Dive Class Report

[Samson]

Well the good news is,.. there are no shop owners floating in the pool this morning!!
The bad news is......well,.. there isnt any!!
We had a great evening with our instructors,.. they were exceptionally nice and pleasant to be around. It was a true joy to watch my wife and 13yr old take to the water with ease. My 13 year old would not shut up the entire way home he was on such a high!!!! He did amazingly well... He did not have a single issue and other than getting a little chilled, (as I expected) and could not be pried out of the water. My wife, who was quite worried about panicing under water, was in paradise. She was up til 1am talking my ear off about it.
To say that I am relieved, after our negative experience we had, that all went so well, is a huge understatement.
The only one with any issues, is sadly, myself. I was concerned about my ears, and well, I was right. I had some issues equalizing and woke this morning with some ear pain. I am going to try some Proplugs and see if that helps....

Other than that.. ... :occasion5:

Samson-

[Dusty2]

Congrats! hope all continues to flow smoothly and the enthusiasm continues also. This can be a great family sport and it's sooo much easier and more enjoyable if the wife is as turned on as you are.

[Sounder]

Glad you're having fun. Equalize early and often - every foot if necessary. If it isn't clearing, ascend a bit a try again... do NOT force it. If your ears are hurting, as hard as it will be, stay out of the pool and consider seeing the ENT. Forcing anything will only make it worse.

Keep talking with your instructors and let them know... but don't let anyone encourage you to do something uncomfortable, even if it's you pressuring yourself to keep up with your wife and boy.

[Samson]

So here is the question, .... as far as ears go.... I get this same feeling when I just go swimming also... We owned a pool in Idaho and everytime I went in and did any diving I got this same kind of feeling....I always just labeled it.."swimmers ear"

I mean, am I just being paranoid??? There was never any Pain per se, while diving last night.... It just felt like I had water rolling around in my ear canals... I am able to pop my ear drums and they are intact....

I dunno.... perhaps I am just being paranoid......

Samson-

[Sounder]

So here is the question, .... as far as ears go.... I get this same feeling when I just go swimming also... We owned a pool in Idaho and everytime I went in and did any diving I got this same kind of feeling....I always just labeled it.."swimmers ear"

I mean, am I just being paranoid??? There was never any Pain per se, while diving last night.... It just felt like I had water rolling around in my ear canals... I am able to pop my ear drums and they are intact....

I dunno.... perhaps I am just being paranoid......

Samson-

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor and didn't play one on TV...

Swimmer's Ear, if I'm not mistaken, is a common name for a bacterial infection... Lynne? Valerie?

Having water in the ears that you can shake out is common and fine - I always have to shake my ears out. Something to try here if it's annoying you is a little rubbing alcohol... just pour some in your ear with your head turned sideways and let it seep all the way in. Let it sit for a second and then turn your head so it runs out... it should mix with any water that is in there and expedite evaporation.

If you're able to equalize the pressure in your ears and have no pain, then I would think you're most likely fine. The difference is determining whether you're just annoyed by water in the ear or whether there is a structural issue.

There are several other equalization techniques too. I'm fortunate enough to be able to go head-down and dive without stopping as I can clear my ears constantly during descend without plugging my nose. Some can, some can't... some use valsalva (most likely what you were taught), but another good one to try is the Frenzle-Fattah manuver which was developed by record-holding free divers. You can read more about it here (near the bottom of the page): http://liquivision.ca/liquivisiondownloads.html

[Samson]

What do you folks think about these?????

http://www.proear2000.com/

Anyone ever try them???


Samson-

[Nwbrewer]

I think you'd look cooler in this -
http://www.gmcscuba.com/ProductInfo.asp ... ctid=63011

[Dusty2]

What do you folks think about these?????

http://www.proear2000.com/

Anyone ever try them???


Samson-

I have never tried them but they stock them at All in One scuba in Tacoma

[Tom Nic]

Congrats Samson! To you and your fam and to your instructors! Glad you're all having a great experience!

[nwscubamom]

I'm SO glad you're having a good experience with the lessons so far! YAY!!

I never did recall hearing - would they let you take your own equipment to use in class?

I too get the weird 'water in the ears' feeling, but it doesn't hurt, and it's a completely different sensation than being able to CLEAR your ears. One is on the outside, one is the inside.

