Recovering From Cold Sinus Congestion

[snokat]

Sitting here at the laptop this morning trying to decongest from a cold I brought back from California last week, before diving. While I believe my cold symptoms are past, my sinus congestion has persisted. I woke up at 5 AM to drop an Allegra-D to try and see how much relief I will get by 7:30, and then make a determination as to whether I will give it a go or not.
I don't get more than one cold every couple of years, so I'm not experienced at all when it comes to post-cold recovery and diving. Any thoughts as to how much risk I'm putting myself at?
Oh, my Allegra is just starting to kick in, time for some tissues.
Al

 

[spectrum]

Can you do a normal valsalva?

The sinus part is a bigger trick. I don't know how you confirm that they will vent if you have congestion. Since the greatest sinus risk is on ascent I would not go make any sort of deep dive where a significant ascent delay would be a risk.

Listen to the voice.......

For what it's worth I'm in the same boat at the moment.

Pete

 

[snokat]

THX Pete, I'm definitely in a "no-go" situation. I get 100 dives a year, so no biggy to knock off for a week.
Sinus allergies vs. cold sinus congestion are miles apart. On top of that, I've had a recent reverse-squeeze, first one in 40-years of diving. Thank god I headed up on that dive with more air than normal, so I had the air to take the time to deal with it.

 

[TSandM]

Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to determine if you can equalize sinuses, except by trying. The one time I got a sinus squeeze, I thought my congestion was over, and I had no difficulty with my ears at all.

BTW, antihistamines are of little or no benefit when you are dealing with viral congestion. If you took Allegra-D, that will help, but that's the decongestant in the pill doing the job.

 

[spectrum]

We had some dive guests in town and fortunately another local buddy was also diving. When I got to the site I could equalize but not consistently so I settled for shore duty.

Being addicted to diving as I am I have to say it was a self empowering feeling (if there is such a thing) to be there with the gear and say, "I'm not diving today". My buddy's jaw dropped.:11:

Actually it was kind of fun. The site has a trail that overlooks the water and I was able to follow the bubble and noted when they turned. Since a regular buddy was leading I knew that this represented or customary route and now I know how it related to the shore. I was there to snap some exit shots as they got out of the water and then we went out to eat which is always cool.

There is life beyond compressed air.

Pete