Somewhat of a Problem

[Morg]

Alright here it goes. I recently took the PFi course in Kona and I ran into a lot of problems with equalization. It was no surprise for me because I have always had this problem.

The first day I was fine on the first (10m) and second (20m) dives. However on the third dive I had to abort due to pain in my right ear. I kept diving but only going to that point where I had a small pain in my ear. I did about 2-3 more dives which I aborted. I was mainly working on my form and other stuff like that. When I got out of the water I was spitting blood and had that copper taste in my mouth.

The second day I realized I was very stupid and wasn't doing all the necessary things for equalization. I noticed that my Adams apple was in the normal position. What I had to work on was closing my throat (lifting up my Adams apple) to complete the equalization. Once I did it on land I could hear my ears pop a bit. So I tried it out and I was noticing somewhat of a big change. I didn't have to stop and abort but then when I got out of the water I had the same thing as the first day. Blood in my spit and copper taste. I was a bit shocked because I felt fine.

The third day the same thing happened I could reach the depths and I believe everything was perfectly fine except this time I was really focusing on equalization. When I came out same thing. Blood in my spit and then my nose started to bleed all of a sudden when I was on dry land. It was only bleeding for little while. Now I may have been pinching my nose a bit too much when equalizing but I am not %100 sure.

My problem always occurs in the right ear. I was told by Kirk to have it checked out with an Ear, Mouth and throat doctor.

My questions are:

1. Did the first day open up some kind of wound where I bleed from and the second and third day just kind of opened them up. I figure the first day was the most stressful and opened it up and the other days just opened it up due to normal equalization.

2. Is there anything I can practice to help with equalization? I need to get this down to second nature because it was taking away from other practices. I couldn't focus on anything else really; my mind was entirely on equalization.

Thanks a lot for your help. This seems to be the only thing standing in my way for now.

[rslomkow]

Equalize early and equalize often. It does help. Find a diving pool with a -5m section and do the quick equalization exersize.

Down, equalize 2-3 times pause at the bottom make sure your ears are clear, move forwrd 2-3m go up to the top. Take 1 breath go back down to the point where you came up and repeat. This just forces you throught he cycle.

Another thing you can try is equalizing on dry land, also try a sucking manouver and then the clearing your ears, just to open them up a little bit.

But be carefull with all of this! Many people can produce enough pressure to hurt themselves! More power is not always what is needed.