pressure and headaches after diving

[TRiggER2117]

ok so i did my checkout dives to 60 ft. 2 days ago and everytime I ascend my ears KILL me. it hurts so bad and im ascending slowly with my instructor, whenever we did my decompression stop for 3 min. my ears are throbbing and then whenever I go up to the surface and get on the boat I have a headache for a few mins and then I guess my sinuses equalize and I'm fine. Will the ears throbbing go away after time? and my instructor said that it was normal for the first few dives and it would go away and im just makins sure. he said it was my sinuses and they might have clogged or something, Is there any way to prevent it?

and 1 more thing. whenever we were on the boat after my last NAUI certification dive whenever my ears equalized there was a little bit of blood coming out of my nose. he also said that was normal and would go away after time too.

so basically three questions

will my ears hurting go away after a few dives?
any way to prevent my sinuses from bleeding and clogging?
will the nose bleeding go away too?

sorry to ask so much but im just making sure cause I love diving butmy headaches are soo bad. plz help

[comet24]

No need to post a in few sections.

No this is not normal. Pain on assent is called a reverse block. The pressure has equalized in you sinuses during decent but can't escape during assent. This is often accompanied by vertigo or dizziness.

Blood after a dives is not a good thing. For your instructor to tell you it's normal is just plan scary and I will leave it at that.

Have you ever heard of DAN. DAN Divers Alert Network
Good info and the people to do to for diving related medical questions. They can also find doctors experienced in diving related medical issue in your area.

I am not a doctor and you should be talking to one about this.

[fire diver]

Yes, you had a reverse block. this is VERY bad in diving, not deadly bad, but still bad.

The cuase could be as simple as sinus congestion that day, or you could have a physical (medical) problem.

I would call DAN, and maybe setup an appointment with an ENT doc. before you do any more diving.

[TRiggER2117]

okay thanks you guys. and the reason i posted it in another section is because after i posted it in that section i realized it was in the wrong 1 so i just moved it over to this 1

[TRiggER2117]

just 1 more question. how could I have gotten a reverse block if I ascended very slowly. the second time I ascended it was about 20 ft. per min.

[fire diver]

A block is a block. It doesnt matter how slow you ascend. My daughter had the exact thing after only going down to about 12 feet. It took several hours on the surface for her very minor pain/blockage to clear.

[TRiggER2117]

Originally Posted by fire diver

A block is a block. It doesnt matter how slow you ascend. My daughter had the exact thing after only going down to about 12 feet. It took several hours on the surface for her very minor pain/blockage to clear.

yea thats how it was for me. I was sitting on the boat talking to my dad and then suddenly my sinus on my left side cleared and a little blood came out of my nose

[fisheater]

I agree with everything above. Your instructor is scary-wrong. You should call DAN (and join, too).

I write to explain that a reverse squeeze is purely anatomical and not a matter of poor technique. It happens because something is not allowing the expanding air to escape. Get checked out by a medical professional who knows about diving barotraumas. (Hint: most doctors don't)

I know of a full-time instructor/divemaster in Hawaii who had a reverse sqeeze so bad that it required sinus surgery. Her technique was flawless: super slow ascent, as much as her air would allow. She just had a calcified deposit that blocked a pocket of pressurized air.

[scubastud]

Yes please see your doctor.

[Grin]

Clearing on the way down has nothing to do with the pressure clearing on the way up.
Usually people have issues clearing on the way down and few issues on the way up.
But it is possible you screwed your ears up on the way down, unknowingly, then realized you had soem issues when you started up.
There are way to many possibilities, so a decent ear doc, that is dive oriented, is a good idea to try to figure it out. You might be suprised to go to a non dive related ear doc and get little help. Designate your ear doc search as dive related for a much better experience is my recomendation.
I have had issues on the way up, but not like your issues. I have had vertigo upon accent a few times. I decided my issue was due to my sinuses at the beginning of the dive being warm and happy and everything working great. Then, toward the end if the dive my sinuses have thouroughly been chilled by the water. The estation tubes (the tube that eqalization has to use to eqalize) runs right up the side of your neck and, exposed to cold water, can turn the sinuses from warm and loose to cold and clogged is my theory. After much experimentation and testing, and docs, many years ago; I decided my fix was to use a wetsuit with a hood attached to keep my neck, and head, warm and my sinuses warm and happy.
Either my problem went away majically, or my little hood idea works, as I have had no issues since I implemted my little fix.
It's an idea for you anyway. If the water your diving is cold you might give the hood idea a try.
Blood is not a good thing and not normal. I think your instructor made alot of comments that are dangerous to your ears. Be careful with your ears and diving!