Anyone SCUBA or Snorkel? My ears hurt

[Zeze]

How do you do it? Or how do those free divers go so deep?

If my head is at the bottom of the 9' deep pool, my ears hurt very badly. Is that just me? If not, how do other overcome this?

 

[rudder]

valsalva

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Valsalva's+maneuver

Water is heavy and you need to equalize pressure.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

There are a bunch of air spaces in your body. In your head you have the sinuses and the ears. When you dive down, the air gets compressed so the air spaces shrink in size, causing all manner of issues, some painful, like in the ears. So you have to put additional air into those spaces to equalize the internal pressure with the outside pressure. Otherwise those spaces would implode more and more.

The most common and easy to do is the valsalva maneuvor, which is basically to pinch your nose shut and blow into your nose, causing extra air to reach those spaces. Equalize early and often. Do not wait until you experience pain.

 

[SirStev0]

I only scuba'ed in pools. It was cool though. I guess.

 

[Oyeve]

You need to equalize your ears. When I took my first dive after training NAUI and PADI I didnt regulate my ears properly and got the worse ear infection in history.

 

[purbeast0]

you simply have to pop your ears while underwater. plug your knows and blow out your knows, and you are good to go. have to do it every few feet you go down once you start going down.

i love snorkeling and going down like 20-30 feet and checking stuff out, although i can't hold my breath very long.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Yep, gotta clear your ears. Divers have to equalize their mask as well, lest they look like a raccoon from the bruise when they surface.

 

[Zeze]

you simply have to pop your ears while underwater. plug your knows and blow out your knows, and you are good to go. have to do it every few feet you go down once you start going down.

i love snorkeling and going down like 20-30 feet and checking stuff out, although i can't hold my breath very long.

Can't that blow out your eardrums? Or does that only apply at surface?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Can't that blow out your eardrums? Or does that only apply at surface?

No, it can't. Have you never done this before, such as on an airplane flight?

Some people do have a hard time clearing their ears this way. People who can't do it are not permitted to train to SCUBA dive because it is unsafe to descend without the ability to clear your ears.

 

[Gooberlx2]

No, it can't. Have you never done this before, such as on an airplane flight?

Some people do have a hard time clearing their ears this way. People who can't do it are not permitted to train to SCUBA dive because it is unsafe to descend without the ability to clear your ears.

Yep. Shouldn't have to blow hard to clear your ears. If you do, then you probably should have cleared them earlier (ascend a bit and try again), or you might be sick and probably shouldn't be diving, or you're one of those few who have physical impediments to doing this easily and probably shouldn't be diving.

When I worked at an aquarium, it wasn't practical to take a day off just for the sniffles and would often have to suck it up and dive anyway (unless there was a volunteer or co-worker around I could snag to do my dive). At 20-ish feet, it's not a massive deal as far as pain goes so long as I can clear a little bit, but it would definitely keep my sinuses fucked up longer.

 

[kage69]

Some of the guys I used to dive with took a Sudafed (or something similar) before dives if they had trouble equalizing.

When I was 15 during my initial Open Water certification I had issues too, they just went away as I dove more. If it's an ongoing thing make sure you don't have a sinus infection, avoid diving if you do. Whatever you do don't try to be a tough guy and put up with it, and don't hold your nose underwater and blow for all your worth. Bad news.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Some of the guys I used to dive with took a Sudafed (or something similar) before dives if they had trouble equalizing.

When I was 15 during my initial Open Water certification I had issues too, they just went away as I dove more. If it's an ongoing thing make sure you don't have a sinus infection, avoid diving if you do. Whatever you do don't try to be a tough guy and put up with it, and don't hold your nose underwater and blow for all your worth. Bad news.

Nowadays they warn against doing that. Say that you take Sudafed and it's enough to get you down. Now you're at depth and the medicine wears off, and you're plugged up again. You're effectively trapped at depth because as you go up your inside spaces won't be able to purge the expanding air.

 

[Fayd]

How do you do it? Or how do those free divers go so deep?

If my head is at the bottom of the 9' deep pool, my ears hurt very badly. Is that just me? If not, how do other overcome this?

valsalva if you have to. if you're in good condition and your airways are completely clear, you should be able to just blow out your nose and that equalizes your middle ears and sinuses.

 

[Zeze]

No, it can't. Have you never done this before, such as on an airplane flight?

Some people do have a hard time clearing their ears this way. People who can't do it are not permitted to train to SCUBA dive because it is unsafe to descend without the ability to clear your ears.

You SURE?

I'm pretty sure if I block my nose and blow as hard as I can, I'll definitely fvck up something in my ears.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

You SURE?

I'm pretty sure if I block my nose and blow as hard as I can, I'll definitely fvck up something in my ears.

If you do it and fvck up something in your ears, you've got medical problems that need to be addressed. The worst that can happen is temporary blockage that will muffle sound but isn't harmful.

 

[GasX]

Some people can clear their ears easier than others. Some can do it by swallowing, some need to pinch there nose and sometimes it is hard. If you are in the hard camp, it helps to perform the valsalva many times before you even get in the water. Once you descend, start doing it before it hurts. If your ears hurt you are too deep to equalize. Never go diving when you have sinus issues. You can take a pseudoephedrine to open yourself up, but that can cause its own problems such as if it wears off while you are underwater and you can't equalize on the way up!

 

[mnewsham]

You SURE?

I'm pretty sure if I block my nose and blow as hard as I can, I'll definitely fvck up something in my ears.

Yup I used to do it all the time when I was bored in class just for the hell of it.

You shouldn't need to blow all that hard though. Like blowing up a balloon or something.

 

[Gooberlx2]

You SURE?

I'm pretty sure if I block my nose and blow as hard as I can, I'll definitely fvck up something in my ears.

You shouldn't have to blow as hard as you can. If you have to do that, then yes, you're going to have issues.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

You SURE?

I'm pretty sure if I block my nose and blow as hard as I can, I'll definitely fvck up something in my ears.

Like others have said, you don't need to blow as hard as you can. Just blow a little until it equalizes. You'll feel it when it does. Some people are able to do it without even needing to pinch the nose (Frenzel maneuver). I need a little bit more force to equalize my ears, so I have to use Valsalva.

If you need to blow really hard using valsalva just to clear your ears, that's probably an indication that you're too blocked up and shouldn't be diving that day (this happens to all of us from time to time). If it happens all the time, you might be one who is unable to dive at all (some people unfortunately fall into this camp - they're completely unable to equalize, sometimes due to a previous ear injury).