TwinFinJim
New
To start off: I have an appointment booked with a DAN recommended ENT next month. However, I'm perplexed by what I'm experiencing, and trying to see if anyone else has encountered something similar and what may have helped them.
I'm having some interesting issues with a Frontal Sinus squeeze (Sinus just underneath eyebrow), but only on a second descent. I am able to make my initial descent with no issues to any depth. However, if I ascend, and then attempt to re-descend, I have horrible pain in my frontal sinus and I am unable to re-descend.
This will happen at any depth for example:
-going over a wreck from 60 ft -> 50 ft I am no longer able to descend back down to 60
-going from 9 ft ->0 I can't even descend back down by a single foot
I'm regularly equalizing, and even try to pre-equalize with no luck. If anything equalizing seems to make it worse. I'm also equalizing my mask throughout the descent.
This issue does not appear between dives. If I'm on the boat between dive spots, I can start my second dive with no issues.
I used to Scuba and Free-dive on vacation. I would spend hours in the water, no issues. (Last vacation was 2019). I recently moved to a scuba destination and have completed 40 dives in the last 8 months. The issue has been there for every dive. Whether it's dropping a foot or 2 during a safety stop, and going over an obstacle, I can't go back down.
The only thing I can think of is:
-Potential allergies to my new environment, however I have no congestion (at least nasal)
-A polyp causing issues (I am unaware of any polyps atm...)
What confuses me is that I would expect either of these to cause issues on my initial descent, or potentially cause issues on ascent with a reverse block, but I've never encountered any issues with my initial descents or with reverse blocks.
Any ideas as to causes or solutions?
As always, I default to the medical professional that does a full exam, and history. But given the weird circumstances I'm encountering these squeezes, I thought I'd see what people have seen to help potentially give context to the issue.
EDIT:
Attached example of a dive
I'm having some interesting issues with a Frontal Sinus squeeze (Sinus just underneath eyebrow), but only on a second descent. I am able to make my initial descent with no issues to any depth. However, if I ascend, and then attempt to re-descend, I have horrible pain in my frontal sinus and I am unable to re-descend.
This will happen at any depth for example:
-going over a wreck from 60 ft -> 50 ft I am no longer able to descend back down to 60
-going from 9 ft ->0 I can't even descend back down by a single foot
I'm regularly equalizing, and even try to pre-equalize with no luck. If anything equalizing seems to make it worse. I'm also equalizing my mask throughout the descent.
This issue does not appear between dives. If I'm on the boat between dive spots, I can start my second dive with no issues.
I used to Scuba and Free-dive on vacation. I would spend hours in the water, no issues. (Last vacation was 2019). I recently moved to a scuba destination and have completed 40 dives in the last 8 months. The issue has been there for every dive. Whether it's dropping a foot or 2 during a safety stop, and going over an obstacle, I can't go back down.
The only thing I can think of is:
-Potential allergies to my new environment, however I have no congestion (at least nasal)
-A polyp causing issues (I am unaware of any polyps atm...)
What confuses me is that I would expect either of these to cause issues on my initial descent, or potentially cause issues on ascent with a reverse block, but I've never encountered any issues with my initial descents or with reverse blocks.
Any ideas as to causes or solutions?
As always, I default to the medical professional that does a full exam, and history. But given the weird circumstances I'm encountering these squeezes, I thought I'd see what people have seen to help potentially give context to the issue.
EDIT:
Attached example of a dive