Sinus problems-play it by ear?

[alex bell]

I always had difficulty breathing through my nose,though it works sometimes
Is this likely to affect me diving?
I plan to start learning to dive next month.
I've been reading Sport Diving, and am wondering if I should forget itunless my ears/sinuses start hurting, or is there some way I can check first?
Doctors haven't been able to do anything about it yet.

[PeteM]

I always had difficulty breathing through my nose,though it works sometimes
Is this likely to affect me diving?
I plan to start learning to dive next month.
I've been reading Sport Diving, and am wondering if I should forget itunless my ears/sinuses start hurting, or is there some way I can check first?
Doctors haven't been able to do anything about it yet.

Unfortunately it is one of those, "it depends" answers. The best advice is to speak to a doctor that actually understands diving (almost all are clueless), the biggest source of those doctors in the UK Sports Diving Medical Council. Have a look on their web site and ring the nearest doctor for advice
http://www.uksdmc.co.uk/main/Medical%20referees.htm

[purple vonny]

can you "pop" your ears in a plane when it is descending? This probably means you can pop them underwater.

If you have chronic sinus problems with frequent infections you will probably have problems diving and might damage your ears.

I was going to suggest a try dive with a local club but it depends on what's wrong with your sinuses. You could have nasal polyps if you can't breathe through your nose and should probably get your GP to check or refer you to an ENT surgeon to get a diagnosis.

[Bob K]

can you "pop" your ears in a plane when it is descending? This probably means you can pop them underwater.



Start with the simple stuff. As Vonny says can you "pop" your ears in a plane ? Or if you have never flown, do your ears "pop" when travelling at speed through a tunnel (in a train or a car) ?

As divers we call this 'Equalizing', and what you are doing is opening the eustachian tube and allowing air into the middle ear to equalize the pressure on either side of the ear drum.

For ways to check whether you can equalize see a previous thread which has lots of suggestions:-

http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=593&highlight=clearing

As a trainee diver this is one of the things that you MUST master !

How deep is you local swimming pool ? If its at least say 2m deep, you might try some of these techniques there, just with swimming gear on !

But if you cannot get to the bottom of the pool because your ears are hurting, do not force it.

There are other problems associated with sinuses, which are not as easy to resolve.