Got a reverse block

[Doc]

Either try it or have somebody lower a power drill with a long thin drill bit.... Might want to try pinch and suck first. Got another plan?

 

[Wingy]

Had one aborting a dive off Halmahera - most painful dive. I pity anyone who has a reverse block.

 

[KevinNM]

I was also skeptical at first glance, but as I understand it now reverse blocks are actual blockages of some sort preventing your now high-pressure sinus cavity from expelling its excess air via your Eustachian tubes. In other words, your plumbing is plugged up. Options are pretty limited once it happens - you can stretch the tubes with jaw and head movements and add pressure on the blockage with the reverse Val Salva to add to what you are getting through existing pressure gradients - but it definitely doesn't appear to be a cure-all.

I would also be curious about how much reverse Val Salva pressure can be applied without risking closing the Eustachian tubes, though. Going down we don't force things, but coming up with a reverse block is coming up in a state of being thoroughly screwed. Some force would seem acceptable under the circumstances.

That’s backwards. Your sinuses are next to your nose, connected to your airway by what are typically fairly large free flowing passages. (More or less anyhow). Your ears are pressurized and depressurized by the tiny and fairly easily blocked Eustachian tubes.