Has Reverse Squeeze ever happened to you?

[Snowbear]

Yep. You can read about it in this thread.

 

[FlimFlam]

I had the reverse sinus squeeze on my last O/W cert dive. Very painful, like an ice pick in my forehead... I've been using Sudafed since then and had no problems...

 

[chrispete]

I was on the Nekton in Belieze and was dumb, fat, and happy until I hit about 12 feet coming up from my safety stop. I couldn't get higher than that without quite a bit of pain so I tried dropping to clear it - I couldn't get lower than 17 feet or so without quite a bit of pain. It took quite a while of crawling up the downline inch by inch until it finally broke around 9 feet or so.

Crush - good idea on the clearing method, I'll try that if I get one again.

 

[gangrel441]

I had a reverse squeeze in only one ear on a dive a couple of months ago. It didn't cause any damage or even ear pain, but it caused me to have an extremely bad case of vertigo for a couple of minutes. My buddy had to help me find my way back to the boat.

Since then I have learned a technique that may be useful for those that suffer from reverse squeeze. It's called the Toynbee Maneuver. To do it, you simply plug your nose and swallow. The muscles in the back or your throat pull your Eustachian tubes open, and with your nose plugged you create a mild suction. The most challenging part is coming up with something to swallow. If you get cotton mouth you may have a hard time swallowing. I guess you could bring in some water. YUMMY! :11:

Here is a pretty good list of other techniques you can try to equalize both on the descent and ascent (http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/MEbaro.html). Plugging your nose and blowing (the Valsalva Manuever) is the most intutive equalization technique for descent, but it is also the most tramatic. After a week on a live aboard your ears will be begging you to stop blowing against them. There are other less tramatic ways of equalizing that are worth a try.

Beautiful! We just saw Dr. Kay's presentation at our dive club meeting last night. If you didn't post this, I was going to do a google search on "Ear Fear" and post the results here.

 

[av8er23]

Great Stories

 

[ShakaZulu]

I've had this at 20ft, took me forever to surface. Instead of pinching your nose and blowing, suck instead. Works.......

 

[Mlody11]

Sure did... 2nd and 3rd open water cert. dive. It isnt dangerous in your sinuses but sure as hell is unpleasent and painful at 6-0 ft and 5min after you surface.

 

[friscuba]

Had it one time during the first year I was teaching. Lots of ups and downs that year and i'd had mild vertigo for a second or two in a dive the day before. It was time to came up so I came up, lotsa pain no matter how slow I ascended. Turns out I had a fungal infection that caused the main trouble... two minutes of the ENT sucking garbage out of my ear made a great difference in how I felt but I was still out of the water for about a month with a regimen of antibiotics, steriods and antifungals.

If it ever happens again I'll have to try the sucking with a plugged nose a couple posters mentioned.

 

[Doc Harry]

I get really congested if I dive for more than a week straight. That's when I start getting squeeze and reverse squeeze a lot.

Sometimes when I'm drift diving and get the squeeze (or reverse squeeze), I can't tell if I should go UP or DOWN to relieve the pain. If I go down and the pain increases, then I head up, and vice-versa.

 

[shugar]

ya... left ear during a washing machine dive in dumaguete...

it gave be a bothersome ear and a slight headache... next dive was a lot calmer and i was able to ascend slowly... i could actually feel "bubbles" clear slowly on the ascent... the dull pain (like soreness) eventually went away after a couple of days

made me watch ascent rates a lot more after that incident... hated having to relax during the lunch/SI with the pain in the ear going on...

Jag