Sinus Squeeze?

[caymanjo]

Hello,

Apologies initially for almost certainly not knowing the lingo for this forum - it's my first post. I'm also really new to diving, having only about 15/20 dives under my belt.

A few weeks ago I went diving and got to 100ft, and developed a pain above my left eyebrow. I assumed that it was mask squeeze because I went up to 60ft and it eased and I was able to continue the dive.

Today, I went diving and it's a shallow dive, of say 45ft at it's deepest, and I had to abort the dive this time. To be honest it was incredibly scary because I lost my reg somehow and had to go to the top. I know I should have remembered the things I learnt during the course, but I panicked.

Afterwards, I was chatting to one of the guys at the dive shop and he mentioned that he had got sinus squeeze.

I'm not sure - I haven't had a cold recently.

Thanks and any tips/advice gratefully received.

 

[Bonairetrip]

Would it be possible for you to reconnect with the instructor who certified you? I would suggest you cover these concepts in person with him or her.

To answer your implied questions:
a) Squeezes can develop in many places (ear, sinus, mask, even tooth). This should have been well covered in class.
b) A mask squeeze is the easiest to fix -- simply exhale a bit through your nose into your mask. No need to ascend to fix that.
c) You can get a sinus and/or ear squeeze. It is also possible to have a reverse squeeze. Besides being ill, allergies, difficult anatomy and inflammation can help cause them. Dealing with squeezes (and reverses) should be well covered in class (and may require a medical eval).
d) I am at a loss to understand how a squeeze could cause a loss of a regulator. Can you provide any additional information? Recovering a lost reg, deploying your octo/safe second and/or sharing air with your buddy should also have been covered in your class. Under supervision, I would start doing drills in about 5 FSW.
e) Depth per se is not the cause of squeezes but rather the relative change in pressure. You can get a worse squeeze going from the surface to 33 FSW than from going to 66 FSW to 100FSW.
f) Not that you asked, but a diver with a history of squeezes, panic and inability to recover a lost reg, should be staying very shallow and getting guidance from a qualified instructor. Not going to 100 FSW...

Good luck with your diving!