TLDR; Can't Valsalva equalise upside down, and I throw up when I try to force it. Learned Fresnel and all good.
I experienced this recently and couldn't find any references to it online, so I'm just putting it out there in case anyone else ever experiences the same.
I've always used the Valsalva technique while scuba diving etc but since picking up freediving I realised I couldn't do it upside down. This seems to be rare but not unheard of, and I found some posts discussing it on this forum (something about flappy eustachian tubes).
I recently did the AIDA 2 course and my instructor was insistent that it was possible to Valsalva upside down, so even though it has never worked for me before I gave it a solid attempt during a duck dive. Sure enough it didn't work, but I suddenly felt super nauseous in my stomach and wanted to throw up. I took a break and drank water and tried again, staying inverted for a while at 2-3m trying to equalise with Valsalva, but no luck, and this time the nausea hit me so hard that I threw up a few times while hanging onto the buoy. End of the session.
All in all it was a rough experience, and the nausea stuck with me for several hours. I'm completely comfortable in the water and have never been nauseous like this, and sea conditions were really calm. The nausea was 100% caused by trying to force the Valsalva upside down.
Anyway, it was good incentive to learn the Fresnel, so I watched a video on YouTube and got it down within a day or two. Next session in the water I was equalising with no problems and hit 20m for my AIDA 2!
I experienced this recently and couldn't find any references to it online, so I'm just putting it out there in case anyone else ever experiences the same.
I've always used the Valsalva technique while scuba diving etc but since picking up freediving I realised I couldn't do it upside down. This seems to be rare but not unheard of, and I found some posts discussing it on this forum (something about flappy eustachian tubes).
I recently did the AIDA 2 course and my instructor was insistent that it was possible to Valsalva upside down, so even though it has never worked for me before I gave it a solid attempt during a duck dive. Sure enough it didn't work, but I suddenly felt super nauseous in my stomach and wanted to throw up. I took a break and drank water and tried again, staying inverted for a while at 2-3m trying to equalise with Valsalva, but no luck, and this time the nausea hit me so hard that I threw up a few times while hanging onto the buoy. End of the session.
All in all it was a rough experience, and the nausea stuck with me for several hours. I'm completely comfortable in the water and have never been nauseous like this, and sea conditions were really calm. The nausea was 100% caused by trying to force the Valsalva upside down.
Anyway, it was good incentive to learn the Fresnel, so I watched a video on YouTube and got it down within a day or two. Next session in the water I was equalising with no problems and hit 20m for my AIDA 2!