Not long ago I went snorkeling in Hawaii. I had a great time, thanks for asking.
For the first 4-5 feet or so underwater, I could swim around following brightly colored fish and everything was great.
Sometimes I would follow some fish or interesting thing down a little farther (maybe 5.5-6 feet, it’s hard to remember) and I could very quickly feel a squeeze on my face. About 12 inches below “the squeeze” is PAIN. I hit the pain barrier a couple of times and it always surprised me how sudden and intense it was.
I assume it has to do with pressure in my sinuses and all. Is this normal? How do other people get around this?
What you’re interested in is called “equalizing.” This article seems as good a place as any to start reading up on it. Snorkeling, scuba diving, or just swimming to the bottom of the deep end of the pool, it’s all the same principle.
It is possible you’re always going to have problems equalizing. It’s not that uncommon of a problem, and asking your doctor about it the next time you happen to be there would be a good idea.
Yes, it’s normal, though usually people feel the pain in their ears rather than their sinuses first. It is, as you surmised, caused by the pressure differential between the air inside your sinuses and ears and the water outside it. Specifically, the increased pressure closes some canals, preventing more air from coming in and/or tries to punch your eardrums in. In fact if you keep going down after the PAIN starts, your eardrums *will *eventually burst which as I understand it is not a pleasant experience.
A similar same phenomenon happens when you go up too fast (whether surfacing from a dive after your pressure has adjusted to deep sea conditions, or when you’re in an airplane), but in that case it’s the air inside your sinuses that expands and tries to burst outwards.
People get around it by equalizing the two pressures, and the method varies. My dad says he can do it more or less at will just by swallowing, but I never could so I have to pinch my nose and blow it.
I assume you were wearing a proper snorkel mask that covered your nose (as opposed to swim goggles that only covered your eyes).
Were you holding your breath by closing your throat, and neglecting to equalize the pressure behind your mask? If so, this could result in your sinuses swelling. The hydrostatic pressure on your body increases with depth, and your absolute blood pressure increases accordingly; if you don’t introduce more air the space behind your goggles, (and therefore also into your nasal passages), then the pressure there remains low (somewhere close to atmospheric pressure), and your jacked up blood pressure will make your sinus tissues swell.
Yea, I have little muscles inside my head that I can flex and equalize the pressure in my ears. I don’t know how to describe it, they are very similar to swallowing muscles.
I remember my scuba instructor commenting in class that you should never, under any circumstances, dive on antihistamines. For example, the type we sell here at the dive shop…right at the front counter…
For the benefit of non-divers - if you have a cold or get congested easily…an antihistamine will let you dive and avoid some sinus issues. But if it wears off while you are at depth, it can be VERY bad. Sinus pain on the way down makes you want to go back up. Sinus pain on the way UP (reverse squeeze) makes you want to stay down…but you eventually have to surface.
-D/a
The dive shop I got my PADI training from referred to epinephrine as “Vitamin S”. On one wall, they kept a photo of some poor bozo who forgot to (or couldn’t) equalize and gave himself two black eyes.
Then again there were almost all douchebag coke fiends, so take that with a grain of salt.
So, is it really that you shouldn’t dive with clogged sinuses, but decongestants will allow you to do so because they clear up the sinuses, so you’ll be all, “Oh yeah, I’m great, things are fine,” and then you’ll be 250 feet down exploring the wreck of a German U-boat off the New Jersey coast when suddenly BAM! the drugs wear off and your sinuses swell up to the size of grapefruits and you can’t equalize at all and you’re doomed, DOOMED I SAY!!! ?
ETA: Or is there something about decongestants themselves that makes diving while taking them a Bad Thing?
I can remember severe ear pain while diving in a pool deeper than about 8 feet. My solution was never to go that deep again.
It was similar to the ear pain I experience while flying, but I can equalize it by swallowing when I fly.
Last year, I flew while I was having sinus problems, and I had no ear trouble, but from the time the plane got over 5000 feet until it landed, I had the most excruciating sinus pain behind my nose and eyes. Nothing I did would equalize it. I was lacking any heavy narcotics that would put me to sleep, so I downed a few little blue bottles of vodka and passed out until the plane landed.
The former. You’re congested. Decongestants make you artificially un-congested. If they wear off at depth, it’s going to be painful and/or damaging to come back up.