Water entering nose

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scastria

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I guess I am what you guys call a nosebreather. Let me say up front that I have a good fitting mask. During certification, I was the only one that had trouble doing the mask flood and mask removal. Basically, I had trouble anytime there was water touching my nose. Everytime I would inhale, a small trickle of water would enter my nose and down my throat. I would then swallow it so that I could try to take another breath only to have another trickle and another swallow. I couldn't breathe and had to abort the drill. Exhaling isn't as big of a problem, but I do occasionaly exhale a bit out of my nose causing the seal to break on my mask.

I eventually got a little better and had to concentrate really hard to just inhale through my mouth and even have to contort my tongue somehow, but I am still not comfortable.

Anyway, to my questions. I was watching a documentary on Navy Seals on Discovery, I think, called BUDS. One of the episodes shows their SCUBA training and pointed out that 1 man was having trouble breathing without his mask and that water was entering his nose and trickling down his throat. They seemed to say that this was a medical problem.

Question 1: Is there a known medical problem that could make NOT breathing through the nose difficult?

Question 2: Could I wear a nose clip inside my mask to prevent the problem? I would think that the nose clip would not be too strong such that I couldn't still exhale through the nose clip to equalize my mask.
 
I also had a terrible time getting through the mask clearing and the breathing without a mask on thing. It seems like I can't disconnect breathing from my mouth with my nose. It would make me very nervous and I had to work hard to control myself. I had trouble when I was clearing my mask because I would not be able to 'shoot' all of the air out my nose, it would also come out my mouth so I wouldn't get that much air in the mask. I don't know if we get better with practice and more dives? Hopefully someone with more experience with this will have some answers that will help us both out. :)
 
You are not alone, it can truly be summed up in one word - practice. Muscle memory and years of doing things one way are hard to un-learn. Lots and lots of practice makes this pattern more natural.
 
1) Nope... I don't nose this one... perhaps a real doc can answer that!

2) This one I nose... DON'T DO IT!!! Your nose needs to be open to the mask. Any occlusion could result in a serious mask squeeze.

May I make a suggestion... and this is how I teach my students fromt he beginning.

1) Go to the shallow end of the pool with just a mask.

2) Fill the mask with water and bend over and put it on. Your mask should be full of water.

3) Stand there and talk with someone... even sit on the edge and do it. Your first few times will be "intense" and they might even be unpleasant, but keep it up.

4) Repeat! Don't try to get to five minutes all in one sitting, but work your way up to that. Make sure to TALK... it will make the water around the nose thing second nature after a while.
 
Practice as afore mentioned, and try NetDoc's tip too, it will help. Also heres a little trick I discovered. Simply tip your head down more, don't look straight ahead, look downward at roughtly a 45degree angle down. The tipping of the head seeems to either close off the nose better, OR (and more likely) better traps air in the sinus's and nasal pasages that you don't even slightly inhale water. You will be surprised, I recently had a similar problem to what you mention due to a cold, bronchitis and an ear infection. I was alway good at mask clearing until all thoose things hit at once, then I couldn't do it without chokeing, the tipping the head down was all that was needed to return to doing them perfectly.

But also practice with the tipped head and without, if you can do it without tipping your head all the better, if you have to tip your head, you have to.
 
Welcome to the board. There are lot's of Texans on the board.

Your difficulty is very very common. The other replys are good advice.
I suggest you take the time to work through this before progressing. Your instructor should assist you. Discuss your breathing and get assistance. Breathing continuously is very important.

Keep at it and Good Luck!
Larry
 
Great ideas already mentioned. I just wanted to add that I exhale often thru my nose. Not really a problem unless I have a hood on. Then it fills up with air and I have to purge it!
 
detroit diver once bubbled...
Great ideas already mentioned. I just wanted to add that I exhale often thru my nose. Not really a problem unless I have a hood on. Then it fills up with air and I have to purge it!


You have a purge valve on your hood? :confused:
 
Goeduck once bubbled...



You have a purge valve on your hood? :confused:

I should!!

I just reach up and squish my hood near the top of my head, tilt me head down, and the air comes out my neck!
 
Also with the mask off and some water already in part of the nose, when you exhale through your mouth the force of the escaping bubbles can tend to force water further up the nose, the key is to keep some amount of pressure against the water which is trying to come in your nose. Without panicking remember all you need to restore comfort is exhale through your nose and then maintain the positive pressure again.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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