kdsmithjr
Contributor
Not sure if this is the right forum. I have about 180 dives and an advanced card, so I'm not tenderfoot green, but I aint got no barnacles either. Here is the history....and then the question:
About 15 dives ago i noticed that when i surfaced I had a spliting headache....almost blinding. I looked around to see if there were any visual problems (i'm 61 and i have a recent history of mild high blood pressure). No visual issues but the pain was excrusiating. The location was right between my eyebrows and it was like a super "ice cream headache"....i know we've all had those. I got back on the boat and the pain didn't really subside a lot even after an hour and a half topside and a relaxing...except of the pain....lunch on a beach here in the Davao Gulf. I canned the second plan dive of the day. By the time i got back to the dive op in Davao City i was functional...only mild pain that mefanamic acid took care of.
I have a diving buddy who is a surgeon and i dive with a lot of very experienced DM's. they all thought that I might have had a reverse block, even though there was on indication of too rapid ascent on my dive com. Most thought this because symptoms appeared on the surface; there were no symptoms at depth; and there was mention that only being in the Philippines a year or so at the time that I might be developing allergies that cause sinus inflamation that is not serious enough to be noticible on dry land. I too their advice and next time i dove i took an antihistamine (non drowsy) and a nasal decongestant about an hour before the dive. No headache and the two dives with that "self treatment" went well. Over the next few weeks or so i took an antibiotic...in case there was bacterial sinus infection, the anti histamine and the nasal decongestant. And no problems during dives of about 50-75 ft OR on dives to slightly more than 100 ft. In all cases I watch my dive comp so no too rapid ascents occur. Occasionally i would hear a telltale "squirt" (indicating air movement) but deep inside my head between my eyebrows not behind my ears. I surmise that my sinuses were not bone dry and clear but they were healthy enough for air to equalize naturally.
The last few dives I've taken no medication and, about 75% of the time, there is no real problem. About 20% of the time there is mild (seeming) sinus pain....which resolves itself on the surface going from mildly painful to not a bother at all within minutes. My last medicine-less dive was a repeat of my first excruciaing experience and, this time, on the surface, there was a violent, involuntary evacuation of my sinus, thru my right nostil, what was almost so powerful that it could propel me thru the water (no really put the volume of air thru my nostril was enormous). After the involutary violent "blow" the pain went from intense to almost nothing. all in a matter of seconds.
Question: Am I suffering from a classic reverse block? I know i can probably get some relief by going back down but I'd like to know what else i can do....especially in terms of prevention.
Thanks in advance.
About 15 dives ago i noticed that when i surfaced I had a spliting headache....almost blinding. I looked around to see if there were any visual problems (i'm 61 and i have a recent history of mild high blood pressure). No visual issues but the pain was excrusiating. The location was right between my eyebrows and it was like a super "ice cream headache"....i know we've all had those. I got back on the boat and the pain didn't really subside a lot even after an hour and a half topside and a relaxing...except of the pain....lunch on a beach here in the Davao Gulf. I canned the second plan dive of the day. By the time i got back to the dive op in Davao City i was functional...only mild pain that mefanamic acid took care of.
I have a diving buddy who is a surgeon and i dive with a lot of very experienced DM's. they all thought that I might have had a reverse block, even though there was on indication of too rapid ascent on my dive com. Most thought this because symptoms appeared on the surface; there were no symptoms at depth; and there was mention that only being in the Philippines a year or so at the time that I might be developing allergies that cause sinus inflamation that is not serious enough to be noticible on dry land. I too their advice and next time i dove i took an antihistamine (non drowsy) and a nasal decongestant about an hour before the dive. No headache and the two dives with that "self treatment" went well. Over the next few weeks or so i took an antibiotic...in case there was bacterial sinus infection, the anti histamine and the nasal decongestant. And no problems during dives of about 50-75 ft OR on dives to slightly more than 100 ft. In all cases I watch my dive comp so no too rapid ascents occur. Occasionally i would hear a telltale "squirt" (indicating air movement) but deep inside my head between my eyebrows not behind my ears. I surmise that my sinuses were not bone dry and clear but they were healthy enough for air to equalize naturally.
The last few dives I've taken no medication and, about 75% of the time, there is no real problem. About 20% of the time there is mild (seeming) sinus pain....which resolves itself on the surface going from mildly painful to not a bother at all within minutes. My last medicine-less dive was a repeat of my first excruciaing experience and, this time, on the surface, there was a violent, involuntary evacuation of my sinus, thru my right nostil, what was almost so powerful that it could propel me thru the water (no really put the volume of air thru my nostril was enormous). After the involutary violent "blow" the pain went from intense to almost nothing. all in a matter of seconds.
Question: Am I suffering from a classic reverse block? I know i can probably get some relief by going back down but I'd like to know what else i can do....especially in terms of prevention.
Thanks in advance.