Yes, swimmer's ear is a bacterial infection of the outer ear canal. One trick that can help get the excess water out (besides the alcohol drops) is leaning to the side of the affected ear, and tugging on your earlobe a smidge. This straightens out the ear canal and lets the water drain out a bit easier. Since you experienced this when in a swimming pool just messing around, I suspect it doesn't have to do with pressure - probably more with just water in your ears, yes?

Diving brings with it all sorts of new sensations to get used to. After awhile you don't pay a whole lot of attention to them all - it becomes second nature.

Keep up the interesting reports!

- Janna

[Jabberjaw]

I am currently battling a 2nd ear issue in the same month. It seems to start with a buildup of wax and standing water in the ear. I talked with the doctor this morning about what to do. She said keep the ear dry. How I ask. She said what works best is using a 50% solution of vineagar and alcohol. I asked about the air dryers that DAN sells for $130.00, she said Target sells them for less and they are not as effective as the ear beer solution. I did not use ear beer as I should of this past week teaching an OW class. And once again on dry land for a week. I would check out this site and listen to Doc Kay's ear lecture

http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/

You can exercise the eustation tubes before the dive and this helps. Also relaxing on descent helps as well. Good luck with your class.

Greg

[JimmyEis]

I get a lot of wax build up and it causes problems.

Before I dive about the day before or so I rinse out my ears with warm water with one of those ....hmmm how do i explain it.... blue rubber bulb squirter thingys.....ever since I have done this I don't feel like I have water in my ears that is stuck and clearing is easier.

My wife uses those plugs for about 20-30 dives now(warm and cold water) and loves them.

[Jabberjaw]

....blue rubber bulb squirter thingys.....

I call them "baby snot suckers". that is when I had to first use one. On my son 20 years ago.

[dsteding]

If you are getting a watery feeling in your ears after diving it can also be edema, fluid loss from the surrounding tissues of your ears. Cause is not equalizing early and often-I had problems with that when I was a newer diver, and a quick conversation with Lynne (LCF) resulted in me clearing my ears more on descent (almost staying ahead of the pressure-if you are feeling pressure, it is getting too late to clear).

Try that next time you dive, clear before descending and then almost every foot or two down to 20 feet or so.

I also use the 50/50 alcohol vinegar solution after diving, which keeps things clear as well.

[Samson]

Here is some comic relief for you all.. I forgot to mention it in my first post.

So here we were, all in the pools shallow end doing our basic regulator breathing lessons. We were floating on the bottom in about 5 feet of water. As each of us finished the drills the instructor would instruct us to move over to the left a little bit to give the guy next to him some more room. It just so happens that just to the left of me was where the water return was located for the circulation system for the pool.. It didnt come out of the side of the pool, but out of the floor. And let me tell you,.. it was coming out so strong that it would litterally make a wave on the surface. So anyway,... the instructor would push me over to the left a little when I finished my exercise,.. right on top of that dang water spout. This would cause me to flip over, or get pushed out away from it, or to surface quickly, etc, etc.... So here I am flipping around looking like a dang idiot over here while the entire class is looking at me like I am sort of spazzed out duffus or something.... Finally the instructors aide came over and was trying to inflate my BCD like I was panicing underwater or something,... I finally got her attention to look at the water spout underneth me.... I think she spit her regulator out laughing out loud! My wife surfaces next to me and says.."what in the hell are you doing???" My kid comes up laughing.... it was quite comical! I had to go and make the head instructor stand on the water spout to convince him I was not out of control or something... we ended up moving to the other side of the pool....

Samson-

[nwscubamom]

LOL!! Too funny!!!

When I took my lessons quite some time ago, I was doing the weight belt removal exercise in a local murky yukky lake in Vancouver. The instructor told me "Whatever you do, DON'T drop your weight belt because I don't want to have to retrieve it in the muck!" So as I'm in the process of either removing or putting it on at the surface, I forget which - my reg pops out of my mouth!?! and I'm holding the weight belt with both hands so I can't try to retrieve it and my head is under water and so what can I do?? I drop the weight belt of course. Turns out - the reg is MISSING the teeth-grip holder thing on one side - last student chewed it off apparently.

So yeah, that time I felt like an idiot and had to show the instructor - LOOK! I'm not crazy! Sorta like your situation

I completed the exercise using my alternate instead.

- Janna

[Maverick]