Bloody Mucus

[Tabascocat]

Ever since I started diving in 1988, the majority of time that I come up from dives there is blood and mucus in the bottom of my mask. Sometimes a lot, some not so much. It seems to be worse on dives >70ft where it effects me. On the shallower dives, it is a 50/50 chance I will have any....and this is after the first deeper dive.

I have broken my nose a few times, but two of those occasions occurred in the late '90's, guess I can't blame that. I have seen a Dr once about it and he said it was just the capillaries bursting and nothing to worry about. My wife is a nurse practitioner and basically said the same thing, but she does not dive and doesn't see the results.

I do not get headaches, no pain, nothing...just a bloody muck. I suspect that I am descending down too fast and not allowing proper equalization. I try to descend slower but once I hit that water, I probably don't realize it and go down too fast. I do descend headfirst, could this be the problem as well?

Is the blood something that I should worry about? It isn't pouring out, just mixes with mucous and looks gross, especially to the newer divers who ascend with me

I am not getting any younger and wonder if I should see an ENT doc before my next trip. On the flipside, it has never stopped me before and I hate going to the doctors office :cool2:

 

[doctormike]

The nose has an excellent blood supply, with relatively big blood vessels right on the surface of the lining of the nose. Also, since this lining (mucosa) is in the front of the airway, it tends to dry out (for divers, this can be made worse by the dry air in a scuba tank). It is the only place in the body like this, which is one of the reasons that nosebleeds are common and mouth bleeds aren't. Most normal nosebleeds come from the area in the front of the septum, this is also the area which is injured by nose-picking.

In diving, another common reason for nosebleeds is sinus barotrauma. Just like the ears, the sinuses have air spaces that need to be equalized during descent and ascent. Sudden pressure changes (for example, if you have difficulty equalizing and then suddenly the sinuses open with a rush of air) can be more traumatic and can cause bleeding in the sinus mucosa, which will also cause a nosebleed - frequently mixed with mucus from the sinuses.

More rare causes are bleeding conditions (like taking a blood thinner, or a congenital clotting problem), or even various growths inside the nose.

Best approach is a good ENT exam to rule out some of these things (PM me with your location, I may be able to give you a local referral). Keeping the nose moist also helps for nosebleeds in general. There are a lot of nasal lubricants out there, I find that Bactroban works well.

Dive safe!

Mike

 

[PatW]

When I finish a dive, I typically have a rather large amount of mucus that needs evacuation from my nasal passages. When I was new to diving, I experienced difficulty equalizing. For some reason, it is much easier now. It is as if the whole apparatus is now broken in. Early on, the mucus was often bright red. Having worked with blood samples in the lab, I know that blood is loaded with pigment. I doubt that I ever had as much as a milliliter of blood mixed in with the mucus. I probably had a few capilllaries burst in equalization as mentioned above. It was no big deal. You might limit the experience be equalizing early and often. If the stuff you have is more blood than mucus, well that would be worrying.

 

[doctormike]

I once went diving with a cold (yup, bad diver and patient, but I don't like missing dives).

Took a long time to equalize on descent, and I knew just what was going to happen on the way up. Sure enough, I got a reverse sinus squeeze! So I'm sitting on the boat with what were essentially pressurized scuba tanks in my face (maxillary sinuses) - it was AGONY. I still remember how wonderful it felt when they finally opened up, accompanied by a huge rush of blood and mucus.

Sat alone on the way back.

PS don't try this with your ears...!