Light headache and dizziness after dives

[JoFo]

Hi Everyone,

After my last few dives, I've been experiencing headaches and dizziness a few hours after the dive for no more than 1 day and I'm wondering what could be causing this.
These dives all lasted about 1 hour and I didn't descend past 12 meters.

In September of last year, I did go on a diving trip where I went into deco on the last dive of the trip. We went deep and the instructor gradually made his way back up, staying at lower depths for a certain amount of time before ascending further.
All of the people in the group's dive computers didn't require a long deco stop other than the regular safety stop. My computer forced me to do an 18 min stop, which I did together with the instructor.

The instructor later explained that my brand of computer (Mares puck) handles this differently than the ones they were using (Suunto Zoop) and that his gradual ascent caused their computers to count down the time, while mine didn't.

Afterwards, I did experience the same symptoms (light headache and dizziness for a few more days after arriving home but it eventually passed). I'm wondering if this is related and/or serious.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

How and why would you go into Deco? Are you certified or was this a discovery dive ?

Im certainly not a Doctor but it sounds like you could have gotten a minor case of bends.

Make sure you hydrate with plenty of water before every dive , do NOT go into deco and ascend at a slow pace .

Also, ditch that instructor and work on your diving skills.

 

[Jack Hammer]

It sounds more like it is CO2 buildup related to how you are breathing during the dives.

 

[caydiver]

I would work on breathing technique. Try humming.

 

[rsingler]

First off, congratulations on handling inadvertent deco in a safe fashion!
Recurrence of your headache and dizziness issue over an extended period would seem to rule out tank air contamination, unless you always brought air from a single supplier for all these dives. And your symptoms are not suggestive of DCS, absent other signs. Carbon dioxide retention would be a possibility as suggested above, but that is typically only true for divers with contributing causes, such as smoking, emphysema or significant asthma, or diving to great depth (>40m) where gas density can impair adequate respiration.
Based on the dive count in your profile, I think the most likely cause is a subtle pressure effect on your ears and or sinuses.
Learning to clear effectively is a challenge for a great many divers early in their careers. Questions about pressure sensations, crackling noises and muffled hearing are quite common. Some symptoms, like crackling noises for a long as a week after repeated dives are merely a symptom of a small amount of retained middle ear fluid, and many divers learn to ignore that if their anatomy allows the fluid to eventually clear. Others never seen to have the problem.
In your case, headache is an unsurprising symptom if you have any retained pressure in any of your sinuses after a dive. That retained pressure may be due to anatomic factors, nasal polyps, congestion or overly forceful clearing technique.
Similarly, transient dizziness may be a function of differential pressure remaining after a dive in one ear versus the other. The conflicting signals to the brain often causes mild dizziness (which should be differentiated from true vertigo, which is a feeling of the room spinning about you).

I would recommend that you have an experienced instructor observe and advise on how you clear your ears for descent, and that you consider a visit to an ear, nose and throat specialist for an exam. Your symptoms are not alarming, so I am not concerned for your safety at this point.

Diving Doc

 

[JoFo]

How and why would you go into Deco? Are you certified or was this a discovery dive ?

Im certainly not a Doctor but it sounds like you could have gotten a minor case of bends.

Make sure you hydrate with plenty of water before every dive , do NOT go into deco and ascend at a slow pace .

Also, ditch that instructor and work on your diving skills.

Hi JackOfDiamonds,
I have the PADI Advanced certification.
We didn't go over the (time) limits for long and stayed at or above 30m, the other divers didn't have to make a long stop at all, It was only my own computer which counted up to 18min.

When you say "could have gotten a minor case of bends", would you say I'd have to get myself checked out (even if it occured over 6 months ago) before I dive again?
Could this still be impacting me today?

Working on my diving skills is certainly something that I'm aware I need to do, however, the only way to do so is to dive
That particular experience made me realize I had to watch my computer way more often, even when following an instructor/dive master, which I'm now doing.

It sounds more like it is CO2 buildup related to how you are breathing during the dives.

