Equalizing for beginers

I did my cert open water dives 2 weeks ago and wound up with mild middle ear barotrauma (blood in my midle ear, but no permanent damage). My ENT says it should clear up in a week or two with Flonase and prescription Sudafed. I'll hopefully be diving again in 3 or 4 weeks.

My issue is that, although I was with a very good shop, PADI seems to think that most divers clear with the "hold your nose and blow" routine, so they really don't teach anything else. My ENT (also a DAN doctor) suggested quite a few additional ways to equalize (the Toynbee Maneuver, the Lowry Technique, the Edmonds Technique, the Frenzel Maneuver, etc.). I have great success with some of these other techniques that were not taught to me in the PADI class. If any new diver has trouble equalizing, I'd really suggest looking into other techniques.

I have yet to actually try any of them diving but, on the surface, I can feel that some of them work with my eustachain tubes and some do not.

I am also a hard equalizer from time to time. My favorite method is to pinch my nose, slightly blow and swallow at the same time. If im still having problems ill try to stretch my neck by looking up as im equalizing. That usually does it for me. If i still cant equalize then im done for the day which has only happened one time.

Actually there were several different methods for equalization mentioned in your PADI OW text. There was at least one question on a knowledge review and if I remeber right on a quize as well. Did you miss all that? If you were having trouble equalizing why did you continue to descend? The text also describes the correct action to take when you have trouble equalizing on descent. Your understanding of those concepts were verified on the knowledge reviews and quizes as well. Did you discuss your equalization troubles with your instructor? If he/she knew you were having trouble he should have addressed it.

If I had to guess I'd say that the problem was more in your decent technique than in your knowledge of equalization methods. Get neutral at the surface. Then exhale to become slightly negative. Add air to your bc on the way down so that you can descend in a controled manor. If unable to equalize stop your descent and ascend as needed. That should give you plenty of time to equalize by whatever method works best for you regardless of what name you give it.

My decent isnt the problem. I can decend as slow as i want and stop easily. Its my damn sinuses and this lousy valley air that cause me all of my problems. I try to avoid sudafed on my deeper dives using nitrox. Sometimes i equalize easy and sometimes it takes a while. Good buoyancy control on decent is very helpful with equalizing like mike said. Now if they would come out with some sort of nasal sinus pipe cleaner

I did descend slowly and only felt a slight pinch, at which point I ascended a couple of feet (when it went away) and tried again. I never felt more than very slight pain, at which point I immediately corrected depth, waited, and descended. I took 3-4 minutes to get to 20 feet (only my right ear was a problem).

The PADI manual mentions 3 methods of equalizing, devoting exactly 1 sentence to each method. I think that equalization techniques deserve more attention.

MercutioATC once bubbled...
I did descend slowly and only felt a slight pinch, at which point I ascended a couple of feet (when it went away) and tried again. I never felt more than very slight pain, at which point I immediately corrected depth, waited, and descended. I took 3-4 minutes to get to 20 feet (only my right ear was a problem).

The PADI manual mentions 3 methods of equalizing, devoting exactly 1 sentence to each method. I think that equalization techniques deserve more attention.

Click to expand...

Another key is to equalize often during the first 20-30ft. You should try to equalize before you feel pressure on your ears. If you start to feel pressure you have waited to long to equalize. After about 30ft the pressure doesnt seem to change as rapidly as the first 20-30 ft.

I had no problem equalizing down to 16'. Below that, it took 3-4 minutes (for the right ear) to get to 20'. Below 20' (to 58' at least) I had no problems with continued equalization. When I get back in the water, I think I'm going to try slight pressurization before I descend, and se how that works. I'm bummed that I'm out of the water for 3 weeks or so, but happy that I learned from it with no permanent damage.

Mercutio,

Your experience sounds just like mine. I definitely went down too fast on my first certification dive, and, like you, got barotrauma, although I suspect mine was more severe than yours, I had to call it quits after the first dive attempt. I should have known, I had trouble equalizing in the pool sessions - oh well, no permanent damage, one of those live and learn things.

Before my makeup cert dive, I did do one other thing, I dropped dairy food (namely cheese) out of my diet. I didn't think I was really congested, but, after dropping the dairy, I realized that I really was (it is amazing what you can get used to). When I saw the ENT for the barotrauma, he initially asked me if I had hayfever, actually it was a food allergy. Even with this, I stil equalize slowly - I had earaches as a kid, I've probably got scar tissue narrowing my eusacian tubes. But the ENT said my eardrums look fantastic, for what that's worth.

lal7176 - if you find the nasal pipe cleaner, I'll take one, too!

I'll have to remember that one, too.

Here are some good articles on ear equalizing

http://www.scubadiving.com/training/medicine/equalize.shtml

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/faq/index.asp

http://www.scuba-doc.com/entprobs.html

http://www.scuba-doc.com/Equalizing_Techniques.pdf