Ear pain from water pressure problem

[ppatrick]

Dear all members,

I'm a true beginner in scuba diving world. I just started the first day scuba class yesterday. During the pool session, every student supposed to dive (without diving gear) 15 feet to touch the bottom of the pool and come up. I couldn't do it :-( My ear was about to explode even when I dove down only half way. The pressure against my ears was unbearable. So I didn't pass that test yesterday. I did some research and found out that I could pressurize my inner ear by pinching my nose and gently blowing air to the nose.

Here are my questions:
(1) Is this something I have to do every time when I dive? Or is it something that I will get use to (without damaging my ears) like muscles get stronger and stronger after training?

(2) I assume that when I'm at the bottom of the pool, the pressure in my inner ears is pretty close to the pool bottom. How do I reduce the pressure when I ascent? By sucking the air from my nose???

(3) I know that next class, they will have me dive down with a tank and stay at the bottom for sometime. Do I have to keep blowing air to my nose? Will my ears adjust to pool bottom pressure?

This is my profile. I'm a physically fit 29 years old male (do cardio workout regularly). Never had any kind of ear problems. I need to pass this test in order to get the certification (actually all tests). Any advice/recommendations is appreciated.



Thank you,
Patrick

[spectrum]

Wow, give your instructor a dope slap please. Congratulations on not pushing your limits, that was a great call.

Yes you do need to manage the pressure in your ears even in a skin-dive. At 15 feet you were down 1/2 of an atmosphere with about 7.4 PSI tying to rupture your ear drum.

The most basic technique is the Valsalva menauever where you pinch your nose and LIGHTLY pressurize your ears. When I do this I can sense the deflection and that's all you want. It's best to do this before diving down and to repeat as you go. Do it a few times as you prepare to get in the ater to condition the tubes. A skin-dive to that depth will also result in significant mask squeeze and for this you just slightly exhale with your nose to reinflate your mask.

The Eustacean tubes leading to your ear are like check valves and will easilly vent this extra presuure on the way up. You may hear some weird sounds, that's OK. You will also notice the extra air bubbling out around your mask skirt on ascent.

Remember that your need to have good clear nasal and sinus passages whenever diving or you risk real injury.

Trust me, I'm home, dry this weekend nursing a common cold.

Pete

PS, Beef up your profile when you have a minute, it will help us all help you.

Dear all members,

I'm a true beginner in scuba diving world. I just started the first day scuba class yesterday. During the pool session, every student supposed to dive (without diving gear) 15 feet to touch the bottom of the pool and come up. I couldn't do it :-( My ear was about to explode even when I dove down only half way. The pressure against my ears was unbearable. So I didn't pass that test yesterday. I did some research and found out that I could pressurize my inner ear by pinching my nose and gently blowing air to the nose.

Here are my questions:
(1) Is this something I have to do every time when I dive? Or is it something that I will get use to (without damaging my ears) like muscles get stronger and stronger after training?

(2) I assume that when I'm at the bottom of the pool, the pressure in my inner ears is pretty close to the pool bottom. How do I reduce the pressure when I ascent? By sucking the air from my nose???

(3) I know that next class, they will have me dive down with a tank and stay at the bottom for sometime. Do I have to keep blowing air to my nose? Will my ears adjust to pool bottom pressure?

This is my profile. I'm a physically fit 29 years old male (do cardio workout regularly). Never had any kind of ear problems. I need to pass this test in order to get the certification (actually all tests). Any advice/recommendations is appreciated.



Thank you,
Patrick

[v4nity]

im pretty new to scuba diving.. i really havent started yet, but i used to swim for my highschool team, and i used to dive (like off boards) and i snorkle.. and this is a common problem i have had..

in discussion with a friend who is an underwater welder, he told me that it is pretty common, and that you just have to depressurize (is that a word??) your ears and you will be all good.. i thnk he said it pushes the water out of your ears?? i might be mistaken..

[spectrum]

im pretty new to scuba diving.. i really havent started yet, but i used to swim for my highschool team, and i used to dive (like off boards) and i snorkle.. and this is a common problem i have had..

in discussion with a friend who is an underwater welder, he told me that it is pretty common, and that you just have to depressurize (is that a word??) your ears and you will be all good.. i thnk he said it pushes the water out of your ears?? i might be mistaken..

Not quite. When diving you pressurize your ears to make it equal to the external pressure. It's all about managing the air spaces in your ears, there should be no water in the spaces in queston.

I would suggest investing some time in this presentation:
http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.asp?rid=789

Pete

[TSandM]

1. Yes, you will have to equalize your ears every dive. Some people can learn to do it by swallowing or moving the palate, others need to blow into their nose, but everybody pretty much has to do something.

2. Most of the time, the ears deal with going up pretty well by themselves. You can get a reverse squeeze if you are congested, which is usually resolved by slowing your ascent rate.

