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#51936
 Blood after diving
Greg - 5/20/2006 9:41 PM
Category: Training
Replies: 4
This recently happened to my dad and my brother-in-law... After a dive, if you find yourself with blood around your nose in your mask or if you spit up a little blood...you most likely had problems equalizing during the dive. A dive medic at DAN told me this is common and means you ruptured some of the small capillaries in your sinuses. Maybe you had a cold before you went diving. Maybe you equalized too hard. The solution is to take your time equalizing...don`t blow so hard and do it more often on the way down. (Of course, if you continue to bleed, see a doctor right away.) Take some sinus pills after the dive to ease any pain you might feel.
#60
jonhancock - 7/30/2006 8:24 PM
This happened to me Friday during a dive at Windy Point. I was having difficulty equalizing my left ear and tried a little to hard. Had all the signs that Greg spoke of, blood from nose, spitting up blood. Cleared up immediately after getting out of the water and no further problems later. It sure pays to take your time on the descent and equalize every foot or so.
#51936
Subscribed
Greg - 8/01/2006 7:33 PM
I dove with Jon and some others yesterday and this happened again to a couple divers. It seems to be due to diving a cold or blocked sinuses and/or equalizing too hard or not soon enough. Everyone should just equalize early and often, before you feel pain. Try blowing through a pinched nose, wiggling your jaw, swallowing or all three. If you feel pain, ascend a bit and work it out before continuing a descent.
#2480
Jeannette - 3/28/2007 2:41 PM
I have had a similar problem related to equalizing. Not blood and such, but middle ear baratroma (sp) after a dive. Feels like water in the ear, but nothing comes out. I called up DAN`s medical line (an EXCELLENT resource for dive related injuries) and was told that sudaphed and advil is a good combo to help clear the ears.

That being said, prevention before injury is always good. I have found the following is helpful if done before diving:
(1) About 24 hrs before, clear your nose by gently blowing.
(2) Right after, GENTLY clear your ears.
(3) Over the next 24 hrs, gently clear your ears several more times.

Since the process of equalizing/clearing is not done on a regular basis, "preparing" the ears helps to loosen them up and ready them for the upcoming dive.

I also have a set of Doc`s ProPlugs that I keep with my gear so that I have an alternative if clearing is more problematic. I have not, to date, had to use them.
#283
DiverParamedic - 10/26/2007 8:27 AM
I take 30mg - 60mg of Sudafed about an hour before the first dive of the day. Even if I`m not congested and I dive 3-4 days a week. I still get a sinus squeeze and sneeze up bloodly mucous. Of course I`m only worried if I was in shark infested waters (haha). It can be quite a shock to students, but the I just explain what a sinus squeeze is, and some of the ways to prevent it. However, if I`m diving for fun I don`t seem to get a sinus squeeze. Must be chasing students up and down, and all around...hmmmmm.