equalising?

[CRAZY FINS!!]

just a quickie, after seeing my e.n.t specialist a few months back after slight ear injury(caused by poor equilising) she suggested pracising equalising to work the little tube's between nose and ear(forget there real name) i have been doing this but tend to find that my left ear will noticably equalise before my right,i dont want to continue trying to equalise my right as my left already popped(am i making this clear?)i know my nose bone slightly restricting my right nasal passage so this probably why my left goes easily. Does anyone else notice this with themselves? i tend to find that when i dive i pressurise my throat rather than my nose and so failing to equalise as im doing it wrong.... simply put should my ears pop at the same time???

[ScubaDiva]

Hi Crazy Fins,

it would be nice if your ears did 'pop' at the same time but there are lots of reasons why they might not. When you are equalising your ears you are essentially trying to get enough air through the eustacian tube to the middle ear to balance against the pressure being exerted externally when you go to depth. This makes the the pressure on the external and internal aspects of the tympanic membrame equal. (obviously as you go deeper you needs to 'push' more and more air into the middle ear to achieve this)

See http://health.howstuffworks.com/question193.htm and then http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index...jID=AP1502 (this one has the anatomy of the ear).

If one of your eustacian tubes is narrower, has some sort of blockage, or inflammation it would take longer to equalise that ear since the rate at which air can move through it is less than for the other ear. It sounds like your left one might just be a bit narrower if the ENT surgeon could find nothing else wrong.

The way to deal with it is just to descend slowly, being patient and wait for the left one to equalise as well.

Hope that helps.

[CRAZY FINS!!]

Thans diva , i do try to descend slowly but when my buddy drops like a stone with no problems it does piddle me off!, i tend to try to keep up,feel pressure then it eases and im fine, im hoping with more dives under my belt this will improve as the little tube gets excercise!

[andy_richardson]

I have a similar problem - my left ear takes longer to equalise than my right. The way I deal with it is to equalise before I need to and to equalise all the way down. I don't give a s**t how fast my buddy is going down, I want to enjoy my dive, not suffer! Don't, under any circumstances, take any sort of decongestant preparation such as Sudafed if you suspect gunked up eustacian tubes, as most contain compounds which can have adverse reactions at depth. Just take your time - I do and it works every time.

[ScubaDiva]

It might get easier but in any case most buddies will understand that they are going to have to do a slow descent. Better a slower descent than a quick one that results some barotrauma to your ear!

If it makes you feel any better I used tyo be able to equalise just by swallowing which was useful as it kept my hands free - now I have to pinch my nose which is slightly annoying for me. Still it doesn't really matter.

[MK_Stu]

Make your buddy aware of the problem if he/she still buddy descends like a stone: get another buddy.

The eustacian tubes generally adapt over time: when I started I had ear problems after every dive - now I dive 2 or 3 times a week and usually between to 20 and 40m and no problem at all. Just stick with it and the key is - pain is not acceptable. If it hurts, even a little bit, ascend and wait until you can equalise.

I have a great document that I downloaded on equalisation: I don't have a soft copy but I will try a scan it and send you a copy (I am a bit IT illiterate).

Good luck but don't worry you will get there.

Regards

Stu

And will the bloody spellcheck stop insisting that there is a Z ("zeeee" presumably) in equalise

[CRAZY FINS!!]

Thanks for the replies, i was hoping it would be said that things would get better in time, ill stick to my nice slow decents for now then. cheers .

[Polly]

Things don't necessarily better in time but you do learn to read your body in time. I'm prone to probs with my ears - not necessarily both, sometimes just one. There's nothing you can really do but ascend a little, have patience and see it through. Ask Baz...he's witnessed mine to a mind-numbingly boring extent.

But you should never push it - either one or the other - and even abandon the dive if you have to. The ulitmate penalty is always going to be cocking them completely and never diving again.

The more you dive, at various depths and in various situations, the better you'll be at understanding how your body reacts to pressure. Just give it time and practice mate!

[shortcuts]

I have the same problem.
I used to be able to descend freefall (parachute style) like a stone and for me that was the first highlight to the dive. I now find that, as the result of advice, I have to descend in an upright position and very much more slowly.
Also something I have found to be VERY helpful is the ProEar 2000 dive mask. Check it out by googling but start here:-
http://www.proear2000.com/
Also a very good site to access dive medical info:-
http://www.e-med.co.uk/diving/dive_quest...cat=76#top

Hope you get by and that some of this will help you out. Good luck.

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[ScubaDiva]

(16-11-2008 08:22 AM)shortcuts Wrote:  Also something I have found to be VERY helpful is the ProEar 2000 dive mask.

I've seen these and am intrigued how do they work shortcuts? Also surely the ear bit only works when you dive without a hood, unless it can cannily work through a hood?