3. Once you arrive at a given depth and get your ears well equalized, they will stay that way, but if you go deeper you have to equalize again.

Our OW class talked at some length about managing one's ears -- did your instructor not go into this with you?

[v4nity]

thanks pete.. im gonna go read up

[HowardE]

You should also equalize (either blow gently and hold your nose, or wiggle your jaw until you hear your ears clear) EARLY AND OFTEN. As soon as you go down even 2-3 feet... equalize, and do it BEFORE you feel pressure and/or pain.

[MB]

It should never hurt to dive. Really. As you descend, the increased pressure pushes against your eardrum. You have to develop the technique of gently "pushing back" against this pressure. That's the valsalva that was mentioned.

Here's a way to think about this. The eardrum is soft tissue, with a lot of pain receptors in the area. Too much pushing on it causes it to stretch beyond where it should, and those pain receptors start screaming for relief. If you feel pain, that means there is already too much pressure on them. You can reduce that pressure easily by just going up a couple of feet. You don't need to go all the way to the surface, just enough to reduce the pressure. Then use that valsalva.

A good word is "full." If you feel that your ears are getting full, don't descend any further until you use the valsalva to take the pressure off your eardrum. If they go beyond full, they'll hurt, and you can easily tear the eardrum. That's a bad thing.

Start "clearing" your ears WAY before they ever get full. You can start even before your head gets wet. Then, about 6 inches deep, start clearing again. Clear as often as needed. Don't let the fullness grow. Once they're clear, you won't need to keep clearing them IF you stay at the same depth, but since we seldom do that, you'll likely need to clear them often (like when doing from 9' to 12' in the pool).

As for that dope slap that was recommended for your instructor - do it twice if s/he didn't teach you about this. If s/he did but you slept thru it, get that lesson again. The VAST majority of problems faced by new divers is due to ear problems, and 99.999999999% of these are avoidable by learning how this happens and mastering the techniques. Once you learn that, you'll dig diving!

[ppatrick]

Thanks everyone for replying my questions.

My lecture instructor never talked about this ear pressurizing in classroom. We were busy signing a bunch of paper work and learning diving terms and how to use the dive table. My pool instructor (different person) only mentioned that blowing the nose would help, only after I was complaining about the pain. We never sat down and seriously discuss about this. Most students who passed this diving test complained about terrible ear pain (those who didn't pass didn't complain much because we didn't dive deep enough). I started to feel like my instructors (both lecture and pool) are incompetent. :-( Should I drop out from this class? I have waited to join this class since last winter... kind of don't want to wait again. Plus, I already paid for the class. If I were to drop out, can anyone recommend me a good school in Chicago western suburb area?

Howarde, thanks for another technique (wiggle the jaw). Does this technique work as well as the Valsalva technique? I think I would prefer the jaw wiggling technique because I would have two free hands instead of one free hand from Valsalva technique (another hand busy pinching the nose).

Anyway, I'll try both techniques before the next class comes (next 5 days). Hopefully, I could dive 15 feet without pain. :-)


Thank you every one,
Patrick

[spectrum]

First just to put the ear clearing into perspective the first 15 feet is the hardest because it is the greatest % change in pressure. Once past 15 feet it gets easier and easier and often a wiggle of the jaw (which wiggles the eustacian tubes) does the trick. After 15 feet you also know you are not congested and will realx and just follow the technique. It also get easier with frequent practice. On a second shore dive of the day equalization is often automatic for me.

Only you can decide if you should bail out of your class. At a bare mimum I would suggest devouring your course manual as well as 1 or 2 other dive texts just for gap coverage. Dennis Graver had written a number of good manuals, see Amazon or a good bookstore. You can also find stuff like the PADI videos on Ebay and they explain some stuff in decent detail. My class was not as detailed as I cared for (anal engineer here) and I did some of these things as gap coverage and reinforcement. I was also a ScubaBoard junkie for about 8 months before getting in the pool with scuba gear. Does this operation have other instructors? Bowing out of this class for some (fabricated) reason to jump into the next with someone else may be an improvement.

Do whatever you think is right but keep you health and safety front and center. This is a wonderful sport and it's not supposed to hurt! Loosing a course fee can be a lot cheaper than most injuries.

Pete

Thanks everyone for replying my questions.

My lecture instructor never talked about this ear pressurizing in classroom. We were busy signing a bunch of paper work and learning diving terms and how to use the dive table. My pool instructor (different person) only mentioned that blowing the nose would help, only after I was complaining about the pain. We never sat down and seriously discuss about this. Most students who passed this diving test complained about terrible ear pain (those who didn't pass didn't complain much because we didn't dive deep enough). I started to feel like my instructors (both lecture and pool) are incompetent. :-( Should I drop out from this class? I have waited to join this class since last winter... kind of don't want to wait again. Plus, I already paid for the class.

If I were to drop out, can anyone recommend me a good school in Chicago western suburb area?


Thank you,
Patrick