I would work on breathing technique. Try humming.

Hi Jack Hammer & caydiver,
Thanks. I've done some Googling into the CO2 buildup, and when you're talking about breathing technique, you mean exhaling more to dump the CO2?
When diving, I don't feel like I'm 'controling my breathing'. I don't even think about it so I assumed I was doing it right (relaxed).

Kind regards,

 

[JoFo]

First off, congratulations on handling inadvertent deco in a safe fashion!
Recurrence of your headache and dizziness issue over an extended period would seem to rule out tank air contamination, unless you always brought air from a single supplier for all these dives. And your symptoms are not suggestive of DCS, absent other signs. Carbon dioxide retention would be a possibility as suggested above, but that is typically only true for divers with contributing causes, such as smoking, emphysema or significant asthma, or diving to great depth (>40m) where gas density can impair adequate respiration.
Based on the dive count in your profile, I think the most likely cause is a subtle pressure effect on your ears and or sinuses.
Learning to clear effectively is a challenge for a great many divers early in their careers. Questions about pressure sensations, crackling noises and muffled hearing are quite common. Some symptoms, like crackling noises for a long as a week after repeated dives are merely a symptom of a small amount of retained middle ear fluid, and many divers learn to ignore that if their anatomy allows the fluid to eventually clear. Others never seen to have the problem.
In your case, headache is an unsurprising symptom if you have any retained pressure in any of your sinuses after a dive. That retained pressure may be due to anatomic factors, nasal polyps, congestion or overly forceful clearing technique.
Similarly, transient dizziness may be a function of differential pressure remaining after a dive in one ear versus the other. The conflicting signals to the brain often causes mild dizziness (which should be differentiated from true vertigo, which is a feeling of the room spinning about you).

I would recommend that you have an experienced instructor observe and advise on how you clear your ears for descent, and that you consider a visit to an ear, nose and throat specialist for an exam. Your symptoms are not alarming, so I am not concerned for your safety at this point.

Diving Doc

Hi rsingler,
Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this out.
I guess I could try to clear more often. I generally never had any real issues with it aside from my first dive when clearing was very hard for one ear. After this first dive, it all went pretty smooth, although a tad slower than other divers, which is fine by me.

Would clearing or trying to after a dive help the pressure differential between ears?
When I try to at the moment, one ear does 'pop' more quickly than the other. Could this be a cause: one ear clearing fully, while the other struggles a bit more and keeps some pressure that I don't actually feel?

Kind regards

 

[rsingler]

Would clearing or trying to after a dive help the pressure differential between ears?
When I try to at the moment, one ear does 'pop' more quickly than the other. Could this be a cause: one ear clearing fully, while the other struggles a bit more and keeps some pressure that I don't actually feel?

Clearing after a dive, if done gently, can help facilitate clearing of accumulated fluid in the middle ear. Done too forcefully, and it can exacerbate a problem. But as you suggested, it may help equalize any disparity between your ears.
If the problem recurs, I would really recommend your seeing an ENT specialist, especially one with diving familiarity.
Good luck to you!

 

[uncfnp]

Hi JoFo.

Just to clarify a bit. Dizzy means different things to different people. Can you describe exactly what you feel when you say you feel dizzy. When it happens is it constant or does it come and go? If intermittent does anything seem to cause it or make it worse? Have you ever felt this way when you have not been diving?

 

[Jack Hammer]

@JoFo sometimes divers will breath shallow or unintentionally skip breaths. Also they will frequently breath in irregularly to "control" or "maintain" bouyancy. This can lead to CO2 retention.

Another issue, as brought up by @rsingler, is pressure related. Not clearing frequently can, among other things, inflame sinuses. An imbalance when equalizing or ascending, reverse block, can cause dizziness. The greater the imbalance, the worse the symptoms.

Your issues could be one or even a combination of all these things or it could be something completely different. You may want to consider call DAN (Divers Alert Network) and talk with a medical professional familiar with diving, they dont charge to talk to you. 919-684-2948