It's odd that after all the time this thread has been up, not one response detailing one very simple fix.
And there is the answer, presented unintentionally and innocently above, that's the answer to this medical dilemma.
Consider what's going on. When you ascend, your nasal passages and tubes are closed down but pressure inside sinuses are increasing. That's reverse block.
This is air that is left over from descent where you inflated these sinus cavities using VAL SALVA. Pinch and blow. It's stuck in your head and expanding the closer you get to that ladder.
Here's something I noodled out when it happened to me. You can't teach it while it's needed, you need to teach and learn this in advance, on dry land.
Why not try a reverse of that Val Salva. How about pinch and suck?
It works. Also....Massage with thumbs into your eye socket ridge line.
Pinch and suck. Massage.
With slow and repeated descents of five or seven feet, slow ascents, pinch and suck.
You're just deflating a sack.
Pinch and suck, reverse Val Salva