holding nose while scuba diving???

[jbd]

angelita80,

Were you taught how to snorkle and skin dive or did you just do what you saw someone else doing? When you do skindive, do you equalize your ears or just dive until your ears hurt too much to go any deeper?

Air leaking out of your nose when you are consciously holding your breath seems a bit unusual. If you have any other problems with your nose, maybe you should see an ENT to determine if there are any physical problems or deformities internally that might hinder your learning to dive.

If the ENT finds nothing wrong with you nose/nasal passages then you should not really have any problems learning to dive. Barring any physical problems, I think most of your nose holding issues are psychologically based; possibly stemming from childhood experiences or conditioning(you mentioned your mother)

To properly overcome the nose holding issues I would recommend that you learn to snorkle and skin dive from a qualified person. Many of the basic skills tranfer from skin diving to scuba diving. Skin diving is often less intimidating to learn and will let you progress at a pace that is much more individualized to your specific situation. If, or when, you decide to learn to dive, I would also recommend that you take private lessons or at least as part of a very small group for the same reasons. You need to progress at your pace with lots of time and personal attention.

jbd

 

[jbd]

Hi again,

Even with a snorkel mask that covers the nose, I breathe out and then water gets in the mask.

Angela

Its possible, 1.) your mask does not fit properly, 2.) is too tight or 3.) is too loose.

 

[Walter]

The discover SCUBA idea is not a good one. You're not likely to have a good experience.

This is a common problem and relatively easy to overcome.

With your mask on the pool deck, your snorkel in your hand and your weight belt on, get into the shallow end of the pool. You should be where when you stand you are no deeper than waist deep. Put your snorkel in your mouth and breathe from it. Now, bend over and breathe through your snorkel while you dip your face into the water. If you are comfortable, you should stay awhile until you feel natural breathing in this manner. If you have difficulty, think about drinking through a straw while you practice the exercise. Remember, you can always stand up straight to end the exercise at any time. If you need to, you can slowly build up your time until you feel comfortable.

Next, practice dropping underwater, allowing the snorkel to flood and coming up to blast it clear, leaving your face in the water. Continue until you are comfortable

At this point, you have accomplished three important things.

1. You your anxiety level by working in a no risk (shallow) environment.
2. You became an expert in no mask breathing.
3. You know you can breathe with a flooded mask.

Next drop the snorkel to the bottom and recover it, blasting it clear and breathing from the snorkel with your face in the water. This will be a snap for you at this point.

 

[SeanQ]

Another option is to get a mask with a purge valve. When you breath out your nose the air will escape from the valve. This way the seal around your face will not be broken and no water should leak into the mask.

Try this exercise to see if you can prevent yourself from breathing out your nose. Using your tip of your tongue, touch the top of your mouth and move it back as far as you can. You should be able to feel a soft, fleshy portion of your mouth. This is called the soft palette. Normally your soft palette rests in a position that allows air to travel in through both your nose and your mouth. By controling the position of your soft palette, you can control your airway.

Pretend you are sucking on a hard candy. Feel back with your tongue again and touch your soft palette. It should be lowered into a position that is almost perpendicular to the top of your mouth. Practice moving your soft palette around. Now try to see if you can raise it up so it lies flush with the top of your mouth. In this position, your restrict your airway to your mouth only. Try breathing out and by using your hand, feel to see where the air is coming out. It should be coming out of your mouth only.

It takes a bit of practice but once you get the hang of it you can easily do it without thinking. If all else fails, get a mask with a purge valve.

 

[bgi]

The discover SCUBA idea is not a good one. You're not likely to have a good experience.

This is a common problem and relatively easy to overcome.

With your mask on the pool deck, your snorkel in your hand and your weight belt on, get into the shallow end of the pool. You should be where when you stand you are no deeper than waist deep. Put your snorkel in your mouth and breathe from it. Now, bend over and breathe through your snorkel while you dip your face into the water. If you are comfortable, you should stay awhile until you feel natural breathing in this manner. If you have difficulty, think about drinking through a straw while you practice the exercise. Remember, you can always stand up straight to end the exercise at any time. If you need to, you can slowly build up your time until you feel comfortable.

Next, practice dropping underwater, allowing the snorkel to flood and coming up to blast it clear, leaving your face in the water. Continue until you are comfortable

At this point, you have accomplished three important things.

1. You your anxiety level by working in a no risk (shallow) environment.
2. You became an expert in no mask breathing.
3. You know you can breathe with a flooded mask.

Next drop the snorkel to the bottom and recover it, blasting it clear and breathing from the snorkel with your face in the water. This will be a snap for you at this point.

Excellent suggestions and points. This is very similar to the steps I took with my wife after she had trouble with mask clearing. She was unable to block her nasal passage. This made mask clearing difficult, and made breathing underwater with no mask impossible. I had her go to the shallow end of the pool, toss the mask on the deck, and practice breathing through the snorkel with her nose in the water. This eliminated the worrying of inhaling water (just stand up) while allowing her to focus on the one skill - blocking off the nasal passage. Once she was comfortable with this, she tried nose and eyes submerged. Once comfortable with this, she was able to take that additional breath while clearing her mask. It's great to break things down to the components and focus on one thing at a time - really eliminates anxiety and stress.

I like the "think about drinking through a straw" suggestion. That's a great idea.

 

[htn123]

angelita80,
Great suggestions from everyone.
I take it that you know or have been able to equalize your ears when you use the nose clips correct? Because even freediving, you still have to equalize your ears. I freedived myself and yep, when you freedive, you go down fast, you got to be able to equalize your ears fast.
I have read somewhere there is a technique that you can equalize your ears with just using your tongue and swallowing technique but that will take some pratice.

 

[Beldiver]

Hi Angela

I seemed to have the exact opposite problem when I was learning to dive, every time
I removed my mask or done a full flood I couldnt help breathing in through my nose
which wasnt so bad in the pool but didnt taste good in the sea. I found that with practice and being more relaxed I quickly got the hang of it.

What happens if you try breathing only through your mouth
when your on dry land?

Hope you have sucess.
Gary

 

[DennisW]

Walter's method works. My wife had the same problem that is described here and Walter was able to teach her how to dive. She is an excellent diver.

 

[Restart]

Usually when you concentrate on inhale and exhale through the mouth. The nose will not inhale or exhale.

You can practice by placing your finger below the nose, and try to inhale & exhale through mouth. This is my method of practicing, i had problem like you initially, now is fine.

Hope this help,

Cheers.

 

[digitale]

I was raised swimming with a nose clip, you get really used to it. When I started surfing, it was a real concern of mine, but after taking some water up the nose a few times, you quickly learn to adapt. It's pretty horrible at first, but unless you have a medical condition that requires the noseclip, you can usually get over it. Just put yourself in a safe situation where you're doing it. It may not be fun at first, but once you're in the water without the clip, it'll have been worth it. Good luck!