diverrick
Contributor
Years ago I had a dive planned for the north coast in CA. When the day arrived, I had all the signs of a cold coming on.
I didn't want to disappoint all the other divers, by bailing, so I (unwisely) chose to take some medicine for the congestion. when we arrived at the dive site, I began my dive, and around 30 ft. I found I couldn't equalize, after trying numerous times, I gave up and attempted to come back up, and found that I couldn't equalize at all. The pain was terrible! but I had to come up some time. We tried for awhile to relieve the pain in my sinus's but to no avail. we headed to shore, and I took some aspirin. after a few hours I was miserable, and we all decided to go home. It felt as if my upper teeth were going to blow out of my head. As we climbed up and away from sea level, the pain got even worse. I gave up at one point (I even ran back down a hill to relieve the pain) and we contacted a doctor, who told me to put as much nose spray as I could into my nose, and that relieved the pressure in time, It was sweet relief to hear the air escape out. That event caused me to not dive for over 5 years! It hurt that much!
Never ever dive while you have a cold or sinus problems! believe me.
I didn't want to disappoint all the other divers, by bailing, so I (unwisely) chose to take some medicine for the congestion. when we arrived at the dive site, I began my dive, and around 30 ft. I found I couldn't equalize, after trying numerous times, I gave up and attempted to come back up, and found that I couldn't equalize at all. The pain was terrible! but I had to come up some time. We tried for awhile to relieve the pain in my sinus's but to no avail. we headed to shore, and I took some aspirin. after a few hours I was miserable, and we all decided to go home. It felt as if my upper teeth were going to blow out of my head. As we climbed up and away from sea level, the pain got even worse. I gave up at one point (I even ran back down a hill to relieve the pain) and we contacted a doctor, who told me to put as much nose spray as I could into my nose, and that relieved the pressure in time, It was sweet relief to hear the air escape out. That event caused me to not dive for over 5 years! It hurt that much!
Never ever dive while you have a cold or sinus problems! believe me.
