hi,
i had a lot of problems with sinuses until last year. you should try to understand what it causes it.
very commonly has to do with food. especially dairy products should be avoided, because they increase the mucus production in your body. apparently we produce around 1 lt of mucus a day. this mucus is travelling around our sinuses to keep them clean, and then it goes down to the throat and stomach, where it's digested. if you produce too much mucus, then your body might have a problem in getting rid of it. if some mucus is staying in the sinuses and their air passages for some time, then is becoming thick and sticks there, reducing the ability to equalize. if you blow your nose after dives, and you notice some greenish, brownish mucus, it means you've got some old mucus there.
other food you should be careful with: white weat, sugar, sometimes eggs.
smoking is also very bad, plus inhalation of chemicals (cleaning products, fumes of car engines, perfume).
avoid very cold drinks, especially before the diving session. air con might be bad also.
if you are aware you have some allergy to whatever food, then you should avoid it.
i don't know how accurate all this info is, i've been doing quite a lot of
research on hte internet when i had the problem myself.
i solved the problem with a horrible diet: i ate for 2 weeks only raw veggie and fruit and plain rice, and going diving every day sniffing liters of salt water trying to get rid of as much mucus as i could.(many say sea water might be dirty and contain bacteria, and i agree, so maybe you want to sniff saline solution instead) after that i started adding some chicken to the diet and slowly slowly some other plain and simple food.
every day for months i did inhalation wih steaming camomile, and i have the idea that it helped a lot.
now my sinuses are behaving quite well. but if i dare having fresh cheese or yoghurt, then i know the next day i'm going to have a problem. i tolerate ice cream, and a little bit of hard cheese though.
also, if i'm not diving for many days in a row, then i'm going to be a bit blocked. i think the constant pressure on my sinuses help them to stay clean.
abort dives every time you feel you're getting blocked, and quit diving for that day.
hey, that was a long post.
hope it helps.
linda
