I reached was 20 ft before I aborted the dive.

This was my 2nd dive for that day. The 1st dive was
without any problem. I had descended to 40 ft. On both
dives,I did not exceed any dive limits and I did my
descend slowly. I felt fine that day, was not on any
medication and did not consume any alochol prior to
the trip.

I had not encountered this problem on my past 30
dives. What seems to be the problem?

I am posting my enquiry on different boards as I really want to get back to diving soon.

- weiming

 

[bdurrett]

Sinus problem?

I'm no doctor but it sounds as if you had some sort of sinus problem that didn't allow you to correctly equalize on both sides.

SWAG = Scientific Wild-Assed Guess....

Did you have problems clearing your ears on the left side during decent? Did the problems decrease as you ascended? Did they stop when you reached the surface? If not, how much longer did they persist?

Lots of questions but the bottom line is to take it easy and make sure that you know what happened and how to correct it before hitting the drink again

 

[DiverD]

Forehead Squeeze

This may be too simple of a solution but since you mentioned your forehead, do you think it could have been mask squeeze? Exhaling just a bit through your nose into your mask will aleviate this type of squeeze. I have no experience with sinus stuff.

 

[efattah]

This is typical sinus squeeze, which happens when mucous in the sinus cavity has an air bubble in it. Blowing your nose sometimes helps, otherwise you just need to wait for a few days. Avoid dairy products can minimize the problem in the future (for some people).


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[Jorg]

Sounds like a sinus squeeze... At the moment I have also a problem with the sinus below my left eye. The doctor doesn't know what to do about it

I don't know the correct words in english but I hope you follow my problem; When I blow my nose it's all empty and I can breath normally through my nose, but when I blow my nose at a certain way, like very short blows very fast, there is something coming out of my sinus. After I have done this I feel a pressure difference below my eye (I think it's pressure but it's just pain..). And it stays for that for more then 4-6 hours.

So it's probably some garbage hanging around in my sinus, but how did it get there? I already have trouble with it for 2.5 weeks, so no freediving for me :waterwork

Maybe someone knows what it is and how to get over it.

 

[efattah]

Trying doing a nasal wash with saline, like the yogis do, when you pour saline into one nostril and let it flow out the other.

Make sure the water is warm, and 0.9% salt.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[RICHinNC]

I would recommend that BEFORE you get in the water you equalize. It has made all my descents much easier.

I went diving this weekend off the coast of NC and a guy on the boat was telling his new buddy that it always took him a long time to get down....to pls be patient.

I told him we were about 15 minutes out from the dive site to equalize now....gentle blowing while holding the nose......do it again when we got to the dive site....and one more time just before leaving the boat.

When we all had surfaced you would have thought it was his first dive. He said he had absolutely no problems getting down. He had the same success for the second dive of the day as well. Try it....might work for you too. Assuming there was no medical problem.