Bloody Nose

jrv331 · Oct 31, 2011

This weekend I did five cold water dives in fresh water,it was in the lower 50's outside and water temp was 57. I was wearing full 7mm wetsuit,hood, gloves and boots.

Upon surfacing from each dive I had a bloody nose. This was my first cold water dive also first in full gear and I did have trouble clearing my ears the first three dives because of the hood. It was tight but the next size up was to lose.

Prior to this weekend I had ten dives all in warm salt water wearing 3mm shorties. Never a problem clearing my ears and never a nose bleed.

Could the nose bleeds be related to wearing the hood and in diving cold water?
Thanks

John

Bubbletrubble · Oct 31, 2011

Nosebleeds in scuba divers can be caused by several different things.

Among novices, one common cause is pinching the nose too aggressively during ear equalization. I could see this being an issue if a diver admitted to having trouble with ear-clearing. Potential solutions include experimenting with other ear equalization techniques that don't require a nose-pinch and simply refraining from squeezing your nose too hard.

Sinus squeeze can result in a diver finding some blood in his mask nose pocket at the end of a dive. There's also the possibility that you are more prone to nosebleeds even outside the context of scuba diving. If that's the case, speak to a physician about treatment options.

To answer your question, a tight-fitting "cold water" hood can hinder the ear equalization process, which may lead you to pinch your nose too hard in a desperate attempt to clear. If that's the case, some people find it helpful to let some water into the hood on both sides.

Hope this info helps...

jrv331 · Oct 31, 2011

Sorry I forgot to mention that I had trouble pinching my nose with gloves on. I had to use two fingers and that was still difficult. I cant remember the last time I had a nose bleed.
Thanks

Session Eleven · Oct 31, 2011

I have a story that pretty closely mirrors yours. My brother and I certified in a similar environment (air in the fifties, water 62). He also had some trouble clearing his nose on the second dive and developed a bloody nose about 20 minutes in. It freaked me out so I emphatically told him that we needed to surface, but he denied it (which led to a teaching opportunity about not denying your buddy when he demands to go up

). He turned out to be fine and our instructor mentioned that its something that infrequently happens. Our leading theory was that the dry air from the tank and dramatic sinus pressure changes ruptured some of the delicate blood vessels in the nose.

When we did our final dive the next day, he had no issues (and you can bet I was looking).

cloudflint · Oct 31, 2011

I had this happen to me on occasion. It seemd to generally be caused either by pinching the nose to high or not equalising the mask enough on descent causing some of the small veins in the nose to burst.

From http://scuba-instructors.blogspot.com/2009/05/let-not-nosebleed-stop-you-from-scuba.html:

It's incredibly usual for people to get nosebleed on their very first open water dive only because they don't equalize properly. Some scuba divers get nosebleeds after diving, immediately or with some delay that can be as extended as a day or so. But most frightening nose bleeding is a nosebleed underwater. Since underwater nosebleed normally happens for the first time whilst you descend, we'll focus here on this aspect only. Nose bleed happens to many scuba divers, not just beginners. Not knowing how properly equalize air pressure while descending is only one of numerous reasons causing scuba divers nose bleed while underwater. If nose bleeding happens, it is important to identify the nature of this problem in your specific case in order to take preventive measures so your further scuba diving experience would be enjoyable and, specifically, nosebleed free. It would be pity if nose bleeding caused you give up the wonderful hobby, which scuba diving is. Some causes of nosebleeds are very simple and can be removed with just a little of knowledge and exercising. Say, scuba diver nose bleeding at smaller depths at the stage of the descent may be side effect due to mask squeeze resulting from failing to equalize the pressure in the mask against the growing water pressure. Lower pressure in the mask, which is most commonly directly responsible for starting nose bleeding, can be easily avoided with just a little training. In many cases descending at a slower rate along with frequent equalization will resolve the issue. Bleeding can also be caused by injury from squeezing your nose too vigorously in the repeated attempts to clear your Eustachian tubes. Many times said, but not always followed, there's a rule to never dive with the congested nose interfering with your efforts to blow your sinuses. Ideally, you must refrain from scuba diving even with slightly blocked sinuses, but in reality many scuba divers just resort to nasal steroids as decongestant. Nose bleeding can also be an indicator of a much serious and adverse health condition you may be unaware of. In any case, consult your doctor, especially if your after dive, and, especially, underwater nosebleed is regular, excessively persistent, or painful. A diver who experiences frequent nosebleed should by no means be frivolous about it. The point is that with every nose bleeding your nasal mucosa hosting bacteria gets connected with your bloodstream, which can result in serious sinus infection.

chippy uk · Oct 31, 2011

if you had trouble equalising, then its possible, but from my experience its just a bit of a sinus squeeze, in cold water your "plumbing" doesnt work quite as well as when your warm and relaxed, but as you get used to diving cold water it usually stops, but you sometimes still get the odd one, also possible you may have had a very small amount of congestion which could have done it, but unless its giving you pain or real discomfort then its nothing to worry about.

jrv331 · Oct 31, 2011

As a matter of fact I am congested now so the on set of a cold could have contributed to the problem. I know I was squeezing harder than normal because I never felt the nose pinch with the gloves on. Gonna try thinner gloves next year, I'm done for this season.
Thanks

TSandM · Oct 31, 2011

One of the things that can lead to nosebleeds is late equalization. The worse the pressure gradient gets, the harder you have to blow to open the Eustachian tubes, and this can rupture capillaries in the nasopharynx, leading to bleeding. If you couldn't feel your "pinch", maybe you were equalizing a little late.

In addition, for someone who is used to very light exposure protection, the rapid loss of buoyancy on descent, as thick neoprene compresses, can come as a bit of a shock. Our students are often late in equalizing, because they just don't realize how fast they are going down, or because they are so task-loaded in trying to fill their buoyancy compensator to stop what they perceive as a plummet to the bottom

DazedAndConfuzed · Nov 1, 2011

If one ruptures the capillaries during the descent, shouldn't it show up inside the mask during the dive? Maybe the snot holds it in until you blow it out, but I presume if it ruptured on the way down, there would be globs of it as compared to rupturing in on the way up (of course, it would have to be in relation to the nose bleed rate once you are on the surface).

TSandM · Nov 1, 2011

It takes very, very little blood to color mucus red or pink. If the bleeding is minimal, there would really be no reason for secretions to exit the nose until the air in the sinuses and nasopharynx begins to expand on ascent.

Bloody Nose

Please register or login

jrv331

Registered

Bubbletrubble

Contributor

jrv331

Registered

Session Eleven

Registered

cloudflint

Contributor

chippy uk

Registered

jrv331

Registered

TSandM

Missed and loved by many.

DazedAndConfuzed

Contributor

TSandM

Missed and loved by many.

Similar threads