As promised, here is my report on Doc’s Proplugs from two dives I made today.
I must first tell you that I am making the assumption that my previous difficulty with clearing over the last three months were going to continue today. On the last six dive trips in a row (none involving a cold or congestion) I had to really fight to get below 15’. I would go down and up and down and up for 5-10 minutes before I would finally get my ears to equalize, and then I would be fine. If I surfaced during my dive and tried to go back down, it was twice as bad. Really frustrating. At the end of my dives I would have really sore ear drums from the workout I gave them going up and down. And my ears would be popping and cracking for a couple days after.
Today I did two dives with the proplugs. The first dive to 60’ I took slow and didn’t feel any pressure until I hit 10’. Very slight pressure which I could feel slowling equalizing on their own(very different feeling), and cleared in approx. 5 seconds. I tried to pinch and clear but couldn’t get anything to pop (also different). When I hit 30’ I had some bigger pressure, but not pain like in the past. I went back up 5’ and waited. Again my ears slowly equalized on their own, taking approx. 30 seconds this time. Once I cleared this time I went straight down to 60’ without problems. This is a huge improvement for me!! Toward the end of the dive my buddy and I needed to surface to get our bearings and descend again under the kelp. My buddy had clearing issues like I used to. I had none at all!
Second dive was to 100’ and I started off slow. Again I could not pinch and clear to get my usual pop, but I didn’t seem to need to. So I just descended, and continued pretty fast all the way down to 100’ without slowing or stopping, and I cleared just fine. Big smile on my face at this point.
After the dives I had no water in my ears. No pain or soreness. No popping or cracking. In fact, my ears don’t feel like I even went diving today. I should comment that the sizing template the sales person at Sport Chalet used said I should use a small. That size felt like it could fall out pretty easy, so I tried the Medium and it fit more snug. I think this is key, and maybe the reason the other person said he got water in his ear. Just a theory....
Of course these are just my experiences, and I cannot assume the proplugs will work in the same way for anyone else. But I can say without a doubt that (A) I could feel a difference with them in, and (B) they seem to have solved my problem. Hope this helps others with similar issues.
Rich